From http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/international/asia/03cnd-Prexy.html

"At an earlier stop at Hyderabad's Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Mr. Bush watched Indian women in saris hand-till the soil around tomatoes, peanuts and soybeans. One of the women gave Mr. Bush a thumbs'-up sign as he walked past."

I am sure Bill Clinton baba is feeling jealous.

Hilarious! You should be employed at The Daily Show! :-)

Cute.

Doesn't the President look very happy in all these pictures? I suppose he's happy that some sort of nuclear deal was announced, even if it has a hard time getting through Congress. It also looks like a 'hard sell', if you know what I mean. Now, now, be nice, folks! I mean, it's like he's selling the idea of America to the Indian public, isn't it?

Does anyone else find the coverage in the American media underwhelming, particularly the television news? CNN has shown very little from what I've seen. I had to watch BBC America to see anything. Am I mistaken and just missed it? I thought Charlie Rose was okay, but he sometimes asks such silly questions. How many times was he going to ask all his guests about China-as-rival?

OOps, off-track. Anyway, very cute captions.

manish: you have another gig in your future... seriously... comedy central, conan, snl..come on.. now.. and i'll be your agent ;)

MD-
I second that - Bush looks happy and relaxed in the pictures I've seen (so does Singh actually). I thought Bush did really well in India, considering that he started off with a massive goodwill deficit.

Agree on Charlie Rose too. It was absurd that he asked the same 3 questions over and over. Even HE started to look bored towards the end

MD,

I have to agree Bush has pushed India-America relations forward in concrete terms more than anyone else has in past. Even his barbeque buddies at Crawford ranch might not be Indian Americans. He gets full credit for that.

In 2000, Bill baba treated India more as an exotica.

OMGGGG! HAHHAHAhHHHHHHHHHHHH GOLDEN!

Doesn't the President look very happy in all these pictures?

a little *too* happy. i begin to worry anytime he gets this look, or when he REALLY looks like he's ready. that, and when world new tonight has to pay attention to his offspring, especially when they mention wedding plans. anyhoo...when he smiles like that, it means he's got some really evile plan cooking in there...or i should say he's got reaheating some really evile plan carl rove cooked up and put in there....he look particulralry evil in that 'hoe' pic. he's ready for haloween there.

I was wondering if he would take an hour to go see some real people, and it looks like he did -- good for him.

The best one is where he's holding the watermelon (is that what it is?)

Oh come on, Manish, Ennis wouldn't be caught dead with such short hair. :-)

Otherwise very nice. And I will say, I'm glad he projects happy and I hope that helps with the long term diplomacy.

*whoopin' on the West Coast

O my heavens, that was hilarious. I loved # 2 & 3 especially, girlfriend!

The last one is the best. And he seems happy too.

haha..now we are talking :-). You done it again. Lovely Manish lovely.
Amardeep, I think its jackfruit?? But doesn't look like a watermelon. But dubya is surely laughing (so am I) and smiling a lot.

Does anyone else find the coverage in the American media underwhelming, particularly the television news? CNN has shown very little from what I've seen. I had to watch BBC America to see anything. Am I mistaken and just missed it? I thought Charlie Rose was okay, but he sometimes asks such silly questions. How many times was he going to ask all his guests about China-as-rival?

Agree. (Wish we had BBC World, which not without its biases has far more comprehensive coverage of the world.) But then their coverage of India is always underwhelming and superficial, unless they're talking about outsourcing (again superficial reports) or hyperventilating about a nuclear war between Pakistan and India (still superficial reports). If India wants more media attention, all it has to do is allow a dictator to come to power in a coup, ally itself with the U.S. and they will turn a blind eye to most things and toe the administration line about "our friend and ally."

Some guys on Lou Dobbs today were moaning about "all we got in return is mangoes." They repeated it so many times it started to sound so childish and tired. Felt like telling them "you obviously haven't tasted Indian mangoes."

The best one is where he's holding the watermelon (is that what it is?)

Great pics and excellent captions :-) you rock as always Manish. And damn this is the first time I've seen pictures of GWB with a "real" smile and not that constipated and fake smile.

I thought Charlie Rose was okay, but he sometimes asks such silly questions. How many times was he going to ask all his guests about China-as-rival?

India-Pakistan is not dead yet but the mainstream media uses India-china hyphenation more often than before.
It is a trend i had observed since coming to US.
When i was in highschool it was india-holy cow and india-pakistan.
My guidance councilor was curious about Indian religions etc.
He asked me about Indian nuclear program and said he didn’t think India should have nuclear weapon b/c of Indian belief in reincarnation. On another occasion a teacher was surprised that my mom had root canal done in India.
She thought it was too hitech for India. On another occasion a kid asked me why is Nepal Hindu b/c Hinduism is an Aryan religion.
I learned the source was the world culture class(thankfuly i did not have to take it).
When I started attending college I was surprised that there are so many Indian Americans at college.
Professors and intelligentsia were using the India-china hyphenation where as the media was still in the India Pakistan phase.
Following that as I went into professional phase the hyphenation was never India Pakistan but India-china.
Mainstream has picked this hyphenation now but to me it looks like that for people in the know, that has been the case for a while.
Its India-China-US relationships that they want to focus on.
India-China-SE Asia- East Asia-US is where the action is.
Intelligentsia and business has already moved to this direction.
The diplomatic energies of all players will be in the India-China-SE Asia-East Asia-US relations.

The china question is important to many.
It was also interesting that most people tended to give a phony answer cause things are too complicated for either an Indian or Chinese leader(be it political or business) to say the truth.
Ratan Tata did state that Indian businessmen fear china b/c they are afraid cheap goods can flood market.
His solution is the obvious solution, build a market for better quality product as most goods from china are cheap and not high on quality.
There is merit there,
A personal example I’d like to state is when i looked at some made in India pens from india,(although i keep an eye out for all things indic but i hadnt known of this one till i met an aquaintance in delhi who showd me that a generic brand pen is being sold in US(they snap any label the buyer asks for)
I looked at them and they were the worst ball point pens I had seen. The plastic finish was not smooth to touch.
The point is that Indian manufacturing is behind and sure apart from a few high end stuff on the item, eg cummins engines go thru a lot of design work in India (mostly simulation), the manufacturing is done elsewhere.
Now Indian businessmen are busy in getting their act together but fear that they will get their asses kicked by chinese when it comes to consumer items Most plastic toys in india are chinese made now. Chinese fireworks are making inroads into diwali market.
The issue for them is how can we compete when Indian governments policy has been to restrict any one from becoming too large.
Other facts no one mentioned were on strategic front.
CPI-ML is a chinese agency in india, NE terrorist get chinese support.
China keeps them up as a pressure tactic(just like pakistan is propped up primarily by china, and alos US's foolishness)
If not for 9-11 china would have been supporting the entire economy of pakistan.
And then there is the tibet issue.
So China is a serious consideration more grave on strategic national security than on trade issue.
B/c trade issues will favor a settlement towards economic efficiency but national strategic issues with china will cloud the trade issues

My bet is that that the resolution of both pakistan and china issues is near.
(next 10 years)
In pakistans case they have to accept LOC as is and move towards being a moderate islamic state, or risk disintegration ie balochistan and NWFP will be lost.
It may just end up being punjabistan. Either outcome is equally probable.
Durand line has expired in 93, incase you did not know that it was an agreement with time line attached to it like hongkong. Kabul has never renewed the agreement, Karzai looks more to india than pakistan. Taliban and Karzai will unite on this issue if it comes to that. Balochistan is burning Mushie had to use airplanes to bomb balochs.
So the settlement is near they can either grow or disintegrate.

China will drop all claims to arunachal, India will accept aksai chin as part of china.
(this is something that has already happened) The issue that i fear is lost is Tibet.
The only thing India may be able to do is force chinese to relax its grip on cultural issues.
Will US help out here without that it’s a totally gone issue.
Tibetans still have to accept that Han Chinese in tibet are not going to leave,
they can have some degree of autonomy and perhaps can even benifit from overland india china trade, but an equal chance is nothing happens and their cultural identity is lost
perhaps even another genocide….

[He asked me about Indian nuclear program and said he didn’t think India should have nuclear weapon b/c of Indian belief in reincarnation]

May i ask what in the name of krishna does reincarnation have to do with the nucleeur program.

It is jackfruit, btw.

May i ask what in the name of krishna does reincarnation have to do with the nucleeur program.

he seems *very* pleased to be holding that jackfruit. he looks like saying 'that is THE biggest nut i ever done sawed! now, theoretically, if he had *two* in his arms....

and btw...he does a very believable dopy immitation.

Oh come on, Manish, Ennis wouldn't be caught dead with such short hair. :-)

OR THE FACEFUZZ AND TURBAN! i'm guessing he wears his joora......like any good lion....

HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Manish you're stupid yo.

hey, next friday. save the date please.

email you with info.

I see in Bush's visit and warm reception the ratification of what should be a natural friendship between two nations with so much in common - democracy, deep spirituality, a love of learning, even a love of fun (not at all a universal concept). This is truly a special day.

Cheers!

"I wish I knew how to quit you, Ennis."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

i love it.

also, i have no idea what comment 16 is about but... it should just be its own post. yo that's really LONG!

also, i have no idea what comment 16 is about but.

Incase you didnt watch charlie rose's coverage of india you can skip it. He asked the china question to every one.

i caught him and PM manmohan ji on telly. i wondered about the china question. i hope he doesn't write his script.

I see in Bush's visit and warm reception the ratification of what should be a natural friendship between two nations with so much in common - democracy, deep spirituality, a love of learning, even a love of fun (not at all a universal concept). This is truly a special day.

i love sarcasm!

First off - terrific pictures and even better captions. The funny thing is, I was just commenting to family that the Bush trio did not seem to have as many photo opportunities as the Clinton trip. But these pictures have corrected that. Bush has generally been better in small, informal groups - rather than trying to give a speech in the style of Reagan or Clinton.

The American TV media coverage has been pretty poor, and BBC has not been much better. As always, they focused on whether the nuclear deal will destroy proliferation efforts. Print media and their web outlets, plus NPR, have been better. That such efforts in the past was all talk, no action seems to be forgotten.

Zakaria, to his credit, has come around (a bit), and argues that the deal is a good one, as does Mohammed El Baradei of the IAEA. When Zakaria had Joe Ciriccione, a nonproliferation hawk on "Foreign Exchange", Ciriccione said, "If we allow the U.S. to make this exception for India, what if China decides to make an arrangement with Pakistan?" Zakaria quickly cut in, "They already did."

Amardeep these are stage managed pictures

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy wanted to craft an image of "farmer" chief minister as opposed to Chandrababu Naidu's "hi-tech" image. Naidu took Clinton to Hyderabad's IT centres. So Reddy takes Bush to Agricultural University.

Nonetheless so far Reddy is a failure. Naidu got huge investment from Microsoft and Oracle. Reddy none.

hahaha... the brokeback mountain one, it keels me ;-)
awesome job, manish!

I'm a big mutiny fan. I'm from CA and will be in NY at the end of this month. I've been there many times before and done all the touristy things. Now I'm looking for a variety of performances. Do you know of any desi events (like bombay dreams), performances, dances, spoken word, mutiny get togethers, etc during March 22-26? thanks.

manish, those captions are priceless. you made my day.

no sophmore slump for Manish's Dubya Does the Desh photo journal.

Again, Manish, you've outdone yourself, this was hilarious!

The orders are quickly transmitted from the travelling party in India to Washington, and thence to the Pentagon and Langley, Virginia.....

Hundreds of miles above North America, a secret spy satellite adjusts its rotation and zooms its camera towards a not-so-secret bunker in North Dakota.....

Manish begins to hear strange "clicking" sounds whenever he uses his telephone.....

Outside SM headquarters, a dozen black-clad operatives in CIA fatigues silently take up their pre-arranged posts, using hand signals which appear to reveal some kind of "countdown".....

The faint sound of military helicopters can be heard in the distance.....

Going through his wardrobe while trying to decide which debonair outfit to stun the world with today, Manish notices that he hasn't worn anything in orange for a while.

Jasleen:

I'd suggest taking a look at www.aaartsalliance.org to see of upcoming events. Also there are occasional mentions on SM itself of upcoming performances in the NY area. Hey if anything, holler at me - shoot, I'll show you around! :D

omg. i can't stop laughing. manish, great job.

too funny.

Here is another excellent pic of Bush playing cricket. Note the expression !

Nonetheless so far Reddy is a failure. Naidu got huge investment from Microsoft and Oracle. Reddy none.

Did you go hiking the past month? If not, you would have heard about fab city and US consulate in hyd and InfoSys . Naidu definitely did the groundwork but don't dismiss the current CM's efforts.

I agree, the media coverage of the Bush visit and negotiations has been very underwhelming, although admittedly, my cousin in Hyderabad said that even in India, people seemed to be far more tuned into the Test Match.

Overall I'm cautiously happy about the deal and hope it will help us to finally meet our power needs (although I sense that we were already on the way to developing much of the nuclear power technology on our own, this probably speeds things up by at least a couple years).

One angle that really has been getting me irritated is that "India as China counterweight" horsecrap. I'm sorry, but Bharat has been played as a stooge by one European power after another, the British for over a century and the USSR for decades after WWII. If the US has a bone to pick with China becoming powerful, that's their problem, not ours, and we shouldn't go knee-jerking into a "strategic relationship" that's little more than a brown-vs-yellow people manipulation by the West. India's foreign policy should be neutral, and if anything, it's to our mutual advantage if China becomes a strong and solid trading partner-- with the US stuck with over $8 trillion in debt and rising by billions every week, the USA won't be a superpower for much longer.

BTW, the US is no friend of Hinduism, at least in regard to the folks currently in power. If you get the chance, bring a barf bag with you to a meeting of an evangelical Christian group in the US, and you'll hear more virulent hatred of Hinduism than even the vitriol in a madrassah in Karachi. The evaneglicals in the US have made it clear that India is their #1 target-- at the expense of Hinduism-- and these are also the people who are the core of Bush's support.

When it comes to relations with both US and China, above all we need to be independent. Foolish alliances or slavish partnerships with India as a "junior partner" will invariably lead to Bharat being burned yet again by our less than steady new "friends."

If you get the chance, bring a barf bag with you to a meeting of an evangelical Christian group in the US, and you'll hear more virulent hatred of Hinduism than even the vitriol in a madrassah in Karachi. The evaneglicals in the US have made it clear that India is their #1 target-- at the expense of Hinduism-- and these are also the people who are the core of Bush's support.

HAHAH! WELL put! additonally, the 'hardcore' evangelicals have much distates for anything not christian, and the more one strays from what they think is right, the worse it gets. and bush also caters to and supports them back, as he too is supposed to be rather evanglical. methinks one needs a tow truck for the amount of pitching up. i hate when i always have to explain to them why i am no longer christian. many of them have found sikhi to be a big joke. bless them for faith, but i do wish they'd be less close minded.

Reddy cannot be called a failure, though we can say that he is not as tech-savvy as his counterpart Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu got Microsoft, Oracle, ISB, Hitech city, IIIT, while Reddy got Silicon Fab City which is a major achievement. This coupled with the fact that Telugus form most of the software professionals both in India & the US, and the completion of Hyderabad Intl. Airport & new US Consulate, will see the city emerge as a truely global business hub in the future.
Telugu is now the largest spoken Indian language in the Silicon Valley (San Francisco Bay Area).

Hah hah, Manish you just keep getting better!

Hilarious! The "girlfriend" one had me cracking up!

so at 3ish sat morning I caught the Musshie/Bush joint press conference and had to do a triple take when I heard this statement:

“Our beef with Iran is not the pipeline; our beef with Iran is the fact that they want to develop a nuclear weapon."

The leader of the free world referred to a major international conflict as "beef"

oiii veh

(PS: Appologies if this is a repeat. I have been ill and haven't been able to read all the comments)

If you get the chance, bring a barf bag with you to a meeting of an evangelical Christian group in the US, and you'll hear more virulent hatred of Hinduism than even the vitriol in a madrassah in Karachi.

I guess you haven't been keeping up with the vitriol in Karachi these days:

These are extracts from government-sponsored textbooks approved by the National Curriculum Wing of the Federal Ministry of Education.

Class IV

* The Muslims of Pakistan provided all facilities to the Hindus and the Sikhs who left for India. But the Hindus and the Sikhs looted the Muslims in India with both hands and they attacked their caravans, buses and railway trains. Therefore, about one million Muslims were martyred on their way to Pakistan.
* The Hindus treated the ancient population of the Indus Valley very badly. They set fire to their houses and butchered them.
* The religion of Hindus did not teach them good things, Hindus did not respect women.

Class V

* After the war of 1965, India with the help of Hindus living in East Pakistan, incited the people of East Pakistan against West Pakistanis. In December 1971, the Indians themselves also attacked East Pakistan. As a result...East Pakistan separated from us. We should all receive military training so that we can foil the designs of the enemy in the future.
* The Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam.

[more via link above]

But perhaps I am wrong... the US and those evangelical Christians are the real enemies of Hinduism...