'Aki'lles

'The $750bn man', 'The Bailout Czar', 'The Indian-American who is given the job of saving Wall street...and the world' etc. are among a few of the mighty titles bestowed to Neel Kashkari by the Indian media. Duh? I thought that the only person capable of saving the world was Captain Vijaykanth, ah...but then I guess I was wrong. Anyways, the point of this post is that the Indian media are at it again, with yet another abject display of misplaced national pride.

Kashkari holds a Bachelors' and Masters' degree in Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from Wharton. He's not from an IIT-IIM or a product of the Indian educational system for Indians to gloat about his achievements. As I understand he did not even do his kindergarten in an Indian school. Kashkari was born in Akron, Ohio, in which case, we can't even credit an Indian hospital, nurse or mid-wife for any contribution whatsoever in his life. So what exactly is the Indian media asking us to be proud about here?

Honestly, the only ones who should be proud about Kashkari's achievements are the founding fathers of the United States of America. Their country,as envisaged by them, has lived up to the high ideals of liberty and equality to all. It has provided an equal platform for everyone to live the American Dream irrespective of their class, race or creed. While in Kashkari's land of origin ...sorry Kashari's parents' land of origin, even after 6 decades of independence equal opportunity to all citizens remains but a distant dream!

Of course, the jingoists would argue that it was his upbringing in an Indian family in the true Indian value system that moulded him and is clearly responsible for his achievements. Err. ..hang on a second, if the Indian value system has such stupendous effects, I wonder what value system his boss Henry Paulson was brought up in to become the CEO of Goldman Sachs and later the United States Treasury secretary.