Dear POTUS

Dear President of the United States (POTUS),

How are you? I believe you will be visiting India very soon and more precisely you will be in Bombay (yeah, I still call it that) on Nov 6-7. I would have loved to meet but I’ll be out of town and thus the letter.

Had we met, I probably would have asked what are you doing in India? I voted for you and still have a refrigerator magnet of your slogan “Yes We Can.” Your campaign platform was about “change” but when I talk to most of my friends in the US, they say the only change is what’s in their pockets. I think it’s great you are nation building with India but seriously what are you doing about the US.

So far the only “victory” I see is the health care reform bill. And when I talk to people in the medical community they all the say the same thing – more money down the toilet. As far as TARP is concerned it appears it was a way to help the bankers line their pockets and that’s it. People are still loosing jobs, homes and their sanity.

Anyways, I don’t want to be a downer because I’m sure you get enough of that back home from your friends over at Fox News.

Since I won’t be around, I’ll give you some pointers during your stay in Bombay:

• As you land into Bombay you can compare and contrast the landing into Los Angeles. In Bombay all the blue you see are sheets of blue tarpaulin (tarp) since there are many slums around the airport. In LA all the blue you see are the pools in people’s backyard
• If you see guys holding hands it’s not because they are professing an alternative lifestyle but instead a sign of friendship, not sure why they just can’t fist bump
• You might notice red stains on the road, that is not because some fight took place but because of India’s love affair with paan – which is a tobacco and when mixed with some other stuff creates the colorful stain

I really hope you make an effort to come to Bombay every year because I have NEVER seen the locals at the BMC/MCGM work so hard. They are painting, scrubbing, planting, trimming and making this city look great for you. Normally, the MCGM is about as effective as the SEC which means nothing gets done and it’s all about passing the buck – but because of you, real “change” is happening for us folks that live in Bombay.

Enjoy your travels,

Manish Jain
US Citizen