A Bull in the China Shop

Diwali is the biggest, brightest, loudest Indian festival, which celebrates the victory of good over evil, and this year it fell on a Friday, giving everyone a long festive weekend of shopping and bursting crackers.

Here (sic, Mumbai), the markets were empty on Saturday - the day after Diwali, and the day of the President's arrival - at a time that would normally witness the year's biggest orgy of consumerism. Bursting of firecrackers has been banned in some areas on Saturday and Sunday - which is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas - until the President leaves for New Delhi Sunday afternoon.
Madhur Singh, Mumbai, November 7, 2010

Many still remember the old saying, “Like a bull in a china shop”. It can explain trampling on feelings without even meaning to or just the common sense notion that a bull and a china shop just do not mix. President Obama’s trip to India is just one more instance where the US agenda clearly trumped local sensitivities.

I remember planning and coordinating the trip of a four-star general to a Central American country in the 1990s. Coordination was required with our representatives on the ground and, through them, with local government and military leaders. I worked through the general’s personal staff for the general’s input and decisions. The US Ambassador had accurately pointed out that our military delegation would be arriving on an important national holiday and recommended against it. Quickly I alerted the general’s staff well in advance but to no avail. The general was mortified to find out that the President and the Minister of Defense of the country had previous commitments and could not be part of the arrival ceremony. Tempers flared and sparks flew. Forewarned is to be forearmed. In this instance, the general benefited from the former but not the latter.

Similarly the debacle of the Obama delegation is not the fault of the President but it is the fault of his staff. Yes, the Indian representatives could have stopped it but they did not. Why not? Much of India’s growing IT sector is a consequence of US jobs exported abroad by multi-national corporations. Having experienced a presidential visit only three times in fifty years, India would resist interfering with Mr. Obama’s rescheduled multi-nation itinerary. It fell to the middle-managers who were coordinating the details of the trip and related security measures to assess the visit’s impact on the Diwali celebrations and their significance to the people there. Perhaps they did not understand or did not care to understand.

The national holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil was interrupted by Americans. Our interruption had a direct and negative impact on the local shopkeepers of Mumbai. In a time when the US cannot afford to spread the dollar we must remain capable of spreading our goodwill. In the case of the US visit to Mumbai we failed on both accounts. Regardless of motive, the average Mumbai citizen witnessed the bull coming in to their china shop.