Long way from Holy Cow!

I was listening to President Obama’s State of the Union address today. As expected, he spoke about the urgency of the country to come out her current economic turmoil, and the actions he is taking to help the middle class. I was struck by this portion of his speech:

“How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold? You see, Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China's not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany's not waiting. India's not waiting. These nations aren't standing still. These nations aren't playing for second place. They're putting more emphasis on math and science. They're rebuilding their infrastructure. They are making serious investments in clean energy because they want those jobs”.

Yes India has become one of the countries America has to watch out for! What a change from the days I arrived in this country. In those days (mid 60’s) I used to get two standard questions when I tell someone that I am from India. “What about the famines there?”, “What is holy cow?” We sure have come a long way!