America - True leadership

Well I think America is truly a world leader for mankind. I am a very patriotic Indian at heart and deeply attached to India, its soil, air, water , and its people, its values and its way of life and in fact everything Indian.

Now when I live in Fremont, California and see America as a pedestrian and lay person, I admire so many things .

1. The most green Land

Where ever I go, I witness the intelligent thinking behind preservation and nurturing of fabulous natural wealth, It is trees, trees and more tall old trees and rows upon rows of young well tended trees . Trees fed with wood shavings derived from trees. Green grass everywhere. Large expanses of land protected as woods, parks, natural preserves. Roadsides lined with trees. Roses , tulips, daffodils and many other colourful blossom cover the roadside , hill slopes, and are everywhere. There are vast expanses of green grass in huge parks, roadsides

This vast natural resource is surely America's heritage sure to benefit mankind. It is like a whole nation out to nurture nature.

The state and national parks are reservoirs of more trees, lakes, birds, animals, rivers, mountains

Love for nature is thus implanted into the very core of American existence.

2. Development of basic infrastructure

America can boast of fabulous infrastructures which include :

• The nation-wide network of transport - roads, airways, railways.
• Computerization of all dealings - almost 100% accounting of most of the money movements - the concept of black money - unaccounted money transaction is not common in day-to-day life.
• Taking advantage of internet - All American businesses have a web site catering to their business needs. Any information one is looking for is surely there on the internet. All government related information is there on the internet. The use of internet is so prevalent that it is almost like living with you as the most useful partner. One uses the net to shop, look up real estate information, job searches, travel info, booking tickets....
• The entire country is covered by GPS. You can drive to new places comfortably with the help of the GPS guiding you. This is 95% efficient. Rarely in some places the GPS will not work.
• 911 and Emergency paramedic services : The wonder telephone number 911 is for any emergency help - accident, heart attack, robbery, riot, breakdown, any situation where one needs immediate help. America rushes to rescue with a nationwide developed network of emergency services.
  

Automation of most tasks - watering by Sprinklers

• Automation of several manual tasks lead to greater productivity, safety and control - like there are so many sprinklers everywhere - in gardens, lawns on the road, in fields so the tough task of manual watering is not there and every piece of grass on the roadside is well cared for. Gates and doors close/open with remote controls or automatically - like in a bus no one is issuing tickets. There is a machine to do that..

Best Road Network in the world

3. The American business mentality

The Americans are excellent businessmen. Every successful business has its own USP that made it a brand. The aim is to make money flow into the business from the consumer.

Chains:

Every successful business model is multiplied by chains. This means if an American starts a business and it succeeds, then he/she starts several branches/franchisee/stores with the same success model. So we have Walmart and all other malls like Sears, Costco, Macy, etc, Walgreen, Safeway ( food items like veg, friuts etc.. ) , Long (Drug store... ) , Danny (Food), jack in the Box, ColdStone(Ice cream... ) etc..etc..

Generous Deals:

Most of the business try to move the goods as fast as possible out of their shops by offering attractive discount deals - known as Clearance. It is not that clearance means sub standard old stock. Every business tries to optimize their money inflow by making their offer attractive and profitable for you - the customer to spend. Like when Mother's Day was nearing prices on flowers were lowered so you would feel like buying. Price of a bunch was reduced from 20$ to 16$ so you may think "Wow - it seems low now.. " as you were used to seeing the price as 20$ all these days. I compared this to the Indian model where during Valentines day a rose could cost Rs. 40 to 100 while normally the price of such a rose was 1 rupee. Generally the customer gets "Value for money spent". Coldstone - the icecream chain store offers six type of toppings free

Genuine Deals

Respect for Customer:

The customer any where is always treated like a special person , welcomed warmly and greeted . Even if you do not buy anything no one looks down upon you. Goods bought can always be returned and you get cash back. A promise on a product has to be true else the consumer can take the business to court. The American law protects the consumer first. With that fear generally labels on all products reflect truth.

Quality first:

America attracts products from all over the world - made in China, India, Bangla desh, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan - you name a country and mostly there is some product on display from that country. But all products must pass stringent quality standards. So while back in India "Made in China" means cheap sub standard things, it is not so here. Most of the goods sold are of good quality. The concept of cheating on quality to make a fast buck is missing in the American business model.

America sells itself to its people in many ways . Every city, state have any number of lakes, parks, entertainment zones, zoos, botanical gardens, beaches etc. There may be entry fee, toll on the way, paid parking lots. All the places generally have basic facilities free like restrooms, parking zones, barbecue stands, picnic benches etc.. Maps are always available. Hospitality is very visible. Mostly there are nice eating places. Many places may have free bus rides around the parks. All this makes an average American and visitors and tourists happy to come and spend hard earned money happily on his family.

4. Self-Discipline - American Culture

There is lot of discipline built into the fabric of American society . I observed that this reflects in so many ways

1. Soft-spoken - They talk in low voices and generally very kind.

2. Traffic discipline - Everyone obeys traffic rules naturally - drivers, pedestrians- If someone is crossing the road, the driver will always stop to let that person pass first.

3. Clean - There is no garbage thrown randomly every where

4. High standards of work ethics - people work sincerely and to the best of their ability

5.Law-abiding nation: Strict enforcement of the law of the land - if caught for traffic violation one is given tickets and expected to pay or go to jail. Police are feared by criminals. Fines are levied so heavily that one would rather prevent than commit an offense and pay them.

5. Embracing all nations of the world

America is truly a land of freedom and equal opportunities. People from all parts of the world have made a success of their life and settled in USA making it their home. Respect for hard work, merit, entrepreneurship - all these qualities are recognized and rewarded. So a non American can get work, earn, own property, even citizenship. This kind of a broad mixture of various kinds of population makes America a true great leader - unafraid to be kind, caring to non-Americans for mutual benefit. I do not think any other nation can boast of such a fantastic home ground for people of all nationalities. I cannot imagine a Chinese or an Afghan or a Thai or a Japanese or a Mexican or a Philippa or a Iranian or a Pakistani or a French or a Brit or an Australian to be my neighbor or running a business in India but in America it is a reality.

American universities house meritorious students from the rest of the world offering an educational standard hard to find elsewhere in the world. Eventually most of these creme brains of the world make America their home and invest their brains in their careers in America.

Stanford University

The economy of the world is plugged to the American economy. Why? America sells what the rest of the world makes lke goods from China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Italy, France - it is truly amazing. In turn the rest of the world buys technology from America - most of the software the world uses comes from American Companies. That is why the world watches the American economy very closely.

These are some of the most "World-uses and enjoys products" from America

• Microsoft Operating system, Office tools, Development tools
• Google search Engine, mail, youtube, so many other products
• Wikipedia - the most trusted knowledge source
• Oracle - the most trusted database management tools
• Hollywood movies

I cannot imagine life without the most loved Google and Wikipedia and Windows and Hollywood movies.

After thoughts:

Well so many reasons - I as a visitor to this country perceive the greatness of a world leadership nurtured over years to make life more comfortable. In admiring all these qualities, I want my country to be as great in making life of every Indian as caring and as comfortable.

But America has its grave problems too which we in India do not face. The very culture of independence and freedom has social repercussions - like loneliness, loose relationships and so many complicated psychological issues. Like so many divorced men and women struggle with children and job and more partners in their life, aged men and women live alone, many unmarried men and women do horrible things to kill loneliness, teenagers living in such a permissive society struggle to find deeper meaning in relationships, hire-and fire work culture stresses out the mediocre , maintaining a high standard of living has lead to a very materialistic culture and horrible debt traps.

I walk in beautiful long pathways and green grass and flower beds and pretty walkways inside our housing complex but often do not meet a single soul. It is a lonely journey here. It is silent. No one talks normally to anyone. It is "Hi how are you??" and "Take care. Have a good day" , and "you too" - beginning and end. No one knows or cares who lives next door.

Because of so many divorces and remarriages children discuss step mothers and step fathers and step brothers and step sisters and grand step parents !! The trauma and insecurity of a child after facing a divorce(s) of parents is not common in my country but here it is the culture - children are used to dating parents.

I feel we in India lead a much happier and interesting social life and we as a society co-exist more happily together due to our ingrained qualities of tolerance, contentment, mutual love and respect for everyone and stable relationships. The shopkeepers in our area know me and my family so well, when I walk on the road I meet so many smiling and friendly faces with genuine concerns - there is an air of friendly generosity around - Indians give themselves to other human beings - collective human spirit.

This is what makes India so great and every Indian living anywhere in the world yearns to come back to his country to live forever with his people in spite of all that noise and crowd and visible poverty and nosy aunts, uncles, neighbors, corrupt politicians to deal with .

Yes India has that greatness - living in India adds that interesting spice and color to my life - like PEPPER and RAINBOW .