Recently, the US got it's first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and this was touted as a big event - the rise of women power in the most powerful nation in the world.
Strangely, the Indian sub-continent has always had women in power. Notwithstanding the Rabri Devis (and to be frank, I admire that woman for what she did achieve!), we have had women at the top in Pakistan, Sr Lanka, Bangladesh and India - from Indira Gandhi, to Najma Heptullah, to Benazir Bhutto, to the ladies at the helm in Sri lanka and Bangladesh.
Do you know America has never had a black President? Barack Obama is now making news as the first black presidential candidate in the US. India has had Sikhs, Muslims, and SC/STs as Presidents and Prime Ministers - not just the Zail Singhs, we have had Manmohan and Kalam too!
We Indians love to hate our political establishment and our democracy - but have we ever given a serious thought to the possibility that Indian democracy might in fact be one of the most sucessful, sincere, deeply rooted, people-empowering political system in the world?
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