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I believe some of you have seen this show, As someone from India I wanted to add some perspective and also want to get feedback/opinion

To start with, the bills in that discussion are NRC and CAB

A brief history:
India also a huge problem with illegal immigration with additional burden of surrounded by not so friendly neighbors like China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The history of this region is very complicated going all the way back to 11th century since the first Muslim invasions. But the gust of it is Pakistan Intelligence (ISI) wages proxy war with India. One of the ways they use is through Bangladesh. Indian state of West Bengal shares border with Bangladesh (East Bengal Originally). However the local government in West Bengal likes to play identity politics and for the sake of votes from muslims, it encourages illegal immigration from Bangladesh which is predominantly muslim country. Pakistan ISI takes great advantage of this. I can share a lot of instances of terrorism in India perpetuated by an immigrant from Bangladesh who was merely a puppet here.
The governments prior to current government were afraid to tackle this due to lack of absolute majority in the parliament and also being support and possibly losing muslim votes (30% of population).

Current Government:
BJP headed by Modi has in fact ties to RSS as mentioned by John Oliver. RSS has hindutva ideology (India/Hindustan belongs to Hindus) and its founder (who is not even worth of being names here) idolized Hitler/Nazis. But current RSS is being portrayed in media as fundamentalists. There may be bad apples and some in leadership might even instigate religious riots if it riles up citizens and gets them elected, but they are not terrorists like the numerous terrorist organizations from that region in Asia which are again unfortunately predominantly muslim. This is a huge difference between being fundamentalists and being all-out terrorists

A bit of background on Indian ties with Nazis/Germans during WW 2: During WW 2 there were two school of thoughts that were formed in Indian National Congress. One side headed by Gandhi, Nehru wanted to support the British on promise of independence and another side headed by Subhash Chandra Bose wanted to join Hitler’s Nazi party primarily along the lines of (The enemy of my enemy is a friend). He formed first Indian army (Azad Hind Fauz) and even met Hitler in person. But he unfortunately died in a plane crash and subsequently other side won out the popular opinion. Rest is history
This is why some of the Indian leaders during this time viewed Nazis/Hitler favorably.

With this in mind the current government passed significant bills/referendums

Withdrawing Kashmir special status – Kashmir state at present is predominantly Islam. It enjoyed a special status. Do you know what this Special Status entailed?
It has its own flag.
It has its own citizenship
Indians from rest of the country cannot own land/property in Kashmir
Kashmiri women stand to lose Kashmir citizenship if married Indians from outside of Kashmir
Kashmir is in fact a Hindu kingdom annexed by India after independence after the king decided to join the republic. It’s population used to be predominantly Hindus like Kashmiri pundits who have been driven away in the years following. Where is the outcry over this?

Now with special status removed Kashmir is like any other Indian state. Notice the hue and cry from international media and how Modi was portrayed immediately following this event. Even Pakistan PM Imran Khan joined in on it, like how it will lead to ethical cleansing and he is worried about Muslims in Kashmir when in reality nothing happened after that? Did you hear/see anything.. of course No. As opposed to Pakistan having the worst human rights record particularly against religious minorities. Following independence, Hindu population in Pakistan was around 20-30% and now it is less that 2%.This is one of the reasons why India passed the CAB bill

NRC/CAB:
As John Oliver portrayed except outside of fringe organizations not many are opposing this bill as he portrayed it to be. In fact Muslim Leaders in India support this bill. If you are Indian (whether are not you are Muslim or not) you have nothing to fear. This bill primarily speeds up citizenship for minorities persecuted in other neighboring countries. Does it negatively impact some muslims in India.. probably yes and that is a genuine concern no doubt about it.. but there is no widespread opposition to these bills like mentioned by John Oliver

He also brought in 2001 Godhra Incident when Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat:
Even in this incident Hindus are usually portrayed as bad guys (like in Slumdog Millionaire) and media conveniently skips the causation.. burning alive 1000s of Bajrang Dal activists alive without any provocation by probably some terrorists which in turn started these riots. As a CM he didn’t do much to cull this, which I do find him at fault as innocent people have been killed

Is Modi a great person/leader? – of course not. he has is flaws but the current environment in India requires strong leadership to protects its citizens and he ticks most of the qualities. He did make some blunders like the currency conversion which portrayed as a failure although the government did recover some percentage of black money.

Is the NRC/CAB bill unconstitutional: Yes. Not the bill itself but the fact that it has the potential to target some muslims unfortunately. Rather than discuss and debate about this and finding a solution, saying there is widespread opposition to the bill itself is bullocks

In general how religious minorities (Christians/Muslims/Sikhs/Buddhists) are treated in India:

Religious minorities enjoy 4.5% reservation in higher education and all government jobs including representation in goverment Link Below
https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=132836

Religious festivals like Bakrid/Ramzan/Good Friday/Christmas are public holidays in India

TLDR: Don’t always believe everything in Media as there are always two sides of the story. Unless you grew up in India, it is hard to actually know what is happening and it is easy to get carried away

I will take more time and link actual verified news articles to some of the points I mentioned above

Edited: Grammar and added new points

What I miss about India

Parents: both my parents are getting old. I wish I was there to help them.. I wish I spent more time with them.. atleast I made plans with my parents to take them to Europe this year.. I want to show them as many places as I can.. I do need to travel to India at the least once every 2 years

Language: I really miss listening to my language.. seeing it’s script everywhere… when I do go back to Hyderabad, the first thing that makes me feel like I am home is seeing the sign boards in Telugu or listening to it from the announcements. It makes me feel safe.. gives me a strong sense of belonging

Food:
Even though I traveled all over the world, and tries as many cuisines as I can L.. I feel like nothing ever comes close to traditional South Indian food eating Idli with peanut chutney and drinking filter coffee early in the morning.. or eating my mother’s home cooked food..
Any restaurant you go to, from a street side vendor to a 5 star restaurant .. the food will exceptional. That is the speciality of Hyderabad. It’s local cuisine is so famous in India that restaurants in other cities across India now have menu items hyderabadi this and hyderabadi that

Family:
My father retired as a Supreme Court Justice (for our state) and mother has always been a house wife. I have one sister who I consider to be my best friend. We are small middle class family of 4

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Growing Up:
My father used to get transferred a lot every 2-3 years, I always used to find myself as the new kid. I used to be very quite and introverted. There are times and places where I did very well with good friends and there are times where I was bullied and lagged in my studies. I always used to consider my sister and my mother as my best friends and for me fun is just talking and playing with them (as long as I remember). Growing up in close proximity to strong women helped me to understand woman’s perspective more. Our favorite time is hanging

I grew up in a privileged household.. my father used to have servants everywhere. One for laundry, one for dishes, couple of them for security, coule of them for running errands/chores. If I walk to school I never had to carry my own back pack. If we go to a movie and the theater is full, furniture will be rearranged to accomodate us, if we go to a temple with my father, they will drive everyone away from the inner sanctum so that we could be alone.. at the same time my parents taught me and my sister how to be humble, a strong sense of righteaousness and justice

I have always been a very simple person… I never used to ask for more, probably something I learnt from my sister. We grew up learning to live a simple life and find happiness in simple things.

Heat and Humidity:
In our extended family our grandfather is the only one who had a car. When we used to visit his place every summer to gether with my cousins we used to fit in 9-10 people at a time in one car with no A/C. Sometimes the electricity will be turned off in the night, the heat becomes so unbearable that only options are to stay awake or pack up all mattresses and sleep on the terrace while star gazing and telling stories. When we had company like cousins or friends we used to welcome this so that we could all hang out on the terrace.. no need to do homework either..
Anyway it is in one of those car trips when it was around 110 degrees mid – day in peak summer trvaleing with 8 other people in a small car with no A/C, I decided if I ever settle in a place it has to be something sorruounded by mountains and cold

Hobbies and Interests:
It is very highly competitive for middle class families in India. Not much encouragement for hobbies and interests.. What every free time I used to have I sometimes play cricket with friends, play with my sister or I used to cut down trees and branches to make weapons while role playing mythological heroes. I had a general idea of what I want to do in life .. and I had to wait until 24/25 years old after I moved to US and established a career that I had a chance to start exploring my own interests.. It has been a wonderful journey. I started with walking/hiking/cycling/running in Ridley Park and Valley Forge Parks near Philadelphia.. then I got into fitness, swimming, dancing etc.. My goal is to learn something new everyyear. 2019 provided me oppurtunities to learn to become a handyman which eventually became my second job. I have a guitar now to practice for 2020.. fingers crossed

Rain:
I always have a fascination with rain. I love the smell of the earth and the sound of the rain. I used to love to take a walk sometimes with an umbrella and play in the puddle making paper ships. It also has something to do with most of the my favorite songs from movies being shot in rain or drizzle or snow

After months of anticipation and getting hyped by Youtube videos, I made the move to purchase Tesla Model 3 before Christmas. Being a ‘go big or go home’ guy and specifically seeking self driving the MSRP came to 59000 for my Metallic Blue, 19″ Sport Wheels , AWD and Self Driving Tesla Model. I recently took a second job to support myself financially so that I could afford it.

I fell in love with the car but I knew it cannot replace my trusty VW toureg TDI yet, so my initial idea was to have two cars. As with its 250 mile range (70-80% charge) I cannot be comfortable taking it around Olympic Peninsula or Vancouver Island.. It being a sedan with lot ground clearance, I wont be able to take on forest service roads to access my favorite trail heads nor I will be able to carry my tool and ladders

Self Driving: I really loved the self driving capabilities making a 30 min traffic commute feeling like a breeze, but I felt that it is not there yet. It has enough capabailities to let you relax while driving but at the same time expect you to pay attention by a constant remainder every 10 seconds to hold steering wheel.
sometimes when you are navigating using autopilot it will say “Auto pilot ends in 400 yards” when it comes to exists that are not compatible.. I wish it did a better job as if you are not paying attention to the chime there is a likely hood of an accident which I found to be very dangerous.. if you try to force auto driving in an exit it will take off at 60 mph (speed limit on the freeway) even if there is a sharp curve requiring to go at 25 mph. I felt the extra $7000 is not worth this if I constantly have to pay attention, I might as well drive by myself

Finances: I made a miscalculation when I purchased.. I didn’t realize the financial impact it will have on me. I was focusing solely on my monthly payments assuming that I can pay from my second job. I paid 16000 down payment which would have required to pay $750 for 6 years on top of that having two cars bumped my insurance to $2100 for 6 months from $900. There were additional costs such as $2000 wall connector (the connector cost $518 + installation).. and on top of that I am still paying $150 to VW credit until June 2020.
Even with taking into account my expected bonus, tax returns, pay rise in early 2020 I realized it is a huge burden for me. As a result it caused me a lot of stress which in turn forced me to take more risks with HT. After reading about Tesla return policy I was able to return it on Day 7 with full refund expected in 6-8 weeks and sighed with relief. I also started the process to return my wall connector.

What Next:
After having first hand experience that the EV infrastructure and Self Driving technology is not there yet, I am going to take a wait and see approach. I am closely looking at Ford Mustang Mach E (270 miles for AWD $$55k) or Rivian R1S (starting at $72K not including $7.5K Federal Credit).. perhaps if I save enough. Right now I am just going to take it easy, ignore all car videos recommended by YT and plan more traveling this year

Pros:

Style- I really loved the style and look of the car with bright shining metallic blue with a sporty, trendy look
Performance – While i never actually owned a sports car the model 3 with its low center of gravity powered by 450 HP (252 rear and 198 rear) is the closest I been to owning a sports car. 0-40 in 4.2 seconds with option 2.8K upgrade to bring it down to 3.9 seconds this is the fastest car I ever drove or owned.
Interior – Minimalist and comfortable
Entertainment – I enjoyed the giant screen. You can watch movies, listen to spotify, offers crystal clear surround sound, etc etc..Apparently support for Youtube is in plan too.It also has some nice Easter eggs
Comfort – I felt the seating to be very comfortable with a leather like material, lot of leg room (I am 5’8).
Cargo Space – Has a huge trunk with option of folding back row seats, additional space in the front trunk which can washed if needed

Cons:
Touch screen – It is susceptible to hand prints even after minimal use.
Buttons or lack there of- Have to go through series of steps to open glove box, adjust mirrors etc
Poor visibility – unless you see the 3D real time rendering of traffic on screen.. the visibility seemed to be very less on the back mirron and side mirrors..No matter how I positioned I couldn’t get a comfortable view of traffic surrounding me
Charging – You cant just go to gas station accessible at every nuke and corned and fill in gas in 10 mins. You have to lookup super charging stations and plan for additional wait time. It took me 25 mins to get 130 miles at the Tesla Super Charging Station in Fred Meyer

Once again I find myself spending the new year eve/day alone.. part of me loves being alone but also a part of me craving companionship.

I strongly belive in being thankful for what I have, but there are times like this that make me wonder how my life would have been if I found a partner
This feeling comes in waves.. being content and being lonely/desperate. But I try to stay positive and keep my focus on making myself and things I have control over

What is my plan for this year?

Take good care of myself and get into better shape
Keep looking for a compatible partner to share my interests
Save money this year to buy a car of my dreams next year
Travel more: Apart from China, plan to go to Mexico, Belize and more importantly take my parents to Switzerland, Austria, Germany
Continue to work with HT but tread the fine line between fun/more money and stress.. as this past week has thought it is a fine line indeed
Be thankful to what I have and the amazing people in my life

Happy New Year 2020 !!