Shashi Tripati, the dynamic Counsel General from the New York consulate paid a farewell visit to Boston .She now proceeds to Canada to take on the position of High Commissioner. Shashi Tripati addressed a small gathering at the Wellesley Community Center on Sunday May 19th, where she discussed a wide range of issues. Tripati, a gold medalist from Patna University has had a very successful career as a foreign service official. She was the Counsel General at the New York consulate for the past three and half years and was in New York during the terrible disaster of September 11th. Mr. Promitesh Rath will take her place as the Counsel General at the New York Consulate.

“Of all my postings I must say that I have enjoyed my stay in United States the most”, said Tripati. She expressed her admiration for the Indian Americans. “Indian Americans are extremely dynamic and it has been a pleasure to get to know all of you”. She felt that while first generation Indian Americans were working hard just to establish themselves in this country, it is now time for Indian Americans to be politically active and get involved in the mainstream politics of America.

Speaking about economic development in India, she indicated that it was time to engage this country more in the economic development of India. This becomes very important for Indo-American relationship since the basis of most relationship between countries is economics. She emphasized that privatization in India was going on in full swing and hence the opportunities for growth are tremendous. “We are very encouraged because the number of business visas issued at the consulate is on the increase” said Tripati. She felt that a Chamber of Commerce could be very valuable for businesses. She pointed out that the infrastructure has improved and people are working towards elimination of red-tape.

In the wake of Sept 11th, she urged Indian-Americans to create awareness about India so as to avoid ugly events like the “backlash”. She encouraged people to donate books to libraries so that others have the opportunity to learn about India. She also asked event organizers to encourage people to bring a person of non-Indian origin to the various events so that we can educate and enlighten people about our culture and ourselves.

She addressed the Gujarat tragedy. “First I must stress unequivocally that no violence can ever be justified. There are no easy explanations for tragedies such as the violence in Gujarat or the backlash after September 11th. We are a vast and diverse country who have lived together for a very long time. But the need of the hour is to create harmony and not discord. When events such as September 11th happened in the US, I was impressed with the way the country came together as one instead of pointing fingers trying to blame one another. The good done by people was highlighted. In India, immediately after the tragedy, both Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat jointly arranged peace marches and worked to calm things. But unfortunately all that never gets reported. Only the negative things get reported."

Regarding the military build up, she re-iterated that President Pervez Musharraf had not curbed terrorism. India, like the US has suffered from terrorism and would like to prevent further infiltration.

She spoke about SAARC ,the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprising of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SAARC provides a platform for the people of South Asia to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding. It aims to accelerate the process of economic and social development in Member States. She felt while lot had been achieved by SAARC, economic initiatives were not taking off as much and she felt Pakistan was a stumbling block in this process.

The evening ended with a dinner and some informal and yet informative discussions. We will miss Shashi Tripati and we wish her well in her future career directions

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