August 1, 2009 was a sad day for the Philippines. Early that day, former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino–Cory Aquino to the masses–finally succumbed to a lingering illness. She had been battling colon cancer for the last 16 months.

Time Magazine Cover - Corazon Aquino Time Woman of the Year 1986

She was the 11th President of the Republic of the Philippines, but she was better known around the world for much more than that. She was the face of democracy everywhere, especially in the 80s and 90s. On August 21, 1983, her husband Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr was shot dead at the Manila International Airport while disembarking from a plane. Ninoy Aquino, erstwhile in exile in the United States, was a former senator and had been a vocal leader of the political opposition to the Marcos administration, which at that point had already been in power for 18 years. It is widely believed that the Marcoses were involved in the shooting. Asked why he would choose to return even though he knew there were threats on his life, he famously replied, “The Filipino is worth dying for.”

The assassination triggered an avalanche of social uprising which forced Ferdinand Marcos to declare snap presidential elections in 1986. Opposition forces joined together and collected one million signatures in one week to convince Aquino to run against Marcos. Despite widespread reports of electoral fraud, Marcos was declared the winner by the government’s Commission on Elections. At the same time, an independent electoral watchdog, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), declared Aquino the winner.

The days that followed were punctuated by both sides claiming power, but on February 22, 1986, two of Marcos’s closest aides, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos (who would later on succeed Aquino as Philippine President) resigned from their posts and declared their support for Cory Aquino. The then archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, went on radio to ask Filipinos to come and support Enrile and Ramos and to help prevent the government forces from reaching their location.

What happened in the next few days will come to be known as the world-famous “People Power Revolution.” About two million people converged on the streets. The mood was festive and people were singing nationalistic songs. On February 25, 1986, after most of the Armed Forces had defected and with millions of people in the streets, Corazon Aquino was sworn in as the new President of the Philippines. Marcos held his own inauguration, but with people slowly converging on Malacañang Palace (the presidential residence), the Marcoses were feeling more pressure, until finally at about 9 PM that evening, they were flown to Hawaii by American aircraft.

Thus ended the non-violent revolution that installed the Philippines’ first female president, and inspired similar non-violent revolutions in Asia and around the world, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Satya is actually started this series and I am going to continue with the rest as per best of my knowledge. As every one knows that India is the most diversified country in terms of religion, culture, believes and languages. These factors makes the festivals as the most exciting part of Indian culture.

As usual here is the wiki definition of Festival

“A festival is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community.”

There are several festivals of the similar kind and type but goes with different style. Let me start today with most celebrated festival all over India, Diwali A festival of lights.

As per Indian mythology so far we have completed 3 eras (yuga) which lasted for tens of thousands of years each. Rama belongs to Treta Yuga and Krishna belongs to Dwapara Yuga.  To make the confusion even more, Rama and Krishna are both incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

South India celebrates Diwali as a viscotry of Krishna over a dangerous demon Narakasura. The rest of India celebrates Diwali as Rama’s return to his kingdom after 14 year in forest and great victory over Ravana. Some parts of India celebrates it as Lakshmi Pooja. Lakshmi is wife of Lord Vishnu and she has all the money.

I always wonder about this festival, the way it is celebrated. The mythology stories are thousands of years apart and every one celebrates differently.

Like any other festival, diwali is also full of food. One more exciting part of India is each festival goes with different style of food. Diwali goes with more of sweet dishes. Again to add a little more confusion, food is again different for the same festival and in different regions.

Next time I will write about one more exciting festival, Ugadi.

From the time I came to America, there have been two Presidential Inaugurations: the first one for George W. Bush in 2001 and the second for Barack Obama, which is today. While I don’t particularly remember how Bush’s inaguration went, I’m pretty sure it’s not as grandoise, star-studded and eventful as Obama’s was today. 

First of all, this has got to be the inauguration with the longest coverage. It’s like a marathon–they have been talking about the inauguration for weeks in television, and with all sorts of related documentaries comparing inaugurations of past presidents. Today’s coverage was no exception. our babysitter was saying that today’s coverage started even before the sun rose, while they were preparing for the day’s activities. And as I’m writing this while watching tv, they are still having the Inauguration Ball in Washington D.C.

Second, while I’ve since discovered that Hollywood is predominantly Democrat, just the sheer number of artists and Hollywood celebrities that were involved in the Inauguration (and Pre-Inauguration!) is very impressive. The large number of African-American celebrities was understandably expected, but even the non-African-American ones were also there in large numbers. I guess apart from having its first black president, America will also find great significance in the fact that this president got support, and seemed to unify (at least for now) all Americans, not just African-Americans or minorities.

Third, this has got to be one of the most attended inaugurations ever. I’m told there were close to two million people in Washington D.C., and probably millions more who were watching on tv.

The other day when we were at a clinic, there was a man sitting across from us who was talking to his wife. He said that he felt fortunate that all this (having a black president) had happened within his lifetime. He said–and I would tend to agree with him–that in his father’s lifetime none of this would have happened. Having heard this made me realize that yes, in a way I am also fortunate to have witnessed all this while living here in America, and that I will have my own stories to tell my son when he reads about this historic moment in their history books!