“In New Delhi, the Indian writer, Gurcharan Das, remarked to me that with each visit to the US lately, he has been forced by border officials to explain why he is coming to America. They ''make you feel so unwanted now,'' said Das. America was a country ''that was always reinventing itself,'' he added, because it was a country that always welcomed ''all kinds of oddballs'' and had ''this wonderful spirit of openness''. American openness has always been an inspiration for the whole world, he concluded. ''If you go dark, the world goes dark.'' (Mutuating America's DNA, Thomas L. Friedman, June 02, 2005, New York Times)

“Gurcharan Das, the former head of Procter & Gamble in India, wrote in The Times of India that this election was about better local governance: ”What matters to the rickshawala [scooter driver] is that the cops not take away a sixth of his daily earnings. The farmer wants a clear title to his land without having to bribe the patwari [village accountant]. The sick villager wants the doctor to be there when she visits the primary health center. The housewife doesn't want the water tap to go dry while she is washing.” (Think Global, Act Local, Thomas L. Friedman, June 06, 2004, New York Times)

- Thomas L. Friedman, columnist, New York Times