Watching you deliver
your victory speech tonight I got
transported to Grant Park in Chicago where exactly four years ago on the 4th
of November in 2008 you had mesmerized the whole world with your maiden victory
speech! You had just created history by becoming the first “black” president of
the United States of America and had gained entry into the otherwise forbidden
walls of the White House!
Tonight also it felt
exactly the same. Seeing you come on the stage gave me goose bumps. And as
you started speaking, my tears started rolling down. My tears were testimony to
pure joy! Just like 2008, this year too I was absolutely confident about your chances
for the second term. And then I realized how fast the last four years had flown
by! I went down my memory lane.
Your journey towards the White House which started with you
making a hypnotizing keynote speech at
the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles in 2004 brought me into your
Universe as an ardent admirer! And I have been a selfless companion ever since,
just like billions of your fans all across the globe! Interestingly, and a bit
unbelievably, an average Indian was not even aware of your existence back then;
they woke up to your presence only in 2008.
Your 2008 nomination as the presidential candidate seemed
just a formality from the beginning itself as you were far ahead in terms of
qualities and capabilities than all other competing candidates. Nevertheless,
as the campaigning progressed, the world along with America got to discover you
better. It was almost like witnessing an evolution
of Barack Obama, the future president of the United States of America which
was going to govern this incredible country of yours for at least next eight
years!
“Change You Want” and
“Change you can believe in” became synonymous with you! And after a long
time people believed in political slogans. They got to greet a genuine leader
who was not a politician. The circle of your charisma was not limited to the
boundaries of America; your fame had travelled far and wide. The congregation
of millions at the Tiergarten in Berlin in
July of 2008, waiting patiently for hours to hear you speak live was the
proof of you graduating as a world leader. Never before in the history of
humanity did any “foreign” political leader have your kind of inclusive
influence on people in a faraway land! People’s response all across the globe
was simply mindboggling! I and my entire family had eagerly awaited your speech
since evening; sleep was the last thing on our mind – and in our eyes – though it
was already night in India.
I fell in
irreversible love with you in March of 2008 while listening to your “Race in
America” speech in Philadelphia! What a speech it was! Unbelievable! The
impact of your words could still be heard reverberating in my heart! That day our
bond got cemented forever!
I followed your
presidential campaign like a shadow. I joined your mailing list, I read
about you extensively on the Net and in your books; you seemed a part of my
being; your family members felt like belonging to my family; in my heart and
mind, there was no distinction because of geographical & geopolitical
barriers. I was no less than a walking encyclopaedia on you!
I distinctly remember
the early morning of 4th November of 2008. I was sleeping when my
sister called from Shanghai, accusing me of “still sleeping while your Obama is
winning!” And soon my parents and other family members called to
congratulate me on your victory! Yes, for them, it was my victory as well! It
was as if everybody in my circle had accepted the fact that I had a shared fate
with you – just like the billions all across the globe!
Today also the
sequence of events was exactly the same. My sister called me in the early morning
to “wake me up” to the election results! My parents and friends congratulated me
on your victory! And, today again I cried listening to your victory speech in
Chicago!
And I remembered your
Toots – your grandmother – who too would have felt exactly the same as she
had four years ago – blessing you from up above the sky so high! Wish God had
kept her alive for just two more days in ’08 so that she could herself witness the
beautiful metamorphosis of her “black”
grandson into the 44th – and 1st black – president of the
United States of America!
And how could I not remember your amazing mother Anne who transferred her extraordinary genes
into you and made you what you are today!
Now I wait for your
inauguration in January of next year. In fact everything from your earlier
inauguration is so fresh in my memory that four years seem just like yesterday.
I await you inauguration speech just like I did before.
“Barack” means “blessed”
and blessed indeed is America, and so is the world, with you being there as the
president of the United States of America!
May God be with you, as always! And, hope to see you soon in India – this time
with Shasha, Malia and Bo, besides the
First Lady Michelle :)
Congratulations,
again, Mr. President Barack Obama!
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