Congratulations, Mr. President Barack Obama!

Watching you deliver your victory speech tonight I got transported to Grant Park in Chicago where exactly four years ago on the 4^th 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 4^th 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 44^th – and 1^st 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!

Barack Obama and India-US relationship

Barack Obama shares an old connection with India which goes back to 1981 when he had come visiting families of his friends from India. (Not much is known though about ‘those’ friends or their families.) Those were young Obama’s Occidental College (Los Angeles) days before his shifting to Columbia University in New York.

And that is the reason why “dal” (pulses) remains one of his favorite dishes which he can cook as well!

Nevertheless, India’s influence on Barack Obama goes much beyond “dal”. India’s biggest ‘gift’ to him has been ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ who gained entry into his impressionable mind through his idol Martin Luther King Jr.; the latter had based his Civil Rights movement on MG’s philosophies of non-violence and truth. As the world knows, President Obama has Mahatma’s photograph in his office for his daily dose of motivation and guidance! Needless to say, Barack Obama has fashioned his politics on Gandhiji’s teachings.

The fact that his “inner core” of support staff comprises of many Indian-Americans is not a mere coincidence. Also, President Obama complimenting Manmohan Singh by saying “when he speaks, the world listens” reflects his genuine admiration for the prime minister of India.

Nevertheless, since the confirmation of him becoming the 44^th President of the United States of America, the view started doing rounds in the diplomatic circles that the US-India relationship will undergo major shift under Obama administration because he was never seen to be pursuing India in his presidential campaign, unlike his predecessor. We all know that George W. Bush has been the biggest American advocate of India in the global arena. If India today is on the verge of becoming a member of the elite nuclear club, the sole credit goes to the fruition of the Indo-US civil nuclear treaty in his tenure, for which he fought the other world powers. And it is no wonder that India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh calls him a “friend” ("India loves you," that's what our PM proclaimed!?)!

What is perplexing is that in spite of being influenced by India and Indians hugely both at personal and political fronts, President Obama has kept India at bay in geopolitical matters. Whether it was marginalizing India in the skewed Af-Pak strategy or pointing against “job-outsourcing” to India or sidelining India for a permanent UNSC seat or not giving adequate support to India against Pak-sponsored terrorism, Barack Obama has displayed a contradictory image as far as relations with India goes.

President Obama should have known that US’ win in Afghan War could be ascertained only by engaging the biggest regional power that is India which is enormously involved in economic and political developments in Afghanistan anyway as an ally. Then his constant rumbling against “job-outsourcing” - mainly to India - is also clouded as the ongoing economic crises in US have myriad factors to blame of which “out-sourcing” makes a miniscule fraction. Moreover, a democratic India’s inclusion in the select set of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council could have further boosted US’ position in that caucus. Also, America letting go its reluctance to take Pakistan head-on in its war on terror - including in India - would have ensured the US sustained its leadership position in South Asia’s politics, closing almost all doors for China in this immensely important space for political leadership.

For India, whether it is being left out of the Af-Pak policy or America’s unfounded concern on job-outsourcing or US being non-committal on the UNSC seat, these things though very important but they certainly do not threaten the country’s existence. The most disturbing – rather disappointing – aspect of the Indo-US relationship has been America’s unwillingness to contain Pakistan on terror fronts against India. In fact, many a times the US has seemed to be doing ‘double-talks’ with India.

For me, a self-proclaimed fan of Barack Obama, this “duality” is a bit difficult to digest. For me, Barack Obama is my hero, God’s blessing to the world! He is amongst those rare personalities in history who have “not been” politicians but have been “genuine” leaders. As an ardent admirer I have been following his dramatic ascent into the world of politics since 2004 when he made his remarkable keynote speech at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. His “Race in America” speech in March of 2008 in Philadelphia cemented my space in his universe of admirers. The never-seen-before gathering at Tiergarten, Berlin in July 2008 to hear him – a presidential candidate from a foreign state – proved his emergence as a global leader. The joy-with-tears exhibited by the world during his Grant Park, Chicago “Victory Speech” on November the 4^th in 2008 announced that indeed he had a universal appeal. His 20^th January 2009 Presidential Inauguration on the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. saw the entire world glued to television sets for witnessing the historic transition of Barack Obama into the 44^th President of the United States of America; a beautiful metamorphosis of an African-American into the President of America. Life indeed had come full circle!

I am sure President Obama will treat his historical and much awaited India visit as an important occasion – an opportunity - to forge a lasting bond with India (and he will not listen anymore to his misguiding advisers; instead he will listen to his inner voice). Because, it is in mutual benefits of both the nations that the oldest and the largest democracies come together and do “not compete” but “complement” each other. Together, India and America can reshape global geopolitics and economic scene and make world a much better place to live in!

Yes, Together We Can! ...

Welcome to India, Mr. President and the First Lady! I am sure you and Michelle will cherish your stay in Bombay and Delhi! I know for sure that soon you two would be back to my country with Malia and Sasha and Bo! I wish I could meet you in person whom I place only after Mahatma Gandhi in my list of select “favorites”! … Wish we Indians too had our own Barack Obama!

Happy Diwali J