Barack

Barack Obama wins the caucuses in Iowa.

I know this is the headline in almost all the newspapers here in the USA and perhaps a few outside the country as well.

But it is personally, both a victory and a self-defying moment for me.

I who have never voted but once back in India and that was because i had just turned 18 and wanted to claim my right to vote and get the black spot on my finger had one of those unbelievable moments back in Mumbai almost a year ago.

You see my Grandpa has walked with Gandhiji during out freedom struggle and he used to tell me how grand his speeches were. He used to talk about Nehru's  speech and how people used to leave everything they own including relationships to walk with those galvanic personalities during our freedom fight. I just couldn't understand how people could do this. I mean if you personally feel that you need to participate in the struggle, i can understand. But turning to 'freedom struggle' after listening to a speech was something i just could not comprehend. 

But my friends i was sitting in my cosy sofa back in Mumbai flipping the channels and landed on BBC and there i first laid my eyes on Barack Obama. I understood that day. Yes, am deliberately making this sound dramatic because it was such a moment for me. He was simply astounding. He was talking about 'hope' and 'belief' and 'change' and i was just zapped. A bomb could've gone off and i wouldn't have known. When the speech ended i wanted more, i didn't know who he was yet i wanted to walk with him, vote for him, and wanted to participate in his struggle. I just couldn't believe i felt so much for a complete stranger in a different land. 

That evening i told my hubby that Obama will be the next American President. I was so sure of it. Aravind was kind enough to not laugh right at my face. He took a moment and said, 'he's a 'black' preethi, America will never make a black ... 'The President', trust me. But i just knew he was different. I wanted him to win. Yesterday i had my own small victory. 2008 has brought with it my first victory. I know it is too early to say that he'll be the President but i am going to hold my head high. A state with a 98% white community selected a Black leader. 

This has made me look deeper. I'm not indifferent to Politics after all, it is just that i don't find such candidates in India. Sad but true. I don't vote because there is no one i trust enough. That is the fact. When will i see a young new blood who trusts himself completely and readily brings about a change in India. Corruption will end. Education will rise. People will turn to honesty because it is still the best policy and they will have a proof that it pays. Where is such a leader? God, how long has it been since i felt this way? How long has it been since i loved my country enough to wish for a change. I don't deny that we've risen economically in the past few years but how grand would it be if there was a man/woman with a spinal cord. 

'Hope' has not forsaken my heart afterall...