Truly Presidential!!

I am supposed to be working on my resume and doing my job application, but a freak visit to IBNlive's website to have a look at the early morning news just made me sit up straight and start typing this.. coz the headline read... "I'll leave Rashtrapati Bhavan with 2 suitcases": Kalam

My cousin Prasanna is a semi-professional singer in Carnatic music, not to mention an MTech from IIT Madras and 3 days younger to me!! We've grown up as siamese twins and lived parallel lives through Mumbai University. Being an upcoming musician with a silken voice thats winning over the purists in Chennai, it was a matter of great pride for each one of us in the family when he recieved an invitation from Rashtrapati Bhavan to perform in front of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, President of India. My mom, aunt and uncle(Prasanna's dad) flew from Mumbai and Prasanna and his mom from Chennai, to be recieved at Delhi Airport by Government of India's cars and be put up in two guest suites at Rashtrapati Bhavan itself. I could feel the glint in their voices when I spoke to them on the morning of the concert, and as usual, I could sense a strong current of confidence flowing when Prasanna spoke to me. He was honored to be singing for the President himself..

Next morning when I spoke to mom who was almost choking describing the experience, I couldn't help but notice a lump forming in my throat. The concert was fantastic, albeit for just 1/2 hr and four songs, and he was sublime as ever, but my mother's eyed glowed in the webcam when she spoke of the President. A gentleman, truly a person worthy of being called the First Citizen of the country.. he spoke to almost each one of the 150 guests present there and despite having an immediate appointment to attend after the function, spending an extra 1/2 hour taking care of each one present there, like a perfect host. Being a keen follower of carnatic music, it has been a regular feature for the past five years for Rashtrapati Bhavan to resonate with the ragas and sounds of Mridangam, Ghatam and violins. And prior to Prasanna's performance, a man from Coimbatore, disabled without arms or legs, sang for half an hour as well. Between both the performances, Dr. Kalam briefly addressed the audience, fondly remembering the day when during a visit to Coimbatore, his assistant informed him of this man who wished to seek an audience with him. Dr. Kalam remembers only the glint in the person's eyes and not his disabilities. While exchanging pleasantries, the President asked the man if he was fine, and blurry eyed, the man replied that he was living a blessed life under the eyes of people who cared for him, and he had just one wish in life, to sing a song for the President of India. He agreed then and there and sat across from the man and heard him sing a wonderful song for 5 minutes. He told the audience that day that he decided then, probably for the first time, to use his powers, and arrange for the man to perform in front of an audience at Rashtrapati Bhavan. This was the last set of concerts before his term ends, and in some ways is befitting that through my mom, through me, everyone of you manages to get a glimpse into a man, who truly has been Presidential.

In some ways for me, what my mother told me that day epitomized what I and probably, the whole of middle-class India has felt good about, in the last five years. I stess on the middle class, because we in more ways than one, represent our country, and in the same breath, bring out that nonchalant chalta-hai-this-is-india-cant-hope-for-much-improvement attitude. We feel neglected by our politicians, but pay our taxes and vote, however irrelevant we know it is going to be. I don't want to divulge into further details, but this India, I know for sure, wore a smile on her face the day Dr. Kalam was elected President. Its always been a titular post, but nonetheless, it is the post of the First Citizen. After, and now it seems, before and after, term after term of faceless, mundane, relatively untarnished political scions, from 2002 to 2007, India had a President who in many ways, represented the country. An educated scientist who had grown up from the grass-roots, but also someone who had a vision for the future. Time and again, we all have read of his numerous encounters with children of all ages. Probably being from the educational fraternity, he single handedly had seen and come to realize how much potential we as a country had in our youth. I am going to cut this blatantly short, but I personally felt proud as Indian to have Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam as the President of my country. As he returns to his one room guest house at Anna University campus in Chennai, I can only hope that his vision 2020 for India atleast lives up to continue being a vision in each one of our eyes, for we can grow bigger and better only when we grow as a country.

I stand up and salute to you Sir... Jai Hind!!!