Thus spake Narendra!
"One infinite pure and holy –
beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee".
HE was Narendranath Dutta whose
famous quote (from the treasure trove of his admirers' collections) I have
reproduced above. You could be forgiven for your bewilderment on this sudden
surge of literary blood (that too sighting an ungainly and ordinary sounding
name) in my otherwise (self confessedly) not so elegant stream of thoughts. But
trust you me if you feign ignorance on hearing the name of Swami Vivekananda
you sure would qualify as a front runner in the race to be The (next) Pappu!
It's a fascinating story to read on
how this transition from Narinder (as he would be fondly addressed by his
illustrious guru) to Vivekananda happened for a young man who at a very young
(in fact tender for many) age of 30 mesmerised the audience from across the
globe when he thundered in the World Parliament of Religions with an unmatched
power of conviction in his oration. His sheer aura and clarity of thoughts in
the lectures he delivered shook America and the whole world.
It's been over 120 long years since
then and as a fascinated young kid I often kept wondering if indeed such a
charismatic personality did ever walk on mother earth! Last year the nation
celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of this great visionary and not so
surprisingly the modern day Narendra was at the forefront of all the jubilations
to pay homage to The Swami.
Today, this Narendra delivered his
first speech after marking his maiden entry into the pantheon for all the
politicians from across the country in some style. Oh! Was that 5 second head
bow at the very first step of his next five years' (the minimum expected)
battle zone merely a hog wash peppered with an eye grabbing drama for the
shutter bugs? What with that choking with emotions and taking a 'strategic'
pause (which seemed to have lasted for eternity) midway through the half an
hour long address which certainly was more to the people who were outdoors (and
even across far off shores) than to the audience which had the privilege to
relish it unfolding like a million dollar block buster right in front of their
eyes? And yes, why so much of mushy talks for the same political adversaries
who you decimated in 'an eye for an eye' high pitch electoral fight not many
nights ago?
Aha! Here comes the modern day Kautilya who knows what he is talking
and how each movement of even his eye lids gets translated into at least half
of the world's spoken languages, almost immediately. He is well aware of all
the national expectations which manifest themselves onto his dreams. He knows
that he doesn't have absolutely any margin for error and that the same admirers
who have unquestionably uplifted him to the unimaginable heavens would take
lesser time to dump him onto the same old, much smaller canvas to reinvigorate
the rest of his political life (if at all any such thing still remains for him
by then).
His virtue? The entire nation (or
just the 31% of it, as so jealously pointed out by a senior 'non-Congressi'
Gandhi) wants him to do well for them and they have already paved way for him
by giving him a thumping victory over his 'shamed-to-be about' predecessors. He
has a reputation for delivering than merely 'offering' (what sham it is to hear
about someone offering to resign and their coterie of sycophants crying hoarse
over it? You either resign or you don't, simple! What's this self serving path
of 'offering' to resign knowing fully well won't even pierce the melted butter,
forget it cutting any glacier ice?)
From among the dozens of juicy sound
bites from his speech today I particularly liked when he declared with a very
child like exuberance that, "I am a very optimistic man and only an
optimistic man can bring optimism in the country." Knowing him there
shouldn't be many self doubting Thomas' questioning this bold arrival. People
have indeed voted for the sense of well advertised yet understated achievement
he is associated with albeit on a much smaller platform. Optimism across the
length and breadth of the horizon is the least we long for now and nobody,
absolutely nobody can hold a candle to him on positivity of thoughts.
For all his reputation as one of its
kind of an orator it indeed was a proud moment for the entire country (almost
totally unexpected for its high voltage billing having already relinquished its
fate to the deaf and dumb genre of cinema) to listen to its manager. Yeah, you
read it right. It's going to be a long, steep walk up the hill before he could
be promoted as a leader. Until then, he carries a name which doesn't deserve to
be soiled. Will the future Narendra's be forced to go back to even more ancient
history (than our generation) to look for a role model or would they get
inspired by a walking figure on their TV screens stays pregnant in the womb of
time. Until then, just bring it on Narinder!
(C) Rits Original
