Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Thus spake Narendra!


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

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