Martin Luther King Jr. once said very famously: 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.'. He worked for the rights of the Black people of the United States of America and probably the world.
Even he would probably not have dreamt that one day, a black person would rise to become the President of the United States. Today, with the election of Barack Obama as the next President, the obvious and yet unlikely has been achieved.
Picture Courtesy: TIME magazine archives
Kudos to Obama for having dreamt this day and working towards it. Kudos to the American public for having helped him realize this dream.
I will probably never forget the incident that occurred this evening as the news of Barack Obama winning trickled in. After having watched most of the results at Murphy and Gonsalez near NYU, we were walking towards the PATH station to get back home. Apparently, in between our exit and this moment, Barack Obama had won enough seats to be declared as the winner. People were rejoicing in their homes, balconies and in the streets.
An African American person approached us as we were waiting at the corner of 9th and 5th. He exclaimed "Do you know what color is Barack Obama?". We didn't know what to say and how to react, having been caught off-guard. Before we would react, he provided the obvious answer "BLACK!". He continued "A Black person is now the President of the United States".
As he walked into the night, happy with the outcome, I realized how much this victory meant for the African American community of this country. I realized how much this country had progressed since the times of MLK Jr.
While time alone will tell whether Obama is a good president or not, one thing is for certain: Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has finally come true.
Parting Notes #1 - I am a Republican. #2 - I cannot vote. #3 - I do not matter. #4 - I hope that things do turn out well. #5 - God Bless America #6 - Jai Maharashtra!
ups and downs... moments of joy... moments of despair... moments of love... moments of broken hearts... moments of togetherness... moments of loneliness... moments of hardwork... moments of rewards...
The moments that were 2006 have to make way...
for 007 to come... for 007 to spread joy... for 007 to rekindle hope... for 007 to spread smiles around... for 007 to break the shackles of the facade... for 007 to party... for 007 to have a good time... for 007 to fly... for 007 to be in the sky...
Let us take the giant Leap!
Its time for 2007 to arrive! Here's to a great year ahead!
Each and everyone of us are like the fingers of our hands...different! Put 10 people in a room and you will get an exhaustive list of likes and dis-likes, thoughts and opinions and a truck-load of talent! You would find someone who can dance like Jennifer Lopez, sing like Mariah Carey, write like Ayn Rand, entertain an audience like Jay Leno...well almost! You would need these people in person to get that kind of talent! But you know where I am getting at... As I have mentioned in one of my earlier blogs...I think that I lie at the other end of the said spectrum. This may sound real low on self confidence..but it is not! Until a few years back, I thought that i was a realist(if there is such a thing in the Oxford dictionary)...someone who thought realistically about things and did not have an optimistic or a pessimistic view point. But then I realised (life is a great tutor in many respects...) that it wasn't doing any good for my self confidence! And life is ALL about ATTITUDE!
Your attitude defines your thought process.It drives what you want to do and what you actually end up doing. And so it gives a person the defining edge to rise above mediocrity and move towards excellence! And when you break the journey up into smaller steps...it doesn't look any steep anymore! It is do-able! I have charted many a personal victories using this thought in mind and it has reaped huge benefits for me. Well..back to the topic at hand. I ain't the most talented guy in this side of the town. But I try hard not to lose an opportunity when I am given one...For they are like an old man's teeth...Few...and far in between. This is a simple story of one such opportunity! One of my previous blogs had a comment that I can sing to disperse a crowd...and that this talent(???)can be used in a tense situation to break up a mob! One night has changed that outlook... Something like a week back, we received a mail from the admin for my team asking me whether I wanted to be a part of the group which was planning on singing the carols for the office Christmas/Year end party. Yes! You read that right! I was asked whether I wanted to join the office choir. It had always been an unfulfilled dream for me that I sing to an audience...that was willingly listening. And that when I would open my eyes at the end of it all, there would be someone listening to me! While I saw this as an opportunity, i was sceptical. I didn't know how it would all turn out. And whether I would make a fool of myself! ALL my friends have always been critical of my attempts at singing. And I guess that made me think 100 times before I sang. Singing for me was something that was done only in the confines of the bathroom, under the shower. But i went nevertheless! For I knew that Lady Luck ain't coming knocking to your door twice. There were quite a few people there for the practices. And I wondered...would I be any good? Would I be decent enough not to make a fool of myself? It wasn't a case of self doubt. It was more like the Truth for me. When you hear day and night that Surf Excel can get rid of all stains, you start believing them! Similarly you start believing people when they tell you time and again that singing is NOT my cup of coffee (I dont drink tea... :->). Well, back to the choir practices. On an average, 3 out of 4 people were regular choir singers or those who had sung in a choir before. And they were good! I passed through two days without a lot of trouble. Missed a thing here and a few things there...but all in all, it was a good experience! I decided to stay in the shadow of another guy named Satya. He has a wonderful voice and I would sing in his shadow, by his side. He would mellow...so would I. He would stop, so would I. We were told in the first few days that his was the 'better' voices and that we had to support him. A few of those present didnt exactly like that and hence they politely excused themselves. But I decided to persist! There was a goal in mind. I wasnt thinking about the choir. I was selfishly thinking about myself. I wanted to do it for myself! As the practices progressed, I heard a lot of terms: 'tone', 'alto', 'melody', 'harmony'...while I theoretically had a vague idea of what they meant, I didn't have a clue as to what they sounded like. I couldn't tell one from the other. For that matter, I couldn't tell one from itself! Everything was Greek and German as far as I was concerned. And it was amusing to me when every once in a while, everyone (besides me)threw their hands up in the air screaming that we were one 'note' higher/lower and that we weren't sounding right. Turned out that i was the only member of the Les Ignorants contingent out there. I now emphatised with Joey Tribbiani. The way he would try to act like he was on the same page as the others whilst in the middle of a intellectual conversation...when actually he was so far away from the line...that he couldn't even see the line. I decided that the shut mouth policy was the best policy. In the middle of all this, there were some interesting turns and twists to the carols. The turning point came when the guys were asked to sing all by themselves to get the notes(??? I am not sure whether that is the right word) right. In the middle of the all guy-song sequence, one of the girls doing the melody (no idea what it means...guess will have to google for it...) said that i should do 'seconds' for a particular sequence. I said that I didnt know what the hell she was talking about. She made all of us sing again...and then exclaimed that i was indeed doing seconds. Since we were not doing well that day, i thought that it was me who was screwing it up. When I asked her if that was the case, she said that it was something good. Something else came up and as a result of the same, I had to let go of the same. The next day however, the same thing came up again.The director(that is what we all her fondly!) suddenly exlaimed that I was doing the thing that i was doing...seconds. That is when the melody girl said that I have been doing it for a while....without knowing what I was upto. I was scared know...I thought that i was really screwing it up. That is when they said that what i was doing was actually something good! I couldn't believe my ears! I asked them...'Excuse me???' They said...'Exghacttly' Well, actually it wasnt Exghacttly like how i said it...but I bet that you get the drift! As I always do, I started fishing for compliments! I wanted to know what it was that they meant. They told me that it was something that was tough to do...something like melody and harmony..and that if I was doing it spontaneously, it was something great! And that i was to continue to do what i doing (unknowlingly of course!). Later in the evening, when it was sound check time, we (atleast me) were going terribly off! I guess I was getting conscious...I have done atleast 10 skits/dramas etc on stage...even danced once on stage...but a song was a first! The butterflies in the stomach were obvious! All the attitude and the self-confidence went for a toss. I was asked to stand all by myself at the end of a semi circle that we boys(that is what the girls were calling us) were standing in. I thought it was because I wasnt doing well. It was only later that i realised that this was actually because i was throwing someone else off the track! Let me try to explain the concept of a second voice as I have understood it with my limited music knowledge(sorry to have kept harping on the lack of musical know-how. it is just that everyone other than me seems to know more about music... :-> ). When a person is singing in a second voice, what he/she is actually singing a note lower than the rest of the group. This is supposedly akin to swimming against the tide. To sing in tune, but a note lower than the rest is something that isn't easy is something that I am told(please correct me if any of this is incorrect). Since I was singing at a different note, i was throwing another guy off the track. Hence he needed to be alongside someone else so that he remained in scope. The sound checks were chaotic. We just didnt seem to get the sequence right. And before we could test anymore, the first of the buses carrying the people arrived and people started trickling into the InterContinental lawns. We decided to pack up and change into our gear. Us guys were doing blazers and were looking neat. But the girls were simply stunning. Each and everyone of them! They seemed to provide just the right kinda motivation! ;) And they had our attention...hook, line and sinker! I know had another reason to perform well! ;) The scheduled time was 2000 IST...but in the fine tradition of Indian Stretchable Time, it was pushed by 30 mins...and we were getting impatient...so were the people! We had lovely Santa caps on! And they were lookin simply stunning! All of us had champagne and sparkling wine...and that seemed to give us the push that we needed... We started with Joy to the world! It was a loud and a strong song(description was provided by the director). The papillons in the belly had been long gone! Whether it was because of the champagne, the new found confidence or the stunning ladies, I don't know. But they were gone for sure! I sang with a lot of fervour. It was my 20 minutes of glory. A dream long overdue was finally being fulfilled. I sang my heart out. I guess that my emotions could be heard in my voice. It was like a one-day match debut for a cricketer or clearing the Engineering graphics paper for a first year engineering student! We soon moved to peppier songs like Santa Claus is comin' to town, Jingle Bell Rock and Jingle Bells When it was all done, it was like the end of a dream! It wasnt that i desperately wanted or something. You have to understand that! All of us have this list of things that we want to do in a lifetime...BASE jumping, para-gliding, writing a book of my own...This was a part of that list...I guess that i just didnt have the confidence to do it! And never had more that half an opportunity any which way.
At the end of the day, it was a lesson well learnt! Nothing is impossible in life...One just has to do it the right way. One should have faith in oneself. And you should not try to ape someone else. You should do what you are good at..and be good at it. If I had tried to ape Satya or do something different, I reckon that i would have screwed it up. All of us have some talents. Its just that some of them are hidden. We have to understand the meaning of the word 'hidden' and try to find them...And the most important of them all...Always follow your what your heart tells you and try to achieve what you dream of! I think that it was a one hell of a learning for one night!
PS: In case I have sounded like I am boasting or if you found the post to be lacking of modesty, I apologise. But, you have to understand the thought process and excitement that has gone into the writing of this post! And the underlying sentiments involved. You have to understand HOW much it means to me... thanks...APS
Picture Courtesy: www.wikipedia.org
Picture Courtesy: TIME magazine archives
