Barack Obama has Won !

He has done it.

I don't believe a lot of the people in this world can understand the enormity and the immensity of the task he has achieved. Barack Obama was born at a time when in certain parts of USA, blacks weren't allowed to vote and they would have been killed if they were to suggest anything close. In his mid twenties, Barack was leading a life of a confused young man who had little idea where the world was taking him. In 2000, he was rejected from entering the Democratic National Convention speech of Al Gore. In 2008 he is heading the same convention and Al Gore campaigned for him. He defeated John McCain in the elections who has been in continuous public service for US since before Barack Obama was even born. Millions of people around the world are pinning their hopes on him and billions more are looking at him are looking at him to take US and the world out of this financial crisis.

How did he do it?

I have spent a generous amount of my free time following Obama's life and career over the Internet for much more than a year now and am more than just inspired - I am in awe. If there is anything in life that I would want to pick up from him it would be

• A sense of deep solace that nothing in this world is impossible to achieve. If whites can forget all black hate to vote for a black man, if Virginia can vote for a Black man after having been the capital of US African slavery then anything in this world is possible. This alone is a most comforting thought to me. Often this brings me back to my life at Penn State in early 2006 when I was having dinner with a group of Americans and a fellow Indian student when she commented that USA is not ready to vote a black president and nobody on the table made as much as a flutter - they all believed her :-)
  

• Careful planning and an indomitable spirit can overcome the most difficult of challenges. The Obama who has inspired millions by his soaring rhetoric used to stammer till 2000. By relentless speaking publicly in Sunday Churches (and he reported lured some members to sleep), he is where he is now and delivered the South Carolina victory speech which to me is the best rhetoric till date.

• Humility, a little love and showing dreams can bring down the toughest within us to bring people together. It is nothing but pure magic to think the way he has run his campaign and showered generous humility throughout. Even his fiercest opponents (McCain, Hillary, Palin) are all showing respect and sheer awe now that the election result is out.
  

I could go on and on but there would be just too much food for thought. I am just too impressed, hopefully one day I can tread the same path.

This one is for Barack Obama !

I want to go home

There are countless things I have to and would love to do but none more than catching a flight to go to my home right now.... my parents need me and I need them more than anyone else right now.

Talking to my boss on monday - catching my flight to Delhi.. I am coming home.

Inspiring Myself

Words do matter .. often there are days when you are in need of a few words to pep yourself up, to reignite that torch within you, to remind yourself that you are in here for a greater purpose - today is one of those days for me

Read them all ... and start going after your dreams


" Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

In life I am often reminded, if not by the events of life, than by my wife - that I am not a perfect man

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. "

Barack Obama

I am an Obama fan.

Many people have asked me .. what's so great about him? What's new in his promised policies? He isn't saying anything different. His public speaking are excellent at best and not extraordinary and we have had presidential candidates with similar oratory skills in the past - Ronald Reagen immediately comes to mind. So what is it all about Obama then?

Since quite a young age, I have had a penchant for people who are infamous for doing something that are not generally in line with society accepted good norms. I am a fan of Adolf Hitler, I am a fan of Hugo Chavez, I am a fan of the mythological figures Ravana and Duryodhana, I am a fan of Abel from Kane and Abel and now I am a fan of Obama.

Its certainly not doing justice to Obama to have his name along with the rest of them - but to me they are all the same. They all have some key characteristics that attract me towards them. And this flare of attraction is enough to hide any other deficits.

What attracts me to Obama then?

• He is a black. No matter how much you might argue about racial tolerance and race being non existent now, it does exist there - it exists in the drawing room conversations, it exists in the police and court rooms and it exists in the minds of people. However, Obama never sat down cribbing that what he is doing is impossible - that it isn't possible to get white votes in white neighborhoods, that it isn't possible to get votes from those families who have been mobbed by black guys on the back alley. He is totally banking on himself - and that is all that he needs.
  
  
• He says something and will take it till the last dime that its worth - When Obama was touted as a possible presidential candidate, he didn't immediately say that he is ready for it. He took his time out to think and then finally announced his presidency. And now he is valiantly fighting till the end. There are many candidates Giulani, Romney, Edwards who came in with high hopes but kept dropping out. The real race is run by Titans and Obama is a Titan. You promise and stand up for something and then you go all out for it - no slacking, no excuses.

And that's why I love Obama. And I hope he wins. Cause he deserves to .. and that is going to send out a strong message to everyone that nothing really is impossible.