AT THE END OF OBAMA'S HARD, LONG DAY...

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma

I was watching on TV, last night, the special programmes on President Obama’s visit to India. I have long admired the way he communicates with such depth, confidence and élan, all at the same time, and all extempore… Yes, no matter how long he speaks. I follow him - of all the other things I admire him for – for this strength of his: the power of public-speaking.

“How does he do it?” my wife was spellbound, last night, “THAT is public-speaking!”

“You are right, darling,” I expressed my agreement, “THAT is why we are glued to him, like this!”

But, this Post is not about President Obama’s phenomenal ability to move people with his gift of gab. By now, no one on this earth would need me to point it to him or her… I, myself, have blogged many times about it, in the past… There are so many of his great speeches – particularly relating to his two-time Presidential-elections… Just a click on YouTube, you have them, right before you…

So, this Post is about a young-lady’s question to him, last night, while he was taking questions, jointly with our PM, Mr. Modi, on a radio programme. The lady was curious to know as to what helped President Obama maintain his sanity when he was home at the end of such a stressful day – a day which was so unpredictable and so full of burden - not just of his own vast country, but also of the whole world… Yes, how did he manage to be a normal husband for his wife, Michelle, and dad for his two young-girls, Malia and Sasha when he was home, at the end of the day?

More than the young-lady, who had asked that question, I found myself curious to know how the President of the most powerful nation on earth did it…

The answer made me smile… feel a lot stress-free and a lot hopeful about life. I am only paraphrasing what President Obama said…

“What keeps me maintain my sanity, my normal self when I am home, at the end of the day, is:

Some young-one like you, from a remote corner of my own country or another country tells me that the education programme which we were able to initiate made a huge difference in his or her life…

Someone sick, someone disabled, someone deprived of means to buy food, medicines or clothes… someone without a home, someone who is unable to pay his school-fees… yes, when he or she tells me how I made a difference in his or her life…

Yes, it is the sense of being able to contribute as the head of a great nation to the lives of so many people, that keeps me totally sane and human when I am home at the end of a hard, stressful day…”

“Sir, add this, too,” I found telling in my mind: “Someone, somewhere telling me how inspired he or she feels every time he or she hears me speak!”

At the end of the day, what keeps the President of the most powerful nation on earth firmly planted on this earth - sane and sensible, human and tender… is what keeps you and me, too, so…

THAT is what made me smile… made me feel a lot stress-free, a lot hopeful, last night.

GERALD D’CUNHA