Dear Barak,
Blessings! Well wishes. Maybe sycophants may say that for the president of USA some heavy-weight words should be used. But somehow we (used in the sense of King’s English) feel that if there is that much formality and distance, then what is the point of even writing a letter. You are of the age of my former students, my children and we are a teacher. And you know that a teacher never retires. Just starts lecturing anyone, anywhere, as if teaching in a class. We also know that you studied in an ordinary school where there would have been teachers like us - hard and strict from outside but inside? ... approachable, inclusive and personable. In the so-called ‘big’ school, the teachers teach less and learn more because in such schools, students come wearing their influential fathers’ shoes, not their own.
We read your book. Not because you are president but because you are a different kind of president. You have risen from the soil. We can smell the soil and sweat in you. Clinton also wrote a book and even sold a lot, but we didn’t read it, because that was written by a president and licentious man. These days it has become a fashion to cash on whatever little good or bad publicity one can garner. The so called ‘great’ personalities also get many writers on rent. What to read them! But you wrote this book not while you were a president but even before you became a presidential candidate. Hence there is a thinking youth reflected in it and not a shrewd politician.
You have seen dreams and that too of an honest man. We want to join you in those dreams. In your blood it is not just the ‘Eat, Drink, Make merry’ kind of consumerist American dreams, but your blood also has Asia and Africa whose civilizations have been ancient, simple and hard-working. It is very important to have a seasoning of these cultures in the American political dish of today because the world has seen the results of pure consumerist culture. ‘Only consumption’ ruins not just people but countries and the whole world.
America gets the credit for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fueling the Cold War, encouraging the Islamic fundamentalists and being the main representative of making consumption the only goal of life. The departed have left thorns for your office tenure. Your path is not easy. Your name, Barak, means ‘blessed’. May God give you the good fortune and strength after giving you the opportunity to be a blessing to this entire world. You have understanding, and now power in the form of the office. Now, all that you need is good company, because the powerful quickly get sweet-spoken sycophants who waste a lot of time. We saw that happen to our former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He had some vision. He opened doors to new technology because of which now India is a power in IT and other technical fields. The kind of absolute majority he got (more than 2/3 seats) he could have changed the constitution for the good, but the sweet-spoken ‘well-wishers’ never gave him the time for thought clarity. If he wanted he could have passed uniform civil code, uniform education, ended Section 370 and other far-reaching and revolutionary works, but what did people advise? ‘Override and slap the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case for the Muslim vote bank.’ Then they advised to open the locks of the Ayodhya Ram Temple and get Hindu votes as well. And the result? In the dilemma he got neither Ram nor maya (neither spiritual nor material gain). Rather, had to eat onions as well as get the boots. (A thief was punished with either eating 100 onions or getting beaten with 100 shoe kicks. He chose to eat onions, and couldn’t finish, so he got the kicks as well. Similarly, Rajiv lost trust of both Muslims and Hindus). Just beware of such advisors.
Your oath ceremony preparations are going on with lot of pomp and show. It is a bad time for the American economy. If we were in your place, we would not have spent even a cent. Nowadays, because of television, the whole world can see on television itself. Not sure if this was your desire or on the advice of some ‘well-wisher’. Nevertheless, it is true that for non-whites, it is a historic moment. They would be desirous to have the biggest ever such program. In such occasions, simplicity is more effective. The same money could have been given to the inner city schools with low funding and economically weaker sections of the society.
Over here, it gets over-crowded even for small functions. But these days there are lot of incidents of ‘explosive’ situations in crowded areas. In your case, just take care that there are no race riots. If all goes peaceful, we will take that as a sign of maturity of your people. This is the time to test the patience of the ‘whites’. Earlier the America who hoisted the flag of consumerism and now is suffering slowdown, we wish the same America now, under your guidance, set an example of simplicity, hard work and frugality.
You will take oath on the Lincoln Bible. Your national motto is - ‘In God we trust’. Actually, there is only one God, but somehow none of the god-men seem to agree on this basic tenet. They will proclaim there is only one God, and then fight in the name of the same God! In the name of religion, they will make armies, and either by force or by coerce they will convert. Over here, Gandhiji (and only Gandhiji) used to sing ‘Ishwar, Allah are both Your names’. But no religion gave him recognition in their religion. Is it necessary to be extreme for the sake of religion? Every new religion started with a new God and started on a Crusade to wipe out older one. For you not just race, even religion can pose a problem. Over here, our national motto is - ‘Truth alone triumphs’. The great Upanishads say that Truth is God and there is no bigger penance than the path of Truth. Truth is also more scientific, but accepting truth doesn’t allow individual shops for these religious god-men! We have another great thought of essence - ‘This is mine, that not - such thought is of the narrow minded. The benevolent consider the whole earth as their family.’
If you take inspiration from this thought then you will truly become a blessing for the whole world. In your leadership, this world becomes a better place - with these well-wishes,
Sincerely,
Ramesh Joshi
18 January 2009
Original Post
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Translated from the original works of Ramesh Joshi from the following blogs - Jhootha Sach (True Lies) and Joshi Kavi (Poet)
Original (c): Ramesh Joshi. Translation (c): Shashikant Joshi
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