Monday, July 30, 2007

Being a leader is not power, it means responsibility.




“As a child of God, I am greater than anything that can happen to me.”


What a verse… what perseverance… some day, when I own a house, this phrase is sure to hold a framed position in my meditation room, to keep me reminded.. This too will pass.
I know as usual am confusing my lovely readers with the difference in the blog topic and the above couple of lines. This time… am all set to write about a person we all know and never got to know him well enough.
Yeah… as the picture would ‘ve spoken to u already, am definitely going to talk about our one & only Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Birth Oct 15th, 1931), the 12th President of India (18 July, 2002 – July 25th 2007). My major reason to be attracted to him other than him being the President is our mutual luv for the color BLUE.
Here, I sincerely hope I don’t republish wat we’ve known thru fwd mails --- about the handful of civilian awards that were bestowed on him, his contribution to the astro world, his luv for the humanity, languages, Bagavath Gita, Quran, Thirukural or being a vegetarian food, teetotaler, with a vision of developed India, a poet, orator, author, etc. All I want to think is about how much did I learn from him. Lets say, may be a percentage of around … may be… a null percentage. I can claim that 90% of my readers feel the same way when we look back & realize if we really appreciate his presence in his 5 yrs tenure.
The day he was sworn in as the president of India, my happiness knew no bounds, I literally shed a tear of joy to know that some one I’ve heard abt as a intellect is goin to rule the country. Hello… this does not mean that other presidents were not as good as him or anything… its only that am not a very politically inclined person & know nothing more than the names of the president, prime minister and chief minister of my state as of today. That’s it.
I’ve lived 25yrs of my life in a government owned residential quarters… similar to Kalamji. Ok, to be Rashtrapathi Bhavan is also a govt. quarters, but to the President. Though I claim to be a very fwd minded, independent woman, I doubt if I would let strangers walk into my garden to admire the beauties it with held. When we couldn’t decide on our own house, I really appreciate the way Dr.ji trust his fellow Indians to walk his grounds. I’m learning to TRUST from him.
Ardent Muslim, devoted to Bagavath Gita as well… did I hear right about this news about him? An acquaintance told me that it’s a rumor, just to create a sense of unity btwn the Hindu & the Muslim citizens. But then, I don’t believe he had to be reading it all through his life and following the lessons in the hope that he would one day be a President and show case this habit. From this, I should be learning EQUALITY IN RELIGION and their values.
The first time his permission was sought to nominate him as for President, though with reluctance, he did agree. After 5 long years of Presidential experience and when few good souls requested him about his idea for a second period… I read him as saying, ‘If you would give your word that I would be elected again, then I would compete’. No wish for the power or greediness to the throne could woe him. He’s a great learner, to know the truth of politics from experience, good or bad. From this I learn to be GOOD JUDGE OF SITUATION.
I can go on like this… but this being a blog, I stop myself from writing a book. I’ve not paid much attention to any one in politics as much as I did on the last day of Kalamji’s job as a President. Once again, just as on his first day as a president, I shed few more tears… with hopes that India would get a visionary like him as a ruler again & hopes to see a developed India by 2020. I’ve begun to dream of self growth… for I believe, mass growth of individuals both economically and as a person, means the growth of the nation.




My only concern is, when the effective leader has finished with his work, I hope the world doesn’t say it happened naturally.




Jai Hind.