Winds of change???

It was a historic day on Jan 20, 2009 in the annals of American history. The day on which the 44th president of United State of America took oath thus finalising the transfer of power from the incumbent. It was a new dawn for the Afro-American community as it was the First person from the race to hold the highest office of the nation. Barack Hussein Obama has made history and etched his name among the highly precious leaders of the country. His coming to power has been a roller-coaster ride from the moment his nomination as democratic candidate running in the race for president. Before he could be in the real race was a huge task of passing through the toughest challenge from the former first lady cum senator Hilary Clinton who was a clear favourite to hold office. Once past her he was clearly the people's choice as his promise had been a "New America", a "Changed America". Eight years of Republic rule had made the country stare at the bottom of the barrel with uncertain future helped his cause largely and defeat of John McCain was achieved. Over to the period after conforming his candidature the President elect was in "Honeymoon Period" as coined in American power circles. He was in fact under training and was learning the technicalities of the office.

Over to his inauguration on the West end of the Capitol Hall at 12 noon on chilly after non and thousands has turned up for the occasion and the world was amazed on seeing such huge crowds barring cold winds. The occasion was a grand affair with the who's who of American power circle attending it and millions of viewers watching in in TV and live streaming over the Internet(me was of this category!!! at 1 AM). There was some prayers and a musical performance before the main speech took place, but all eyes was on one person and he was sitting there like a normal human being as if unaware of such a huge responsibility being placed on his young shoulders. When his came there was huge uproar and he had to wait for some seconds for the applause to die down. There began an inspiring speech which had been modelled akin to a sculptor creating his masterpiece. Here goes a brief text of such an inspiring speech which touched millions of hearts across the globe.

Starting with a humble thanks to the people and a great thanks to his 43 predecessors in office it was of to a steady and clear start. When everybody settled down immediately, Obama started off like a panther in its mission clearly stricking the bull's eyes by accepting the huge task which welcomes him in office. Outlining the indicators of the economic crisis and addressing the lowering confidence of the people he affirmed the faith in him by saying "America - all challenges WILL BE MET". He gave a gist of what he plans to do to overcome the many challenges being faced by stating "For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do." It looks like a fairy tale, but the way this man blurted it out seems that this is not impossible. Clearly this man means change.

He rekindled the thought that America is a secular nation with people from all faiths, known and unknown, binding together and achieving great heights and setting new standards. He called for all nations to come together in nullifying the nuclear threat. He meant business when he vowed to leave Iraq to its own people and establish peace in Afghanistan. Further preparing to take challenge of rectifying the spectre of global warming with the help of "old friends and former foes". He sent a strong statement to terrorists that the spirit of America cannot be broken and they will be surely outlasted and defeated. He pledged to "poor nations" that he'll work with then in their upfront and help them change and also change thyself as the whole world has changed.

By quoting "Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." these sentences he clearly emphasised the value and promise of citizenship, the source of one's confidence and the liberty of every individual. He said that a person who followed these principles, whose father was refused food in a restaurant 60 years ago, is standing before the world and taking the most difficultust and the most unwanted job in the current scenario.

Saying thus he told the people of America to have hope and hold virtue in hands at this time of hardship and set forth to make this place a better world to live for our children and their children.

Such an inspiring speech gave loads of confidence, attainable hopes and the surety that the winds of change are round the corner. Let us Hope this man achieves his goal of a "New America" which would spell into a "New world" and of course selfishly a "New India".