Went to Rajghat in the morning to se Mr. President. Was whisked away, made to sit under a store parapet, a rifle pointed towards me lest I jump and wave to Barack Obama. Made it to Rajghat later, and saw the signs of his visit.
An edited version appeared in the The Indian Express on November 9, 2010.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/king-memorabilia-for-rajghat-is-tryst-with-his-heroes/708417/
Chinki Sinha
New Delhi, November 8, 2010
In his fluid handwriting, his two sentences sprawled across five rows of the visitor's notebook. A sweeping signature, with its “B” and “O” rising above the other letters, marking their prominence, also cut through five rows. Underneath it, the First Lady Michelle Obama wrote her name.
Four years ago, on March 2, George and Laura Bush had visited the site, a simple black marble platform on the right bank of the river Yamuna with an eternal flame at its back, too. Their two-line tribute was spread across the page. Bush, the former president, Obama's predecessor, had placed Gandhi among the “great leaders” of history for his “contribution to all mankind.”
A decade ago, Bill Clinton paid homage to the slain Father of the Nation with a single sentence “Thank you for keeping this sacred place.”
At around 10:30 am on Monday morning, the president, his wife in tow, entered through the VIP Gate at Rajghat, and walked towards the black stone. The green carpets had been laid out as the protocol for dignitaries required. Two velvet chairs had been placed side by side. The couple sat, removed their shoes, and walked barefoot to the memorial, a white wreath in front. Green tarpaulin sheets hid the world from those who were present in the morning, lending the place a solemn, surreal look, isolating it from the issues that waited outside. This was a personal moment, and the curtains ensured the world didn't spill over.
They stood in silence for a minute, and walked back. Four times, the president uttered “very simple and beautiful memorial.”
For Obama, the man who was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts to bring about peace, his connection with Gandhi runs deep. This wasn't a head of state marking a visit to a man the world recognizes as a great leader but a man paying his homage to the leader he proclaims has influenced him.
Towards the end of his 20-minute visit to the memorial, Obama sat in the brown velvet upholstered chair, a lone one placed in the foreground of the Mahatma's samadhi, its back facing the black stone covered with flowers and a wreath made of carnations and lilies and tied together with a ribbon of the US flag colors, and scribbled a tribute to the “Great Soul.”
“More than 60 years after his passing, his light continues to inspire the world.”
On Saturday when he landed in Mumbai, Obama had walked into the two-storey building on Laburnum Road, the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, a museum that contains memorabilia and more than 50,000 books. Almost half-a-century ago, Rev. Martin Luther King, yet another world hero for Obama, had spent two days at the building with his wife Coretta King.
In a gold box, with the Eagle emblem of the United States embossed on it, Obama carried a stone from the memorial being built at the National Mall, Washington D.C., and is being funded by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation to revere Martin Luther King, also the first black man and the third non-president to be commemorated with a memorial in the National Mall area. He presented it to Rajnish Kumar, the secretary of Rajghat Samadhi Samiti, who received him in the morning.
“I could see it in his eyes, his admiration for Gandhi. I can read from the expression,” he said. “He is a follower. No guest is small but he is more influenced with Gandhi.”
On behalf of the Samadhi Samiti, the President was gifted with a Charkha procured from Kerala Emporium, a scroll with the seven sins written on them, a bust of Gandhi, and three books – an autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi called The Story of My Experiments with Truth, The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, and Mahatma Gandhi 100 Years.
As he sat writing his tribute, Michelle leaned over. According to Rajnish Kumar, the First Lady's excitement was contagious. She had gasped saying “very beautiful” when the marble stone loomed in front of her.
She later sat on the chair her husband had occupied and signed her name.
As the couple walked out, the champa tree that Bill Clinton had planted, and the mango tree that George Bush Senior had planted, flanked the path. These are among the 200 trees planted by various dignitaries.
On Monday, Obama didn't plant ant saplings. They say there is no space. But the stone that he brought combining his love for the two great leaders, bringing the tangible memory of one to the memorial of the other, will be kept in the office. That would be his mark, a testament to his visit to the testament of the life of who he referred to as his “real hero”.
Just when he was about to step in his car, Rajnish Kumar said to the President “In our culture, we always say come again and never say bye.”
Obama laughed.
On the way to Rajghat
As the cavalcade started to move again, life bounced back to its usual chaotic self. A few staff that were confined to the offices during the visit came out. They were packing away the velvet chairs, folding the carpets. A group of European tourists descended on the Samadhi.
“It ain't that speacial,” Vannoten Reno, a Belgian man, said. “I mean, he just visited.”
But for others, it was unusual like the policemen who reported for duty at 5 a.m. or the Rajghat staff that worked through the night decorating the samadhi, hanging the garlands, making the sun logo with white, red and yellow flower petals on the shrine.
From silence, a forced one, cacophony, almost a suppressed shriek that crackles at first, emerged. And then it was all honks, human voices, and usual sounds of life in a metro, and everyone in a hurry.
From behind a park, and underneath the parapets of store fronts near Delhi Gate, a group of men and women rushed to the street. They had been whisked behind the trees, and made to sit without talking, by the Delhi Police officers on duty who panicked about the security.
After all, it was Obama. The nation's promise and pride were at stake. Civilians walking around, scrambling to get to office and avoid the traffic blues, had to be restricted.
At 10:11 a.m. when the cavalcade moved along the deserted, silent streets of Daryaganj and Rajghat areas, a woman stood up.
“Wow, so many cars,” she shouted.
The policeman rattled his gun.
“No, you can't get up. Don't talk,” he said, his face tense.
“This is pandemonium,” Subhashini Rajan, who works at the nearby Oriental Insurance office, said. They say India is on the front page of the US nespapers but I wonder for how long. We have this colonial mentality.”
A harried policeman came running and shouted “shant raho”.
“In a free country, you can't do this,” Bharti Gupta, another woman who waited it out squatting on the sidewalk said. “We should move Rajghat out of Delhi or build a helipad so Obama can directly land there and not get us stranded here like this.”
This was their brush with the President of the United States. At least they walked through the same streets that he wad crisscrossed a few minutes earlier. They didn't need to see him. He was there, and they were witness to it, even though their gaze was interrupted by a rifle.
No comments:
Post a Comment