Morning I happened to watch a live speech by Obama. Actually I happened to stamp on the DD National channel while jumping between stations. Since Obama was talking, I thought of listening to it for sometime. But it was a beautiful speech that I stopped my other activities and listened to it till the end.
It was a speech given by him to an audience of students in an auditorium. Some elderly people were also seen among the audience. He told that his grandfather was a cook to some British person in Kenya. He went on the describe the discrimination that he faced in his life. He said "Due to the color of my skin, I couldn't walk in the some of the streets in that country." Also due to the color of his skin he faced many more hardships. I was watching his statements with a smile. Obama looks fairer (light-colored) than me. So, I was wondering what would have happened to me if I had born there. But Michelle looks darker than me. So, my complexion is in-between Mr. and Mrs. Obama. So now, in a way, I feel that I am closely related to the Obamas :-).
It is not that I had a smooth life without any discrimination. I stopped participating in stage related events (in school and college), when I realized that my skills were required only for the back stage works. Not long after, I realized that my area should be on the intellectual side, where the knowledge and talent matters, and not the skin color. At some of time in my life, I got so seriously wounded that for a brief time I hated my dark skin. Exactly around that I time, I resolved that I will marry a very fair (light-colored) girl and have fair skinned kids so that they do not face the difficulties that I faced. It took me a really long time to understand that the skin color doesn't matter at all. Though being light-colored or dark-colored does gets noticed at the first sight, after sometime it is the overall character and our approach that creates a lasting impression. Once I got this maturity, apart from other things, I also put an end to the habit of taking a look only at the fair and good looking girls, and started seeing all the girls, equally, irrespective of their skin color :-).
Oops... I digressed... Coming back to Obama... He re-iterated the point that both he and Michelle were not from a wealthy background or from a famous family. But at the same time Obama said that some of his teacher and elders were kind enough and embraced and guided him. They helped him in getting the scholarships and getting good education and come up in life. He said that we should provide opportunities to everyone to come up in life, and provide much more opportunities than one can normally imagine. It is this opportunity that will make the grandson of a cook, the President and a tea-seller, the Prime Minister. As a expert public speaker, he stopped at this point, for the audience to clap.
Obama also stressed the need to take care of women and girls. As fathers, brothers and sons, its our duty to protect the dignity of women, everywhere. He said only those countries grow where their girls grow, where their girls are given opportunities and where their dignity is protected. He continued that if a girl gets education.. She can later start a new business, invent something new, cure some disease, her children will get good education and this is what is needed for a nation. He said that only those countries will grow, which respects their women.
Obama said that when Martin Luther King, Jr came to India he said that he was happy to be in the land of Gandhi and similarly now he is happy to be in the land of Gandhi.
I observed that his accent was not a 100% American accent. Without any difficulty I was able to follow and understand his complete speech. Or may be my familiarity with the American accent has increased. Without any doubt, he was an exceptional public speaker. Towards the end of the speech, the whole of the audience would have become his fans and would have approved all that he said. When I told this to my friend, she said "Thats why he is the President of America". To some extent, I can also talk like him and influence the audience. Let me see to where it takes me :-).
- SPGR.
It was a speech given by him to an audience of students in an auditorium. Some elderly people were also seen among the audience. He told that his grandfather was a cook to some British person in Kenya. He went on the describe the discrimination that he faced in his life. He said "Due to the color of my skin, I couldn't walk in the some of the streets in that country." Also due to the color of his skin he faced many more hardships. I was watching his statements with a smile. Obama looks fairer (light-colored) than me. So, I was wondering what would have happened to me if I had born there. But Michelle looks darker than me. So, my complexion is in-between Mr. and Mrs. Obama. So now, in a way, I feel that I am closely related to the Obamas :-).
It is not that I had a smooth life without any discrimination. I stopped participating in stage related events (in school and college), when I realized that my skills were required only for the back stage works. Not long after, I realized that my area should be on the intellectual side, where the knowledge and talent matters, and not the skin color. At some of time in my life, I got so seriously wounded that for a brief time I hated my dark skin. Exactly around that I time, I resolved that I will marry a very fair (light-colored) girl and have fair skinned kids so that they do not face the difficulties that I faced. It took me a really long time to understand that the skin color doesn't matter at all. Though being light-colored or dark-colored does gets noticed at the first sight, after sometime it is the overall character and our approach that creates a lasting impression. Once I got this maturity, apart from other things, I also put an end to the habit of taking a look only at the fair and good looking girls, and started seeing all the girls, equally, irrespective of their skin color :-).
Oops... I digressed... Coming back to Obama... He re-iterated the point that both he and Michelle were not from a wealthy background or from a famous family. But at the same time Obama said that some of his teacher and elders were kind enough and embraced and guided him. They helped him in getting the scholarships and getting good education and come up in life. He said that we should provide opportunities to everyone to come up in life, and provide much more opportunities than one can normally imagine. It is this opportunity that will make the grandson of a cook, the President and a tea-seller, the Prime Minister. As a expert public speaker, he stopped at this point, for the audience to clap.
Obama also stressed the need to take care of women and girls. As fathers, brothers and sons, its our duty to protect the dignity of women, everywhere. He said only those countries grow where their girls grow, where their girls are given opportunities and where their dignity is protected. He continued that if a girl gets education.. She can later start a new business, invent something new, cure some disease, her children will get good education and this is what is needed for a nation. He said that only those countries will grow, which respects their women.
Obama said that when Martin Luther King, Jr came to India he said that he was happy to be in the land of Gandhi and similarly now he is happy to be in the land of Gandhi.
I observed that his accent was not a 100% American accent. Without any difficulty I was able to follow and understand his complete speech. Or may be my familiarity with the American accent has increased. Without any doubt, he was an exceptional public speaker. Towards the end of the speech, the whole of the audience would have become his fans and would have approved all that he said. When I told this to my friend, she said "Thats why he is the President of America". To some extent, I can also talk like him and influence the audience. Let me see to where it takes me :-).
- SPGR.
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