Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Its A New Day- And We Will- Since we must

Today it is Veteran's Day. The day we studied as Armistice Day, that is celebrated all over the world celebrating the end of World War I.
The 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of every year is declared as a holiday in remembrance of all war veterans in America.
A good day to record my first American election day experience which has changed a large chunk of history.
I landed back home on a memorable day for American citizens, the voters- Presidential Election Day. A day that will forever be etched in History for making a dynamic change, that the world expected but was not sure of. And so I will make this a special blog post.
I landed at 10:30 am, and was driving homewards by 11am. Reached home. Took my time to looked around and smell my belongings. Everything looks wonderful. In spite of my tiredness I had enough energy to open my luggage and pullout the gifts I bought for the house and SH. But more important than that was the American Elections and SH’s first opportunity to exercise his right as an American citizen. He wanted to share the moment with me. He knew how excited I was about the whole event. Be a part of history and feel as if even we are making history. Before we left for the voting booth we checked on the updated at CNN. Till then it looked like the decisions could go either way. I joked that Obama really needs you so let’s go. The news was that there was overwhelming turnout at the voting booths. That bit of news was worrisome since SH had to go for a Project meet. After a quick change and lunch at our no brainer “Chipotle Mexican grill”, we headed for the voting booth expecting a long line. But there were barely anyone other than the volunteers. There were 4 makeshift voting booths, 2 of them vacant. SH after the usual instructions given went into the privacy of the voting stalls, while I just lingered around. Watched SH drop his vote into the ballot box. It was fun but no, jiggles and drum rolls really. It felt normal. When we got back, the election results had tilted heavily on Obama’s side and I joked with SH about his weighty vote.
We spent the evening in front of the TV switching between news channels- CNN, CNBC , MSNBC and sometimes FOX just to laugh at the grumpy faces there. To watch the Obama family on the 4th Nov evening while Barack addressed the crowd at Grant Park, Chicago was a unique experience- Such a crowd, such influence and such expectations from one man. All that charisma, attractiveness, ivy league education that screams intelligence, perfect loving family and such wonderful smiles. I am still not jealous. because the reality begins now. America and the rest of the world is still riding on adrenaline. Another couple of months. once we are past the 20th of January 2009, and the First family, the first Black American Family settles into the White House, the world will not wait any longer to see their raised expectations to form some concrete shapes.
Who would like to be in such a tough position? With the economic stress, the real estate bomb, the stock avalanche, the war, the terrorists, and of coz all the natural calamities, earthquakes, floods, fire and tornadoes.
Even as I write, I am praying hard- YES WE CAN.

And Obama needs the prayers of every well wisher.
I will wind up with a joke. One of my friends new caption on fb is “Now that Barack is the new president of America, will they change the official name to “Barackpore”??

Also the following is a direct quote fom BigB's Blog post 198
“Longest period in History for a paint job - 219 years to paint the WHITE HOUSE , BLACK.

3 comments:

SD said...

Nice post. must have been so meaningful for you to have gone to the polling booth and everything THIS time!

Odessa said...

i'm the same way, so excited even if legally i couldn't vote. i kept telling everyone i voted for obama in spirit and i couldn't be happier with the results. and yes, it will be one long, tough road ahead for america and the rest of the world. i wouldn't want to be in his position either but i feel like he is born for this. i was touched when mccain said in his concession speech that "obama really loves his country". that really says a lot.

Odessa said...

p.s. i meant to say, welcome back! hope you had a wonderful vacation at home! :)