Coronavirus Part 24, Need to Transform, In Support of Present President of U.S., Passing Away of S.P.Balu

               It has been some time since I posted something in this medium. My life is taking some important turns in the mean time which had me occupied in this period. While I always see darkness with little hope, I need to find brightness with a bit of hope. We are closing in on 2020 and entering the next decade and I wish to sail smoothly till the end of decade and reach the destination i.e. 2030. It is ambitious to be true but at the same time, there is every reason to be optimistic, considering what had happened from 2010 to 2020. I hope I can bring good change in the world around and in the people and wish to live on their well-wishes. But, for that to happen there is a lot of ground to cover and change myself first.

                I talk about a lot of things but hardly put them into practise. This time, there is no scope for talk – the metamorphosis has to take place, the mutation has to happen, the transformation has to happen, the reinvention has to find its place, the version has to be upgraded, the caterpillar need to convert to butterfly. It is a challenge which lies ahead for me and I need to live in practicality rather than theory and imagination. I am a grown up adult now and need to make amends to justify my age and role. It worked till date in this way but the same might not be the case. Things might go wrong and needs to be averted. I cannot let bad things happen because of me which will only bounce back to you. To survive and get myself to safety, I need to transform somehow and lead a new life in the next decade. Anyone who sincerely wishes to help me in channelizing my living to that end and be my lighting guide is most welcome. It is lagging certainly in the last decade. Time is up, I would not live as I wish and would do as you say to begin my transformation phase.

                This year is unforgiving to most of the people due to the corona virus. I was extremely saddened by the demise of legendary play back singer Sri S. P. Balasubrahmanyam due to the post covid-19 complications. It would be huge disrespect to myself if I don’t mention about this great loss in this medium. He was a singer par excellence who sang more than 40,000 songs over a span of 55 years in several languages for thousands of films. No one must be as dedicated to the craft till the very last year or month and yet stay simple and humble.

               His vast experience is a huge repertoire from which he delivers stories to shape the lives of young audience like me. His most decent weekly program on T.V. is a must watch for me during the last decade who captivates and educates audience alike. He was my digital guru and one of the iconic personalities of the great theatre who has a huge impact on the multitudes. The common man who cannot find learning in real life goes to cinema or T.V. to see icons like him and gets enthralled in their mastery and comes out enlightened.

                One of the most striking features is - he supported my aura till the last day. He travelled in support of me during my third visit to U.S. when everyone turned their backs. He performed in New Jersey during my stay and all my roommates went to the event, during the heights of my activity. You can feel the missing link and support in the air by these gestures and feel less threatened by the world around you. Even in this year of pandemic and days of lockdown, when every one else was silent, he periodically interacted and sang from his facebook page with his infectious and melodious voice in difficult times. I somehow felt extremely connected and a huge admirer of his personality.

               To reminisce a bit further, as a kid I grew up listening to his songs on radio. My childhood was special as I made a little mark as a singer during school and college, practising and singing his songs in class and stage. Many of his classic melodies are my favourites during that time which I wrote it down on a paper to practise. Everyone of the thousands of aspiring singers of the land wants to be like him.

               I am in tears and devastated to learn the 20 years of distant bonding has been broken by the virus. The present day kids are a lot poorer from the absence of his master classes and stories. I learned a bit about the language and culture from his devotion to the same. His meteoric raise in stature are symbolised by his songs in two extremely old-fashioned traditional films – Sankarabharanam and Annamayya. The best films bring out the best in him and made a house hold name of the state and country in the last four decades. Balu Sir will be missed dearly and a huge chapter in the book of iconic men came to an end. May the heavens feel the bliss and get energised by his voice and singing.

              Moving on, another important milestone reached in this month is the elections in U.S. The country voted for a brand-new President which has been a bit surprising to me but expected by many. Four years ago when Trump decided to run for presidency, he has been seen as a successful business person venturing into politics. Not only is he a millionaire entrepreneur but also an intelligent person receiving degree from Wharton school. He has proved his credentials for 70 years before opting to run for Presidency. He was successful in the run-up as well and went on to become the president by his sheer ability and aptitude.

              He was the oldest person to be elected for presidency at that time. Such is his commitment to society even at that ripe age. The challenges of being the President of U.S. and that of world are far too many and he rose to the occasion by upholding the authority of himself and that of U.S. over the world splendidly. Everyone across the world held him high and in awe. He is a favourite to the millions of people back home in India which is clearly evident in unfolding of two mega rallies in Ahmedabad and Houston.

              When a fine person, a successful millionaire, an intelligent person, an experienced adult decides to run for the nation and become successful in the endeavour, the nation is thought to have blessed to have him at helm. Proving it, he provided great leadership day-in and day-out over the past four years. Just to outline his achievements briefly - he gave an extremely strong economy, achieved the lowest unemployment in 50 years, strengthened the border and guaranteed the integrity of the judicial system by appointing over 200 judges, including three Supreme Court justices. 4 years back in 2017, when I was there in U.S. for inauguration, I thought it is going to augur extremely well for the country and it had panned out as such except the days of virus pandemic.

              He successfully came all the way to become President and I thought ‘Let us make this old man successful and enjoy the job for the next 8 years’. Great countries make great leaders and prepare the ground for great achievements. But they prepared the ground for his defeat. His aim is MAGA but that has been defeated by their own people who are ordinary and made below-ordinary decision. When a President like George Bush can rule for 8 years from 2000 to 2008, the extraordinarily gifted President has been shunted out after 4 years of unprecedented circumstances.

              The past four years are extremely tough for any person to be the POTUS and he always took the flak and is in the centre of storm, never shying away from the challenging developments. Despite facing so much, delivering a lot and winning the appreciation of people worldwide, his own people in his own backyard thought otherwise and voted him out. He became alone in his own country looking for support which never came. This is extremely unfortunate for a person who took lot of risk and given his everything in line of duty. He even lost his own brother few months back. But the media and the public are unrelenting in the criticism. How cold blooded stuff is this.

              Two of the prominent news papers and T.V. stations ran negative news continuously and criticised him heavily. I thought it is constructive but destroyed him completely. I came to support him few months back and requested earnestly to vote for him. But instead, more than 80% voted for Biden through mail-in ballots. What is this disregard when you need to support your own president. I only wished for stability and momentum of the government with good credentials to rule for 8 years and hand over the baton. But they made a mess in the country with unnecessary hatred and elected the person who can at most rule for 4 years due to the age factor.

              While I don’t have anything against the elected president, there is no need for one if not for plain bad faith. As I said, a democratically elected person has been ridiculed and opposed in bad faith when you need to work for his success. First, they failed themselves by the bad thinking and bad health and then failed a President. Get over your negative stuff and get well soon. You cannot point out the deficiencies forever and destroy a person. What good does it do when you call an elected President ‘Liar’ zillion times. It will infact make one as such. Instead, concentrate on good stuff and transform a bad person into good one. You would have manufactured a great leader that way. The reckless destruction and reckless voting is bereft of any sanity.

              I am surprised at the number of blue states who determinedly voted in bad faith. The republicans might be eccentric but their work is beneficial and useful in its own way. It is the red state Texas which welcomed me when I first landed in U.S. It is the George Bush airport in Houston which had my first impression of the country who is a Red president. It is during the Trump, I made the most impactful trip to U.S. in 2017 which sustained me thus far. It is his good wishes in his run for Presidency, which laid the foundation for three successful years for me in India till date. It is that momentum which gained during the time and gave me a great year 2020 personally. It is the failure and setbacks in 2017 which had me occupied in job in India till date.

              In line with this, the fight for justice should continue, the mandate is fractured, the crooked ways of voting isn’t right, the twisted ways of keeping a person away from power is condemnable, the mail-in ballots are not a correct method, the blacks have opposed a non-racist person without any reason, the citizens made a mockery out of a fatherly figure. Finally, democracy can sometimes lead to unpopular outcomes due to the misconstrued populist transient decisions. The checks and balances in place need to correct the fallacies and alter the outcome. I hope, the same President will continue successfully for the next four years. Even if not, the above write-up should serve as an eulogy for his four glorious years and the man with golden heart.

              I still don’t understand the disregard for my words to elect the same president once again. Looks like the U.S. citizens intentionally voted in opposite. Indians are far better in their thinking in that they elected same PM once again who is endorsed by me. Last year, the PM won second tenure in the general elections. To test it on Indian setting again, there are upcoming Hyderabad municipal elections on Dec 2^nd and I would support the ruling TRS. The election is also similar in its backdrop to the U.S. elections, albeit on a smaller scale, and the ruling party is also facing heat from public and B.J.P. But since I know the difficulties faced by ruling governments in these unprecedented circumstances, I support them and gather everyone to do the same. The game is on. Let us vindicate that we don’t destroy our leaders but instead support them, make them successful in their achievements for common good. Let the Indian electorate prove again that they care for those who govern them unlike backstabbing the leaders.

              Moving on to another incident, a football legend, Maradona passed away in the last week. It is end of another most popular figure in this year – a footballing god. The way he hit the hand of god goal and won the world cup for his country is heroic and the tale continues to lives on after many generations. At an earlier instance, when he was severely ill and then recovered, he mentioned that the fans of Sevilla came, then Barcelona came, then Napoli came, then Argentionos Juniors came, then Boca Juniors came, in between him and the death and thus he recovered. I reflect this statement many times in my own life. Whenever I feel I was done a new entity came and pushed me further. Houston came, Boston came, New Jersey came, Atlanta came, Hyderabad came, Vijayawada came, Chicago came now and I am marching on. When the list gets exhausted, it might be my undoing. I read this statement from Maradona many years back and periodically fall back upon it. His list might have exhausted and he fell silent permanently. I watch matches in every football world cup and his kind of name and fame is unmatched even in current age. Football as a game is most widely played, yet has very few rare gems and he is definitely among the biggest of the lot.