सारे जहाँ से अच्छा …

Saare Jahan se accha Hindustan hamara….

I love this song and today as we watched the 15th Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, take oath, I had this song playing in my head. For where else can a boy who sold tea to make ends meet become the CEO of the country ? Yes it can happen in the US but the US never had dynasties, we have had empires and then the Nehru family’s dynastic rule post Independence under the garb of democracy !! For the first time, we have a non-congress PM with a clear majority and for the first time a tech savvy, in-tune-with-the-times PM. Here is a man who doesn’t bring even a brother to his swearing-in ceremony and except for his competency has no “Ivy league” credentials.

For the first time in ten years, we know who is the Prime Minister and that he is in-charge. Narendra Modi restored the respect and glory of the PM’s chair, that the mute, much educated Mr. Singh and Mrs. Rajiv tarnished. The gathering of the who’s who and the neighbouring countries heads of state, and the resplendent Rashtrapati Bhavan – there is no country that rivals the beauty of ours….. She waits for us to clean the grime off her face, so she can glow and be seen for the beauty she is.

It’s an extraordinary coincidence that the calendars of 1947 and 2014 are identical and I didn’t know this when I wrote, that we got our second Independence on May 16th. It’s also an amazing coincidence that the state of Gujarat is involved in both the Independence Day celebrations by giving us the leaders who made it happen. The reason Narendra Modi brings hope is because for the first time, we have a “regular” lower middle class, non-Doon school, non-swish, Hindi speaking guy, beating every single odd and becoming the PM – getting us all to dream even bigger.

We have the first commando in the government … He first took the oath to die defending our country as a soldier and today took the oath to live and work for it as a minister – salute to you Gen (Retd) V K Singh. You were the first commando to become the Chief of Army staff, so it’s no surprise that the “operation election” was executed extremely well and now the North East of India feels secure.

Saare Jahan se accha Hindustan hamara … We need to make it, we need to build it. The first step has been taken by giving Modi the mandate, now comes the real work… It’s not just the ministers in his cabinet who have to work for 12 to 14 hours, you and I need to too. It’s our country – we will make it the best !

Congratulations ModiJi, congratulations to all of us – we have brought the change, now we need to make that change “saare jahan se accha” :):)

Jai Hind.

P.s we celebrated with “javvarasi payasam” … Tapioca pearl pudding…. sabudana kheer.