There is much inanity circulating on social media. I delete much of what I receive without ever watching, listening to or reading it. In my daily schedule a special time is reserved for culling the incessantly spewed internet excreta. Perched upon the toilet to do the daily deed every morning, listening to CBC Radio One, I Invariably select most of what might have been sent in the previous 24 hours and click "delete", feeling tremendously relieved.
A couple of days ago, hidden in the daily deluge was a video clip from a very dear friend who rarely sends me anything. It was only 23 seconds long. Multitasking is not my forte. After all I do belong to the male species. But sitting on the lavatory seat, listening to my favourite Radio and reading what now passes as the daily newspaper or watching a 23 second video clip--all of it simultaneously-- is something I've learned to manage. Since it was of a few seconds duration I decided to view it. I was aghast at what transpired in those 23 seconds. The video showed PM Modi at a public function near a lectern with two microphones affixed on it. He lifted a toddler from behind it and raised her, holding her up with his left hand, adjusting the microphones with his right hand for her to be able to speak into them. She appeared reluctant and shy; she never looked up or ahead at the crowd--her eyes clearly fixed down on the microphones. The Prime Minister urged her to speak saying "bolo, bolo". She hesitated. He prodded her some more. She finally spoke--a gentle child's voice. A child speaking, singing or just being a child is always a joy to behold. It was no different for me in this case. In anticipation, intently watching, I was all ears for the words that the Prime Minister of the largest democracy, in the second most populous country in the world, was encouraging the child in his arms to utter.
The long awaited words of the child, finally uttered: "Rahul pappu...Rahul Gandhi pappu hai". Those words from the child held up by the Prime Minister at a public function, lapped up by the adoring crowd, instantly reverberated around the intensely connected world. In those short twenty three seconds the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister of India, not totally without past blemishes, hit rock bottom, plumbing unfathomable depths, never before touched.
At that moment, regardless of whatever I thought of Rahul Gandhi or of Narendra Modi, the current occupant of the office of the Prime Minister, I couldn't help but shed a tear for the sad and sorry state the office of the Prime Minister of India finds itself in.
