America's Leader

The leader of the most powerful country on earth has divided the world in two, using a scatological epithet to describe what he sees as the inferior part. If poor and colored are the criteria for lesser countries, then I come from one of these.

Six months ago, early in this presidency, I had the opportunity to meet Joe Biden, erstwhile US Vice President. In an anxious state of mind, I told him I was an immigrant and asked if I had made a mistake. His gracious words offered comfort to my troubled being. He said, “Thank you for choosing us”. And now this…

We choose this country because we admire what it stands for - inclusiveness and opportunity, freedom and fairness - all combining to create a safe environment of civility and dignity. This week, my chosen state has witnessed hate messages that are characteristic of the Nazis and the KKK. This leader has given sanction for the worst in America to surface once again.

I was born in a Hindu family and married a man with a white European father and a Muslim mother. Differences of country and color and creed have never defined the people in my world. But today I question my choice of home. Is this the place I want to live?

Their Story

Theirs was an unexpected and chance meeting. It was not a gradual growing together of like-minded persons, whose acquaintance may have started in the workplace or within a club – which might provide the comforting cushion of context. They came from vastly different worlds and diverse too were their circumstances and the events and experiences that shaped each one of them. One had been injured and hoped to heal again. The other had been long asleep and was ready to wake up. So they came together abruptly, in an awkward dance of muddled minds and confused bodies. They had a few things in common. They were synchronized and in harmony on some days, but uncoordinated and incompatible on others. Their haphazard collision culminated inevitably, in disintegration. 

But turbulence has been known to shift into tranquility and they could become fellow travelers adding meaning to each other's journey. They might be like the railway tracks, which travel together to a common destination but never join. Each track of tempered steel is strong and independent; yet both run together to carry a shared burden, each validates the other, and the two are inter-dependent in a unique and infinite way. After all, there is more than one kind of chemistry. Chemistry can create substances that corrode, or it might combine elements to ignite and explode, or it might be the alchemy that purifies and perfects. Theirs could become the alchemy that transforms lead to gold…