Imagine for a while that US President Barack Obama had landed in India without his wife. Politically speaking, maybe, things would have developed the way they did this time but maybe we would not have been treated to the heart-warming moments that pretty much etched themselves on our collective memory.
We really can’t say whether the joie-de-vivre and the dance steps were well rehearsed but they definitely softened and flavoured the hard-edged diplomatic proceedings.Those seemingly spontaneous gestures seemed so very casually inter - webbed in the packed three days of the Obama sojourn. Almost as though diplomacy had to alter itself to keep abreast with the changing times where the spouse is not incidental but intrinsic to the screenplay. Where she has a definite role to play and is not a shadow but a personality.
Approachable and real
What Michelle Obama did in India went beyond diplomacy. She forged connections with young people and children, subtly underplaying the role play of the American First Lady. She broke gently the protocol of waving from a distance and smiling detachedly and let India’s music and warmth sweep her off her feet.
Jackie Kennedy with her sartorial elegance and radiant wit was once considered to be the perfect companion of arguably the most powerful man in the world but Michelle Obama’s warmth is more approachable, more real.
Her energy washed off traces of boredom congealing over long winding speech sessions as she mingled freely with India’s unknown, speaking out candidly about her own rather humble background. She connected with us as she spoke of her kids, of her mother and members of her extended family.
And she shopped like a tourist in love with a new country, not like someone who just wanted to make a token statement.
The best part of her presence in India was that she seemed like one of us and not someone sitting prim on a pedestal.
So while the man of the hour came up with those speeches, she came up with the subtext written with smiles, eye contact, warm hugs, handshakes, subtle style statements to the point that serious news channels spent hours discussing her clothes, her accessories. There were full length features on what she wore and why. Talk about getting attention without obviously seeking it. Maybe the spouses of our leaders will start dressing with more imagination or maybe hopscotch will be added to the long list of games we play in this country.
The cynics will call Michelle’s charm calculated and her brand of diplomacy carefully researched but let us not forget that even if studied, her gestures left something behind. A sense of lingering warmth. And the sense that the Obamas were not unlike us as they bravely gorged on samosas during a meeting with President Pratibha Patil and used none of those forks and knives around. Yes, they ate with their hands.
And instead of being apologetic about the very obvious disruptions caused by their visit during the very peak of our festive season, they conveyed the joy of being a part of our celebrations.
The fact that India did not change her tune to be heard by America was simply demonstrated by the fact that Michelle danced whole-heartedly to the lilt and thump of Rang De Basanti. Not to forget her wit. On being introduced to Priya Dutt, she was told that her parents had been actors and she supposedly quipped that politics too was a bit of a performing art. Was this a Freudian slip?
And even as she went on that lengthy shopping spree at the National Crafts Museum, conversation came easily and not in clipped sentences. This was no well-guarded discourse but stuff that would interest you and me. She spoke of her sister -in -law who had lived in Indonesia and of her mother-in-law, her own daughters and talked as though she was an integral part of our lives and we were of hers.
First Lady of hope
The Obamas are great at striking a chord and Michelle in particular makes connections naturally. And she connected with those who did not even speak her language.
In fact, the author of Michelle Obama -First Lady of Hope, Elizabeth Lightfoot makes it more than clear that Michelle is equipped with a robust sense of optimism and that she focusses on only the positives around and that includes the people she meets.
I quote, “Michelle Obama set the tone for the Democratic Convention, delivering a prime time speech to 17 million viewers in which she showed how she was ‘one of us.’ Towards the end of her speech, she spoke about her self and Barack as parents and the way their hopes and dreams for their own daughters mirror the hopes and dreams all parents have for their children.”
Many years back, Bill Clinton’s visit to India had created a similar surge of warmth and even our moral policing busy bodies had completely overlooked the chinks in his morality.
Before him, the Kennedys had won us over and only the Bush brand of diplomacy had left us cold and unmoved.
Michelle is the new face of the political diplomacy that has gone beyond crateful of mangoes, hand-woven carpets or those carefully worded phrases. Sent from here to there .
Diplomacy once was more than just a hand shake. Several ambassadors from the Middle Eastern countries still recount ‘glorious’ anecdotes from the Nehru era. In fact, Jawaharlal Nehru had even gifted a mansion in New Delhi to the Iraqi government to set up their very first diplomatic mission in India. Indira Gandhi was no less adroit at diplomacy.
During one of my interviews with Yasser Arafat, he had spoken less of the turmoil in the Middle East and had infact sung praises of his ‘sister’ Indira Gandhi. He had looked overwhelmed and his eyes had conveyed an abundance of affection. Of course, those were the glorious days when diplomacy was not just about shrewd politics but about shared humanity.
Now of course, the constant media presence at every diplomatic event ensures that masks are ripped off and we can see and hear beyond the obvious. Perhaps, Michelle’s rather down-to- earth, unfussy image helped us to connect with her because she did not seem decked up or overprepared for any of the events and rather went with the flow.
She was not intimidating but spoke rather too candidly. In fact, imagine any of our leaders or their spouses sharing their personal histories or humble beginnings.
The fact that she is proud of her humble beginnings is a big source of inspiration.
Elizabeth Lightfoot writes, “Michelle’s life story provides a clue. We know that Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama grew up in a working-class, largely African-American, Chicago neighbourhood where her family of four lived in a rented one-bedroom apartment.
We know that, supported by her hard-working parents, Marian and Frazer Robinson, she excelled in school and skipped second grade. We know that she was a gifted athlete but that she shied away from competitive sports because, according to her brother, Craig, she hated to lose.”
Now of course, winning hearts has become a way of life for her. Perhaps, she’d be able to take this diplomacy even further to a more meaningful end if she could reach out to people in Iraq and Afghanistan who have been devastated by the long war her country has unleashed on them.
These are countries where diplomacy will have to go beyond a jig and a shopping trip.
Maybe she will write herself into history if she is seen playing hopscotch on those war wrecked lands where death, destruction and sorrow loom large.
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