Audacity to hope?

A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi in his Senate office, two Indians in his legal team, another Indian as the surgeon general, a swearing-in speech that acknowledged Hindu and Muslim threads in America���s ���patchwork heritage��� and a taste for Indian dal.
Indian Americans who popped the bubbly when Barack Hussein Obama walked into the White House, did so with good reason.
For one, Barack razed the bar ��� of colour, race and pedigree. Making young guns like Bobby Jindal, America���s first Indian American governor, hopeful of holding the highest office some day. Says Somik Raha, doctoral candidate, Decision and Risk Analysis, Stanford University, ���Coming from a country that has already seen Prime Ministers and Presidents of different colours, genders and castes, my first response is, ���America, welcome to the diversity club!��� It���s great that America has finally been able to accept a half-Black man as President, and from this point on, I hope one���s colour, gender and religion will not be a barrier to being in the highest office.���
While Obama shares with Indira Gandhi a common ideal ��� ���a government that works��� ��� Purushottam Bhattacharya, professor of International Relations, Jadavpur University, points out that the ties between America and India that exist irrespective of the regime or individual in power, like convergent economies, civil associations and the battle against terror, will continue as before. ���However, differences of opinion may result with regard to Kashmir, the CTBT and outsourcing,��� he cautions.
Though the outsourcing rein-in remains a sore point of the celebrations, Lokesh MD, a software engineer working in Seattle, sounds confident, ���If it does happen, it will be because of the economy slowing down and not because Obama is anti-outsourcing. It���s not as if these people are taking away the jobs of Americans. There is a need for skilled workers, who fill in the gaps, helping the economy grow.���
That is what Indian Americans who are facing the heat of the meltdown, are counting on. Sunjay Goel, a New York-based doctor, says, ���Had Bush continued in office for any longer, it would mean graver economic problems, job cuts, bankruptcy and bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that with Obama in office, America���s estrangement with the Muslim world will thaw. That will go a long way in dealing with terrorism, especially with outfits like Al Qaeda. And that means good news for us.���
More good news is, of course, the new racial optimism. But Soumitree Gupta, doctoral student, Syracuse University, stresses that the road ahead is long. ���This is a huge symbolic victory for a country that had a legacy of institutionalized racism, but communities that are marginalised need to be
empowered.
Many of my American friends say racism is over, but this complacence is problematic.���
It does, however, give a boost to the ���audacity of hope��� that Obama symbolises. And for the millions of Indians trying to live the American Dream, a non-white name no longer means being counted out. Instead, it means one more addition to the change that is sweeping America, and we���re still counting.