I am proud to have shaken hands with the great Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP as he is fondly called), president of the Lok Satta party. I am proud to have been in the same room as he for atleast 45 minutes. I am proud to have been able to attend one of his speeches live. I am thoroughly impressed by the man. He is not just a man but an entire movement, influencing and adding more people to it as he talks, walks or shakes hands. He has added one more soul to his admirer’s list.
At an event that promotes Entrepreneurship and provides an interface between startups and Investors, what is a politician doing? This was the exact same question I asked myself when I saw the agenda for The STARTUP BUZZ (the event I am talking about). Inaugural speech by some minister and closing speech by JP? I thought it was just for hype, to attract more people to the event and make more money. I cannot comment on what the minister spoke as I was not there but for my comfort I guess that it was trash. Coming to JP, I don’t know whether the organizers picked him up on purpose or it was just an accident but it was my good fortune to have been there.
Mr.JP started his speech in telugu with “Sabhaku Namaskaaram.” Not that I never heard his voice before, but being right there in front of him left me astounded and my mouth half open. I prepared my self for one of the most memorable speeches of my life. He then switched to English on the requests of a few non-local audience. The switch between the languages was so natural. The English as clear as his telugu. He had no paper on the podium, no speech prepared but when he spoke it was as if he had read the same speech over thousand times in his head and read out to someone a good hundred times. Not a word misspelt. Not a stammer. Stutter. Repetition. The speech was flawless, as if he had planned it for years. The clarity in his speech is a reflection of the clarity in his thought. Foresight, hindsight, the speech had it all. A few seeds of thought were planted through out the speech, making us feel responsible for the future as well as the present of INDIA. Few anecdotes were shared. To sum it up, it was one of the most inspiring (on various fronts), immaculate and rare speeches executed with more than 100% perfection. Just as the speech ended, I was left craving for more.
The next thing I knew I had to do was run to him and shake hands and thank him for the wonderful vocal master piece. I did just that. I did not run though. I waited for him to get down the dias and grabbed his hand, shook it, thanked him for the speech and felt fulfilled. Truly fulfilled. Many of them took autographs. I did not feel a need for one to remind me that I met Mr.JP once. The thoughts he provoked, the way he influenced will remain fresh in my memory.
He commanded respect. Being an MLA, would not have effected my respect for him. The true leader in him commanded , demanded and got the respect he deserved. That is what true leaders are made up of, I guess.
After I walked out of that event, there was only one thought that came in my mind and that kept recurring.
That JP has remained just an MLA is our bad fortune and not his. Not in anyway.
