A Politician's speech we can be proud of !!

[venkatcr]

Long time ago I uses to stay awake at night to listen to speeches by people like JFK, Dr. Radhakrishnan and similar iconic figures. I remember the days when, on 25th January, I always listened to Dr. Radhkrishnan's speech and stood at attention when they played the national anthem after that.

Slowly and steadily the charm of these speeches have, in my mind, gone down as leaders after that did not have the charisma or the strength of their words and, of course, diction. I am not ashamed to say I have not heard even a single speech of our current President, Ms. Patil.

A friend of mine recently forwarded a link to a speech made by Sashi Tharoor at TED. I am not a great admirer of Sashi, but I thought this speech of his was superb. He has spoken with knowledge. He has acknowledged the issues we have as a country, but has spoken with courage that we are following a path to becoming a super power that no other country can ever emulate.

After a long time, I again stood up and said Jai Hind!

Enjoy the speech at

Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power | Video on TED.com

Cheers

 

[ajay124]

I have always been non political and rather cynical about the speeches of politicians.Most of the time they can't even speak well.
I clicked on the Shashi Tharoor link because I have read some of his prose,and while he may not be saying anything earth shattering,he does say it rather well.
I found the 17 odd minutes of his TED speech very engrossing not because of anything he said,but because of his effortless command of the English language.Urbane,articulate,intelligent,focused....all of us would be better off with a little more of those qualities.It's not just because he was speaking in English.A speech would be equally impressive in any vernacular language,provided the speaker is as polished and at ease as Shashi.Since I don't read the newspaper or even follow 'news' on the net anymore (made an exception recently for the Radia Tapes ),I have no knowledge of Shashi as a 'politician'.But I appreciate his language and speaking skills.

 

[suri]

Yes,
that man is good! -
and, also, why he could not survive the quagmire of our politics -

Politics of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia