The Indian Obama!

The question 'Can India produce an Obama' carries significance in the context of the Happydent White television commercial doing rounds on Indian channels since August or so.

The setting of this 80-second ad made by McCann Erickson is a monarchy, probably from Rajasthan or Gujarat, with royal members engaged in different leisure activities. A chewing gum is promoted through an idiom of how slaves serve the master/s.

In the ad, the 'headlights' of the royal car are human beings. Inside the palace grounds, the 'lamp-posts' are hung with servants tied where the bulbs should be. Inside the palace too, are servants in place of light bulbs. A chandelier of human beings is hung together in the dining room, where the king is ready to begin his meal.

One 'chandelier' man pops a piece of gum into his mouth and a smile to make the room lit, as the background song reaches its crescendo: "tera dil roshan, tera man roshan". All the "bulbs" in the human chandelier light up – the 'lamp-posts', the headlights of the car – all light up. Similar human chandeliers are lit for the garba dance, and for the women folk of the royal family while cooling themselves in the swimming pool and playing tennis.

The servants of this monarchy are dark skinned and as in any society they represent the population of lower rungs – here, the dalits. The glorification of such dehuman treatment of dalits and conditioning of our minds to such actions are alarming, when the upper caste violence on dalits are not isolated incidents.

So what does this to do with having an Indian Obama? With his victory, the glimmer of hope comes from not what Obama would do as a President of US, but with the fact that somebody who is black and with a Muslim middle name is elected as the President. One has to be cautious in one's unqualified celebration of Obama and our appreciation do not hold us back from being critical of what he may do as the President. However, Obama represents all that a large number of people suffered because of their birth, till just a few decades back. The victory is not just an accident in American politics, but a buildup of many years of struggle of blacks on many fronts.

If what the TRP-driven media looking in Obama is a young dynamic leader, with fresh ideas, blessed with exemplary oratory skills may be India could find one soon. What is conveniently ignored in that discussion of Indian Obama is that he represents also the marginalized, voiceless, powerless and the 'untouchable', historically subjected to dehuman treatment.

Happydent White ad continuing on air, even on primetime, shows that we are not ready for a real Obama. It's a long struggle away.