`Raja’ Clinton steals hearts in Rajasthan

Thanks to his spontaneity, the two-hour show at Niala ended with a bang. The town which gave an empty impression till a few minutes ago, seemed suddenly to have been kickstarted to life. They waved and they cheered this man who was all out to `hang out’ with them. The showman in Clinton came out — the little jig which he did for the privileged audience inside the fort could only equal his performance outside when he went around the corner pumping hands for almost ten minutes. In the end, he couldn’t resist standing at the door of his limousine to majestically give a sweeping wave. The effect — sheer adulation.

The proceedings inside the 125-year old haveli court, which now served as the Rural Health Training Centre, were also spiced up by the interface between the President and the rural women. It was hard to track any traces of subservience in these women — and one didn’t blame the President’s expression of bemused astonishment when these fiery women told him all about their history of abuse and struggle. In fact, when Shakuntala Devi, a loud and feisty woman, related her rags to almost riches story and expressed her confidence to get elected, he couldn’t help uttering –“I want you to tell her that she would be elected anywhere!”

Almost the whole hour that he spent with women self-help organisations and members of the dairy cooperative, he spent listening to stories of empowerment. They were stories of beating the odds, of overcoming social discriminations and more importantly, the happy stories. Although, it did appear tutored at some points, the women did exhibit a rare degree of confidence. How else would you explain these ghoongat-sporting women falling over each other to offer him their hands?

If Clinton showed enthusiasm by making constant queries, the women and other villagers were no less. Putting pressure on him, the Sarpanch Kalu Ram Meena asked him whether India was perceived as backward in the Western world. Smoothly and firmly, Clinton said a big `no’. He also said that America had gone through the same cycle after its independence in 1780 when it had to cope with the issues like gender and race discrimination.

Clinton paid special attention to the apparent spread of computer application in a village like Niala. Mohini, the saathin, who operated the newly inaugurated site of e-governance in the village, had learnt the operations in just three days. Rohit Singh, director of IT in Rajasthan, went on about how the women would avail the benefits of the intranet facility at minimum costs. The more savvy women were those of the dairy cooperative who have been doing business on computers since ’97.

The President did not get a chance (due to the translator) to respond to one of the cooperative members who made a comment while issuing the President a `Smart Card’ which makes him member of the cooperative. She said,“ Now you can take a loan from us if you want to rear some animals!”

Without hearing her, he did say that he would put his Smart Card in the White House as an indicator of the progress that the rural Indian women had made.

The other part of the programme was the interaction with the Panchayat members. The sarpanch did most of the explaining, while the women pitched in with their bits about this system of grassroots governance. In the end, they sat clutching the White House pen which they got as souvenir.

Business and seriousness apart, Clinton made sure that all eyes were glued on him. As he entered the fort, he had a rakhi tied to him as a welcoming gesture. As he stood listening to a song about women’s complaints, while being showered by rose petals he slowly got into the tempo of the music. The Jazz-loving man did not need much persuasion in the end as well when he joined the village women in their dancing.

Vibrant colours of the lehengas of the women lit up the atmosphere against the bandhni backdrop of the stage, or the greenish tinge of the old haveli.

By the way, the presence of US ambassador Richard Celeste and wife went unnoticed as that of minister of state, Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

The villagers simply did not care. The king of the world, as they called him, clearly ruled their hearts.