Revisiting the tryst with destiny...

"I still remember, I was in parliament on the midnight of Aug 14. There was a huge gathering in the hall and we were jostling for space," said  Bal Krishna Khurana, who migrated from Pakistan in 1943 at the age of 25.

"When Pandit Nehru uttered the words 'long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny...' there was not a single person in the hall who didn't have tears in his eyes,"

-Hindustan Times

 

Nehru’s ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech is one of the best speeches I have read. I have seen the video a million times and it still has the same effect upon me - A sense of pride, the proverbial  lump in the throat and a familiar glistening of the eye.

I always felt that this speech deserved to be up there among the greatest speeches along with Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ and Winston Churchill’s ‘Britain's finest hour’. What makes it even more deserving is the fact that this speech was made impromptu i.e. without any advance preparations.

(Full text of ‘Tryst with destiny’ available here)

 

 

 

Very similar is Nehru’s ‘The light has gone out of our lives’ speech. Sincere, emotional, eloquent and touching and not to forget, impromptu. Nehru almost chokes with emotion during the speech and it is easily one of the finest eulogies in Indian history.

 

(Read the full text of ‘The Light has gone out of our lives’ here.)

My looniest essay ever..!!

I was asked to write anything that started or ended with ‘One dark, stormy night..’ It was one of those times when you can really write stupid essays and still stand by your taradiddles. So reader, I warn you.. it is NOT a nice, wise post.. :D :P

***

Gotham City was being battered by rains that night. It was one of those nights which would’ve otherwise scared the whole of Gotham City but not now. Most of the criminals of Gotham City were safely behind bars. Still, an entire city was asleep and it’s protectors were held back by the forces of nature. This made Gotham City vulnerable to attacks by dark, nefarious elements. 
From his customary spot at the top of a building, The Batman kept a lonely vigil. He knew the criminals would be wary of his presence tonight and they might just let the storm pass. He let his thoughts drift...
Lately, all his thoughts or all his drifted thoughts revolved around only one person – The Catwoman. He was unable to get her off his mind. He recalled the day they met for the first time. He had relived the moment a thousand times but the memory still excited him. He then recalled their first date –at KFC. How the Catwoman had emptied bucket after bucket of chicken! He smiled. He had only $2.25 with him and The Catwoman would have to foot the bill in the end.

And so it happened. The Catwoman had to pay for the chicken and later they went for a walk in the nearby park. Halfway down the garden path, they stopped. And then they kissed. It was the wildest sensation he had ever experienced.

‘It’s a dark, stormy night.’ He said.

‘No, you clumsy fool! It’s 3 in the afternoon.’ The Catwoman replied. ‘Your hood has fallen over your eyes.’

‘Duh..’ He said,‘But I thought I heard thunder.’

‘No dearie, it wasn’t thunder. It’s just the chicken that I had.’

And the gaseous thunder rolled in again.

The Batman smiled at the nostalgia and resumed his vigil. The rain had stopped a long time back. Even the sun was ready to shine.

‘So much for his lonely vigil!’ Said The Catwoman to herself. ‘Falls asleep on top of a building every night. How I wish he could stop fantasizing about that dark, stormy night!’