It is Silence nay Speechless nay dumbness that Sonia has made a virtue of

Attire and attributes may not necessarily be in sync. Attire mostly impacts attitude but whether it has done so in the case of Sonia Gandhi is clearly a million dollar question. She has adopted the Indian attire but I am not too sure if she has imbibed some other aspects of the Indian culture. She, as is well known was not an easy convert to Indian-ness. It was more of a compulsion as there was so much to gain by doing so.

She makes public appearances with head covered but, with the flair of a fashionista. Truly, this act is more of a charade that she seems to have adopted from her late mother-in-law. Although, it is supposed to be symbolic of the culture of her adopted country-India, whether, she behaves with the same Indianized modesty in real life, and whether she has been able to really internalize Indian culture and Indian-ness in ample measure to be able to indelibly morph with local culture that she seeks to project, undoing her origin and upbringing, is something that is impossible to ascertain.

She has made silence a virtue and why not. Our Munis did so and were venerated for that. In fact the root of the word Muni is from the Sanskrit “Maun” meaning silence. The person who would stay in state of Maun was a Muni. Brilliant! And this elderly “Munni” (young lass) seems to idolate the ancient Munis who would practiced maun for internal enrichment. So the question is, in the case of Sonia, is it silence, or speechlessness or just downright dumbness.

Come rapes, come Anna, come Kejriwal or come terrorists, she maintains a golden silence, never to be broken.

If you would look at the Presidential elections of the US, it is not difficult to decipher how diligently the candidates prepare for public debates. While the first debate of Obama was somewhat of a damp squib, Romney was extremely impressive in that one. But usually, Obama is exceptional in his public utterances. Regardless, the margin of his victory this time was much thinner than his last. On the other hand look at our leading lady, who has made speechlessness nay dumbness such a virtue.

Having denied her all credit for rejuvenating a decadent Congress party, I must admit, her commitment to her family is clearly more Indian than Indian.