We Canadians

By Niraj Chandra

Does President Obama owe some of his good fortune to the idol of the monkey god Hanuman that he carries in his pocket? Indians would certainly like to believe so and there may be some evidence to back this up.

It is well known that Mr Obama carried a number of lucky charms in his pocket during election days. One of them was a gold idol of Hanuman, as shown in a picture published in Time magazine on June 2, 2008. As most people of Indian origin know, Hanuman is worshipped with special fervour on Tuesdays when people go to temples and pray for success in all kinds of endeavours. More often than not, Hanuman bestows his blessings on Tuesdays.

Obama won his electoral victory on November 4, 2008 – a Tuesday.

He assumed the office of President on January 20, 2009 – another Tuesday.

So who knows? Tuesdays do seem to work well for him.

In India’s traditions, Hanuman represents lack of ego and selfless service.  Incidentally, these are the ideal qualities required of a world leader – and qualities that we haven’t seen in a long time in an American president.

The people of India have celebrated the success of Mr Barack Obama in their  unique way. Here is a bollywood-style presentation of the Obama story. The words are in Hindi but an English translation is available on the web-site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h96qtbEviUU

The song extols Obama’s achievements and does talk about the Hanuman connection.