This letter was published on Hillary Clinton's website
Feb 17, 2017
Dear Hillary Clinton,
I have not followed you close enough to eulogize or criticize your long standing public service. But as any other citizen in the world, you were in the public eye for so long. It was as the First Lady that you caught my attention. President Bill Clinton was one of the most charismatic leaders in my eyes; he still is. But it was during the testing times of his Presidency that I began to see more of you than him; as a woman, as a young wife far away in another corner of the world. I wanted to read about you. I read through many chapters of ‘Living History,’ a collection of your memoirs, which was gifted to me by my former husband, way back in 2003.
I want to re-read it now, after I watched you deliver the concession speech last night, (which later they said, it was not), which has also prompted me to write this.
Political analysts ran short of qualifiers, definitions and phrases to best explain the monumental surprise that the world woke up to yesterday. Not in the recent past, did we see such an aggressively contested campaign that turned vile, and often bordered on vindictiveness and personal attacks. In my part of the world, we are used to enormous amount of mudslinging and soiled linen washing. We are also used to sarong lifting in high echelons of power, by those very people we voted in to protect our rights, develop our constituencies, spearhead growth and cherish democracy. We are also used to wives storming into Ministerial cabins to find their husbands with their sarongs down, literally. We are seasoned citizens, who are shocked to learn that our currencies cannot be even used as a toilet paper, overnight. So, our surprise-tolerance levels are quite high. But this -your loss- was not expected; nor was it wished for.
When CNN announced that you are going to make a concession speech, the ever speculating presenters and analysts continued what they are best at. More speculation. More analysis. And the rest of it. This time, their assumptions kind of turned right.
I felt so proud of you. I did. You were an incredible woman yesterday, and it just gave a glimpse of the poise and maturity, you may have displayed as the President of United States. When the States went divisive during this election, you stood tall yesterday in the face of the epic defeat you suffered. You seemed to accept the defeat with dignity when you said America should give Trump ‘the chance to lead.’ Bill Clinton, I noticed, who stood by your side, had a tough time holding himself together.
You had been an eloquent speaker; always. Even when you stood there, wearing purple, which the commentators alluded to as a metaphor for gloom, you did not cease to inspire. Instead, you inspired more than ever, by deconstructing the stereotype. As it was mentioned, what you did not do ‘was to say sorry, and cry, because that is what women do!’ There was immense pain in your words, when you said ‘ it is painful and it will stay for a long time,’ but you contained the pain, stood there as a true stateswoman, representing a country, where bras were burnt to augur female liberation, but yet could not vote in a woman leader even after 5 decades of the women’s liberation movement, and the continuing rhetoric of inclusivity, equal opportunity and openness. The 60s women’s liberation movement influenced the world and spread like wild fire. Yet, you were not voted in. It looked to me as if this was the very reason why you came to speak last night.
It felt like you wanted to talk to the youth, girls and women, not to give up their hopes and battles, as you exhorted: “never stop believing in fighting for what is right. It is worth it.” It was such a profound and vitalizing statement, uttered with utmost conviction, which only your long years of success and setbacks in both political and personal lives could have given you. It was as if you were telling the youth, especially the girls and women to have hope about their political careers in making what you could not do yesterday – history – of being the first woman President of the United States.
I somehow have believed, for a woman, it takes twice as hard to be considered as good or even half as good as a man, in politics or in other selected professions. This could be a huge generalization, but this is what I have seen and lived largely. I salute you. You proved, irrespective of the outcome of the election, that at 69, as a woman, you had the will and the stamina (which was often ridiculed by your opponent) to be the President of the United States. Kudos to your spirit!
Hope you would champion many a cause and inspire young women to make and break history in your country and elsewhere. Hopefully that glass ceiling will be broken, someday, not too far away.
