Straight Talk

Everyone speaks of him. Hands dancing in air they gush about the power of his words his flourishes of rhetoric his direct approach his raw reproach his felicity in ferocious Tamil his three hours in the sweltering heat rousing angry young man rally speeches that make men out of mice and marauding wildcats out of men fiery speeches that subvert and overturn and unseat and revolt spontaneous speeches that unsettle states and strongmen and sinister systems of caste and speeches that seek to settle scores delivered in his voice that makes skyscrapers fall to their knees He is the greatest orator in our language today, they say. I wonder at how easily led people are. Even I loved his speeches best, until, one day, seven years ago, I fell in love with the many registers of his silences.