OBAMA FACTOR IN THE INDIAN ELECTION

Today morning one of my mental patients came for review. He is suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). To my pleasant surprise he is recovering fast from his OCD. The young man is coming from the eastern suburb of Thiuruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. After psychiatric interview was over I asked in a chatting mode whether he cast his vote or not. Instead of answering in words he proudly showed the back of his index finger and on the nail I saw the fading mark with indelible ink. Then I asked who was his favourite. He admitted with some hesitancy that this time he chose the Indian National Congress candidate Mr. Sasi Tharoor, the former undersecretary of the UN. In the area from where he comes Muslims are in majority. In the previous election the Muslims in that area chose the Left Democratic Front candidate. I asked him why this change occurred. He bluntly told: "Everything changed after Barak Hussain Obama became the President of the evil empire." There was a stress on the middle name. When I have seen all the patients, I started scanning the Hindu and my attention was caught by the caption "U.S.-Israel partnership: fraying at the edges?" of the article by Jeremy Walker in the OP-ED page. I started reading interestingly. When finished I remembered the words of the young man with OCD coming from the Muslim majority suburb. Immediately an intuition irrupted in my mind. It was the 'Barak Hussain Obama factor' that gave surprising booster for the Indian National Congress and its allies in the election. Those who have not yet seen the article by Jeremy Walker Please click on http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/18/stories/2009051854931100.htm