A Bet on Obama

Today I came across the most interesting news in recent times. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. While I admire Obama for various reasons I mentioned in my earlier posts - (closing of Gitmo, Healthcare Public Option to mention a recent few), his choice for the prize did come to me as a surprise as it did to most of us. Given his policies, while he may be a promising candidate for the accolade sometime in the future for sure, bestowing upon him the honour now (barely 5yrs at National scene and barely a year at International Level) seems bit premature. However, as one new article put it, this news is seen as a "daring bet on the future" by the Prize committee. I surely concur. I only wish they succeed in their bet as Obama lives up to their (our) expectation.
Interesting angle is - the nobel peace prize committee seem to be showering praise upon people inspired by Mahatma, perhaps as a way of compensating the Mahatma for not bestowing the accolade on him while he was alive. I was surprised to learn today that when Mahatma was assassinated in early 1948, he was apparently the forerunner for that year's Peace Nobel and hence the committee declined to give that to another person citing "there is no one alive that deserved that award that year". Very touching. Since then, the "Mahatma Club among Nobel Peace Laureates", as one media calls it, has grown strongly - MLK Jr, Dalai Lama, Aung San Syu Kyi, Nelson Mandela and today, Obama. It would only have been more fitting had they announced this a few days ago on Oct 2, the birthday of the Great Soul. While the rest of the Mahatma Club had strong "resumes" by the time they were hounoured, Obama is starting to build one at international level.

Oddly enough, a line from Harry Potter comes to mind - In his first year, when Harry visits Olivander to purchase his first wand, interestingly, the wand that chose Harry happens to have a feather of a Phoenix while the only other feather given by that same Phoenix found its way into Voldemort's wand. At this, Olivander comments, "I am sure we can expect great things from you, Harry, after all He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things, terrible..but great". Obama is like a first-year Harry expected to do great things in coming years and his Voldemort (Mahatma) is not his nemesis and has achieved greatness in a benign way.
Attached pic for today's post was taken by my cell phone camera at office. Had kept a cup of hot water closed and when I opened it a while later, I saw this nice condensation of the vapor along the sides in an orderly fashion (row/column) and looked beautiful.