The second largest Democrats Abroad in India, the Bangalore chapter, was started by my friend Sara in July of 08. She recently moved back to the US, passing on her chairmanship to two other American expats here in Bangalore.
Boy howdy – all were sure proud of all her hard work because it
culminated in a fantastic election day gathering at a local hotel on
Nov 5 (we are 13.5 hrs ahead of California).
It was really amazing to see how passionately fellow citizens engaged and cared about the election – not to mention the future of our country and it's perception in the eyes of the world. It started at 7am as the east coast had mostly been called. Dar and I got there around 7:20 and the crowd was a little sparse so we went next door to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast – we didnt miss any action because every TV in the place was tuned to election results.
By 9am the place was rocking. Dar – being the newly minted US citizen – posted a blog on the Huffington Post giving his perspective of the election – I was so proud!
Print and TV reporters were everywhere. All were very interested in getting expats takes on the election, who we wanted to win and what a potential OBAMA victory would mean for the US and the world.
When the results came in, I cried – what a momentous victory and a step towards redemption – for my country in the eyes of the rest of the world and it's citizens who built the nation with their hard work. I was finally honestly able to say that I was PROUD to be an American – something that had been so far from the truth for the past 8 years!
When I was interviewed by a reporter from a local TV station, I shared that sentiment, as well as my opinion that now, the work began and my hope that Obama's victory was a signal to the rest of the world and that it was also a bellwether for the future.
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