When Arnold Schwartznegger won his elections in California, the Austrians celebrated back home.

Similarly, Sonia Gandhi's victory caused jubilation in Italy, and became a hot topic of discussion in Italy's political circles, and the leading Italian newspapers frontpaged the news in headlines. And perhaps the most generous compliment of all, came from a magazine owned by the then Prime Minister of Italy (media magnate Bertolusconi) that said: "Now we are going to have two Italian Prime Ministers, but theirs is better than ours."
 
It is the destiny of the narrow-minded to view everything through the colored glasses of race, religion and nationality. Whereas, if you view it through the prism of humanity, the victories of Arnold Schwartznegger, Bobby Jindal and Sonia Gandhi are the victories of humanity over parochialism and narrow-mindedness.
 
These victories are the little joys of life that are shared and celebrated by those who understand their meaning. As humble immigrants, Arnie and Bobby came to America with hope and with stars in their eyes. They rose to the very top amid stiff hurdles and extreme competition.

But the most delicious victory of all, perhaps, was the victory of Sonia Gandhi in India when she demolished the highly seasoned "ghaags" (I don't have an English equivalent for this term) of Indian politics -- in one swift stroke with her humility and straightforwardness.
 
They heaped personal insults on her, such as repeatedly referring to her by her maiden name "Sonia Maino", and making fun of her Catholic religion, and even mocking her culture, accent, food habits and so on.
 
It was the most vicious personal campaign ever orchestrated that single-mindedly attacked an individual's personal life. And yet that simple woman of Italian origin won against all odds and all opinion polls, and provided a fresh lease of life to the dead and buried Congress party of India.
 
Let us understand a fundamental truth about humanity: Left to themselves, human beings do not discriminate. It is not in their nature. Hindus and Muslims lived like brothers before the partition riots -- their diverse cultures and diverse religious beliefs notwithstanding. Hindus and Sikhs lived the same way in Punjab before terrorism of the 80's.
 
Politics, i.e., divide and rule, is man's second nature. Therefore, discrimination among humans becomes a critical divisive tool of politics. For the politician, it is easy to fool the emotional masses by using this tool effectively.
 
But in an increasingly globalised world, this tool of race, nationality and religion is beginning to lose its discriminatory value. The dividing lines are blurring, even though very slowly. Jindal's or Sonia's victories are only a reaffirmation of this fact. Merit comes before anything else in today's competitive times. The choice of the candidate must be professional, and not emotional.

Let us not forget that the Indian ancient thought was based on the principle of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the whole world is one family.) 

Warning: But don't tell all this to emotional fools who are experts in fake patriotism. Even when the times are changing, you will never be able to change their thinking.
 
An old Mewari saying:
 
Akal deveyo'n naahi aavey
Eey tou heeyo'n hi upajey

Sensibility cannot be given
It sprouts from within