Dr Biden & Mr Joe, a transformatory tale

On a warm Chicago Monday evening - a warmer Tuesday afternoon across India that seems to be always ahead of America - an elderly gentleman, confident on the stage, came across a veritable hero before his rousing, cheering audience. In theory, he was the same person who, in late June at the first presidential debate with Donald Trump, looked confused, lost and old. In practice, though, Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention, almost two months older now, was a changed man as he took the adulation from the very same lot who had - for legitimate reasons - given him the shove from a re-election bid. So, hua kya Dadaji ko?

Being experts in ageing with style and confidence ourselves, we can point Biden's resurrected exuberance to two things: one, the monkey of expectations off his back. With nothing to lose - well, electorally - Joe showed his Chacha Cha side at Chicago, rather than his Grandpa Country Face, a.k.a. Nanaji Deshmukh. Two, everybody, the likes of Elon Musk included, have bad days and good days. On June 27, clearly the sitting American prez became a sitting duck. On August 19, however, he was clearly a (balding) eagle. Should Joe have been given a chance? Of course not. Despite his decent Taylor Swift impression at the Monday convention, Democrats knew perfectly the value of letting Bidens be Bidens.