Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - Feb 09 - Index

CAREERS CAREERS START
@ @ Centennial Centennial College
College
A young desi’s date with history
It was late afternoon, long
after the crowd had
dissipated and a new
president had been sworn in.
Yet despite the touching speech
and crushing mass of millions,
it was the first time all day I
had felt truly hopeful – mostly
because I was now indoors and
no longer fearful I would lose
a toe to frost bite.
After hours of wandering
around Washington DC we
finally found shelter inside of
a tiny restaurant with cafeteria
benches. Six of us from
Toronto huddled over our food
in the middle of a table bookended
by two American
couples. My trip to president
Barack Obama’s inauguration
had been less epic than I had
imagined.
When I had first heard
Obama’s name, it was 2004 and
I had just begun my journalism
program. When I first saw his
face, it was on the cover of a
2006 issue of Time magazine
with the headline Why Barack
Obama could be the next president.
I blinked twice, perhaps I had
read it wrong. Maybe it said,
Washington was very cold, the streets
extremely crowded, food line-ups were
inconceivably long, bathrooms – even worse.
Why Barack Obama could never be
the next president. I gave it
another glance and the words
were still there – in bold.
I knew then this man was
going to be the story of my
generation: a young, charismatic,
new-age minority leader who
not only believed in change but
stood up for it. I pictured the
historic inauguration like a
John Lennon concert, a Kenn-
Desi News Scholarship at Centennial College
With generous support from:
For more info, please call 416-289-5000, ext 5549
Centennial College
Journalism graduate
SHANNON BOODRAM
(below) boarded a
bus bound for the US
capital and a date with
history. She shares
the ups and downs
of attending
Barack Obama’s
inauguration
last month.
edy parade or a Martin Luther
King rally. Unfortunately, my
experience was not quite like
that.
We left Toronto in three
buses, but never saw the other
two again. They had been
detained at the border for
seven hours without just cause.
My luggage, with all of my
warm clothes, was loaded on
one of those buses – to this day
I don’t have it back.
Washington was very cold,
the streets extremely crowded,
food line-ups were inconceivably
long, bathrooms – even
worse. After the ceremony,
people left the National Mall
immediately and there was not
much else going on in the city
to accommodate the influx of
tourists.
Finding a restaurant with
seating took two hours of
wandering. With food in my
stomach and heat on my skin I
unraveled my scarf from