Ever since I first heard of it on Jon’s show, I knew I had to be there. The very fact that two, out of the mainstream comedians were calling out for people to come and show support to as nebulous a cause as sanity appealed to my general sense of rebellion against powers-that-be and the natural order of things. One can keep writing in the abstract bent over the computer in an alternately dark or lighted room and never get anywhere except the recesses of one’s own imagination. Then there is travelling and being present somewhere, anywhere and imbibing the experience. The Washington Plaza Hotel booked (two double beds, just in case I could persuade anyone to join us), and the husband brought into the loop, I sat back for the general events of October to pass which included my son’s first weekend home after he left for Engineering school this August, First Year Family Weekend when we trooped up to Cornell, Sylvia Earle’s inspiring conversation at University of Buffalo, and my son’s 18th birthday to name a few.

The son agreed to join us not expecting too much I bet. Packing a Canon for him, of the non- explosive kind we set off to pick him up from Cornell and head towards Washington DC which is one of my favorite places to be. An exhaustive ten hours later we reached our hotel right in the heart of the city around midnight and was heartened to see everyone awake and alive. Street corners had well tooled people in pairs going somewhere or hanging around. Got room service from China Express since the flyer had been shoved under our door. Quite ordinary really...

By the time we got dressed and had broken our fast it was nearly 9:30 am. The cabby took us right up to the Newseum Celebrates Freedom building which had the first amendment emblazoned on the wall and I thought of Ms O’Donnell who had perhaps never bothered to look up at the building.

Joining the moving lines of humanity we had absolutely no idea about the size of the crowds. At the corner of Constitution Avenue and 600 we came upon this huge bin with rally thingamabobs. All siding with Hate by the way and since I was all for the saner side of things (like Oliver) I asked for more. They were all gone!!! What???! Already? and it was not even 10 am yet! Hurriedly we ran on to the mall. The first welcoming sight were the pretty maids -all-in-a-row potter potties that was the central theme for Larry of the Kingly fame, the night before.

Assured, we moved on trying to see how far we could get to the front and center stage. No chance. It was all full. We stood somewhere in the second level I call it, right in front of the people who so kindly signed everything for all. Good view of the screens and JUST a little too far from the stage. But who cared! People were pouring in and soon there was no ground to be seen. About twenty minutes before the start of the program I ventured to reach the potter potties and people were standing back to front and not happy about my perpendicular move through them. Whoa what a journey!

There were people far away on tree branches dangerously hugging them to keep from dropping. The posters and costumes were hilarious. Some a little negative but nothing to make ones eyelashes curl or anything. It is the season for politics!  It was meant to be a dog fight or why the mad rush to grab the nexus of power? What was most amazing actually was the silence in general. There was hardly much chit chatting where we were. Everyone seemed a bit on the edge, watching, eager and ready to know what was about to happen. Where I stood, people stayed within their group. The crowd was a complete mix of age, color, ethnicity but all around me spoke English. There were these areas squared off by blankets or jackets and everyone was zealously guarding their territories. There were these two young men who stood like soldiers with one orange poster between them and would not budge to let us three sit together. We managed to sit down separated a bit but close enough. I had taken along Jon’s book Earth, thinking I would ask all around us to sign it for me but somehow could not. As far as the eye could see the swathe of humanity blanked out everything else all the way to the Washington Monument. The phones were out of service and the iPAD did not work. So much for outside entertainment! The big screens were showing recent episodes of Jon and Stephen and everyone was pretty much tuned into that.

The screen went blank during the count down to the start of the show and I had no way of knowing whether that was meant to be. From the moment the heady music began by The Roots followed by John Legend, the crowds went crazy with joy. The guitar playing was pretty phenomenal. John was into Dear God pretty much from the first note. The music was fantastic and rose above everything and if there had been nothing else but that in the show the drive from Buffalo to DC would be worth it. The rally started with a “benediction” rendered by “Father Guido Sarducci”, who called out for the one we call God to send a celestial sign to authenticate the “RIGHT” religion. In the short time Don had to plead for some of the big ones, he forgot Hinduism, only the third largest religion of the world. Not that I care but hey!  Why Buddhism before Hinduism? No chronology in humor! What is the point of being the second largest population if the Hindus cannot be mentioned in counterfeit benedictions ey? The follow up act by Savage and Hyneman was a lot of hand waving and no science. But as I turned around from time to time the husband and son were actually laughing and smiling and paying attention.

Things started to look better when Jon came out to welcome all. The significance of the National Anthem escaped me (as always) but then I never got the idea of why one nation’s anthem is in any way more significant than another. Not even when I was leading the singing in school back in India. It did not make me more Indian or less human or anything. Why the troops? It was a bit disingenuous to put it mildly. I have always felt that my father being in the army did not make him more nationalistic than me did it? But okay the singing was good enough and everyone stood quite straight and tall. Samantha Bee and Asif went through a few people’s demographics which was thankfully interrupted by Stephen. The coming out of the Earth was done quite well. They had not rehearsed too carefully one could see and their chit chat was not as sharp as their show, their give and take a little dazed by the expectations of 200,000 people more than their normal audience. But that was okay because it seemed more natural. The dress changes were colorful and Steve’s charade of churning fears with bees and peanut butter a little puerile. But the raising of potential dangers to let people decide to respond to it as they wish was the best line in this skit. His poem read by Sam Waterston was sharp. The much interrupted train duo routine by Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam) and Ozzy Osborne was enjoyable if a bit chaotic. Differential reporting of the rally was showcased by Wyatt and Jason. The awards given out both for extreme sanity and fear were well deserved I am sure. NPR was signaled out for special mention with due chagrin for not allowing their employees to attend the rally (which has surprised me no end too). The random 7 year old girl awardee seemed out of place too. But hey I cannot know the fertile workings of comedic minds. No harm was done anyway and sanity was still riding high when a medal for the tight black T-shirt of Anderson Cooper was followed by Jon forgetting what was next in line and was quickly reminded about PK Winsome. Tim actually did a good job. It all was endearingly natural.

Both Jon and Stephen did some work to hit the right note while harmonizing the “Greatest Strongest Country” with their own slanted version very cleverly done! Rochester got a mention so that was close enough! The bookend duet by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow was no match for the start of the show but was enjoyed by all. The R2-D2 appearance was such a good idea since technology is in the forefront of the insane pace of humanity.

When the heroes of the show came back all properly dressed I knew that things were getting serious. The exchange between Stephen and Jon as formidable opponents was lively and very well done indeed. Speaking to the fears of many, Jon argued that knowledge and wisdom could counter any fear. In the final keynote speech Jon spoke eloquently and an analysis of that speech is better done by others more qualified than me. I liked it. With no overt leanings towards politics he acknowledged the mixed nature of the rally which might or not have pleased the teeming throng of humanity. If only as an offset to extremes on either side of the political spectrum, and let people understand that they live very privileged lives in a country that everyone is working in concert to keep together, the words did the cause justice.

At the end of the event I noted that everyone wanted to get out of the mall all at once. Roads were blocked off hither and thither I am sure with some famous plan. But since we knew nothing of it we kept meandering from outlet to outlet and then saw people actually trample all over ivy to escape. All in silence mind you! There was much calm. and I wondered about that a bit. Unnatural! When my son wanted to follow the same path I wrenched him away bleeding for the plants and went all around a semicircle to reach Constitution Avenue where we promptly got separated. He meandered off to Pennsylvania Avenue and we met somehow an hour later in the highly barricaded backyard of the White House. I might have imagined a dark shadow near one of large grey-white columns but it comforted me to know that maybe Michelle had come out to breathe some fresh air right then and smiled at my wish to be there right then. We then took a cab to the Lincoln Memorial and spent a good half hour to hover around just looking down the mall and feeling generally good. As the redness in the sky deepened we took our leave.

There was not a single restaurant who would give us entry until Equinox on Connecticut Avenue allowed us a table at 9: 30 pm. So we hungered out till late and drove to the heart of the city to enjoy a hearty meal toasting the weekend well spent. I returned back to Buffalo, Sunday at 8:30 pm and as soon as the car turned in the driveway there were several small kids at my door demanding candy. For the first time in twenty one years of being in the US, my coffers were empty and my heart bled because my own kids had flown their nest and I had not even kept the (in case I returned) candy at hand to give.

 I really did not  understand the reason I had driven hundreds of miles to enjoy a warm sunny day spent with thousands standing for four hours, swinging to great music and laughing at jokes, and actually listening to someone tell me what I knew already. I daresay there may be others in my position. This will be remembered as my first quasi-political rally ever. I cannot be sure if my sanity was restored by the sheer  insanity of the numbers who attended in Washington on October 30^th, 2010. Truly speaking I have not yet found a single completely sane person in this world and would not know how to recognize one even if they were standing next to me. Somettimes I think I see one and whoooosh! he or she is gone! Who dear Jon, who on this earth should/could I normalize against?

 The work startsNOW.......................... VOTE!