Now I'm going to write about something I know nothing about, Indian politics.

I have written twice here about India's election. The result was an upset, and personally I give former prime minister Vajpayee all the praise in the world for running a fair election and accepting the results. (Kudos also go to former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar in this regard, and to any other leader who allows the verdict of the people to be heard, and to stand.)

But back to Mrs. Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi is not an Indian. She is Italian. She married into the family. And these are not the Gandhis of the Mahatma. These are the descendents of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian President, a man who accepted India's partition to the Mahatma's great regret.

Sonia Gandhi lost her husband to politics, and her brother-in-law, and her mother-in-law. (She really lost them. All three were assassinated.) Yet she rebuilt her in-laws' party from the ashes of defeat. She accepted all the abuse her opponents could toss -- for her name, and her foreign heritage. She earned the triumph.

And then she gave it back. While she had nominal Communists in her coalition, and her Congress Party had a history of supporting Socialist economics, she chose the father of her nation's economic reforms, Manmohan Singh, as Prime Minister. She will serve, instead, as leader of her party in the parliament, known by that ethereal, mysterious name of the Lok Sabha.

Sure, cynics can say, that was just clever. She rules behind the scenes, they sneer. It's all the power and none of the responsibility.

Maybe. I don't know how her mind works. I've never met the lady. Like i said, I don't know much about Indian politics. (The picture below is from Jainworld.)

But Sonia fought for power, she earned power, then she handed power over to someone else. How many of us would do that? It reminds me of a Robert Fulghum story, about his mother's family, which was named Howard, and how when he prayed as a child he heard "Our Father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name," and how that made him feel that he belonged to the whole circle of life. Feeling part of a great family was part of Fulghum's journey toward faith and love for every person. Maybe something like that happened here.

Sonia's family may be Nehru, but I for one think she has become a Gandhi.