What makes a person to be cherished forever? What makes him/her great? If Ideology, Morality or Ethics alone define an individual’s popularity, then there are many such people in this world. But none of them have become great in respective fields.

While defining greatness of an individual there should be an astute distinction between good, bad and evil. Whatever may be their extraordinary qualities and abilities, personifying an individual’s character has to be dealt carefully regardless of his/her popularity.

Last two weeks saw the demise of two ‘great’ personalities. Fidel Castro and Jayalalithaa Jayaraman. A lot of contrasting opinions has been written and said about them after their demise.

Fidel Castro was a revolutionary leader who led Cuba away from the imperialist government which allegedly was believed to be driven by the capitalist America. His revolutionary ideology and stubborn loyalty to socialist agenda made him a modern symbol of socialism. He was highly successful in making his country not to be deprived of basic health and free education while across the oceans, the so called developed liberal countries were struggling hard (didn’t care equally) to provide free health and education to all of its citizens.

On the other hand, Jayalaithaa from India was a lone warrior in her battle who defied all the odds against her and embarked greater heights. She changed the course of patriarchal geopolitics and always kept their opponents on their heels.

Nevertheless of the unmatchable magnitude of populism achieved by Mr. Castro and Ms. Jayalaithaa, they were never free of criticism and of course they never cared for it. Fidel Castro was accused by Western liberal democracies for suppressing dissent and curbing free speech in his country. Located just 90 miles away from American southern coast, he aligned Cuba towards socialism for five decades while never caring about the big brother’s threats. His bravery, perseverance for the revolt and the intensity with which he defied the imperialist ideology made him stand out among his contemporaries. He stood on the side of socialism until his death.

On the other hand, Jayalalithaa had an acute sense of perceiving things and she employed strategies which surprised many. Her emotions and political acumen could be seen in her results. Her loneliness strengthened her and humiliations enraged her to chase the pinnacle of success. Although lacking definite political ideology she steered her party to enviable triumphs.

They might be perceived as heroes or villains, but they were cherished and admired by many. They impacted their societies in an extreme manner and made their career to be a peculiar source of inspiration. They had an outspoken ideology and were never short of immaculate wisdom while applying knowledge and experience in their respective political ring.

Leading life by surviving the odds is never going to be easy. Gaining strength gradually and inspiring our self is the matter of contest in one’s life. We are never blessed with all the things we dreamt of. Firstly, if we are dreaming something, definitely we are not possessing that and the journey we embark to make it true will not go according to our plan. But somehow we have to face it. The journey in quest of reaching one’s destiny has to be and certainly will be memorable. It is what that defines us and it is what that is going to inspire others.

J Jayalaithaa image by Kumarrajendran and Wikiality123 at en.wikipedia. [Public domain or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Fidel Castro image by Antônio Milena/ABr (Agência Brasil [1]) [CC BY 3.0 br], via Wikimedia Commons