Kennedy family tragedy .. Jwala Narasimha Rao Vanam

Please click this link for my reflections on the death of John F kennedy Jr published in "Cincinati Enquirer on 27th July, 1999

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/07/25/loc_readers_reflect_on.html

The history of tragedies and successes in the Kennedy family is the contemporary history of the U.S. There can be very few comparisons in world history to the Kennedy family. David Von Drehle of the Washington Post had rightly mentioned that if America had a Shakespeare, he would write the Kennedy story. Had Pearl S. Buck, the all-time great novelist and biographer of the Kennedy family, been alive, I am sure she would add many more heart-searching and touching events in her first-ever and perhaps the only non-fiction book on the Kennedy family.

The formidable family tree of Joseph P. Kennedy is now at the edge of crumbling and being uprooted in the course of destiny. It goes to the credit of Joseph for having withstood the onslaught and turmoil of destiny, in life and death, to have lost son after son, the grandson and granddaughter-in-law. As an Indian, I see a remarkable comparison between the Kennedy family and the Nehru-Gandhi family. While there were Joseph, John F. Kennedy, Robert, and JFK Jr. in the American contemporary history, so also in India, there were Moti Lal, Jawahar Lal, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. While the Kennedy family lost President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy for the cause of the nation, so also in India, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were assasinated for a similar cause. As the Kennedy family lost Joe Jr. long ago and now JFK Jr. in plane crashes, so also did the Nehru family lose Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash. Surprisingly, in the cases of JFK Jr. and Sanjay Gandhi, the planes they were piloting crashed to death! Alas, that is destiny.

Well, to keep the American hopes alive, there is the youngest and last of Joseph's sons, Edward Moore Kennedy, the only one destined to live a full life. Let us hope he will make it to the top one day. There in India, the late Rajiv's wife, Sonia Gandhi, is in a similar position.

This also reminds me of the Tale of Chinese Soong Sisters. All three of them married three great personalities, who at one time or other were the heads of state of erstwhile China, including Chiang-kai-sheik.

Let Jack and Jackie Kennedy from the other world join the living Americans and all those outside the country in praying for the departed souls of JFK Jr. and his wife to rest in peace.

Let us hope that the day is not far off for the resurrection of the late President John F. Kennedy when Edward becomes President.

Jwala Narasimha Rao Vanam, Loveland