May 29 is near the corner. It is a date with history when the baton of power exchanges hand and the once mighty men would alight from their high horses and become common men like us. The mystique of power is demystified and their word ceases to be law. They are ushered out of the fantasy of grandeur to stark reality.
May 29, unarguably, comes with mixed promises. While the date conjures hope for some, it surely must conjure terrible nightmares for others. It is hope for the incoming and his cohorts and nightmares for the outgoing and his co-travelers. Having lived in exalted heraldry for eight years, it could be a recurring nightmare to think it will soon be over.
As the date comes by, diminishing from months to days, does the man of power reflect about a life without the retinue of convoys, security, and aides? Does he think of life after he has been divested of the apparatus of power? Does it appear to him that the phone calls will drop and the crowd will diminish if not disappear? Though he may have stashed so much of public funds, does it frighten him that the free funds will cease to flow? Does it occur to him that after the sirens and the chariots, he will become victims like us of the daily ritual of traffic jams? After a life of pomp and ceremony, is it easy for the man of power to readjust to the community? What if the community sings a dirge of denouncement?
After May 29, history will take its seat and begins to pass its verdict. History is dispassionately judgemental and rational. It scores each man according to his deeds. Does the man of power worry about the verdict of history? Or does he develop a conscience that is seared against scruples?
Power is an aphrodisiacs. Soon, the men of power would come to the reality that it was just a spell and just a midnight dream.
