The Legend of Gary Barve
Lessons in perseverance
Gary Barve needs your help.
I don't know Gary personally, but from what I've gathered, he spent his formative years in the same city that I grew up in - Pune, India - around the same time, maybe a few years later, that I did. I probably even bumped into him somewhere, because Pune in those days was a small city, where you knew almost everyone within two (max three) degrees of separation. Details of his life are somewhat sketchy, his LinkedIn profile suggests he completed kindergarten in New Jersey in 1987, and then did his MBA from Southern Methodist in 2012, and pretty much nothing in between. If I was betting anything, based on his last name and his desire to show how smart he is, I’d say he spent a decent percentage of his time in Pune, very likely at the Abhinav Mahavidyalaya, with possibly an engineering degree somewhere in between. But I don’t know for sure, and I don’t want to presume. That said, Gary, or Gautam as he was known in those days, is in possession of something very few people raised in Pune have - an American passport, since he was born in the US.
But we're not here because Gary was born in the US. We're here because of what that has allowed him to do.
Run for President of the United States of America in the 2028 elections as a Republican supporter of our President Donald J. Trump. (If you follow Gary, I'm sorry but you have to say the whole thing)
You see, Gary has been running for office for a long time now. In 2020, he ran for City Council in Santa Clara, CA. Needless to say, he did not make it. Then in 2022, he ran (and later withdrew) for the U.S. House Virginia District 7, in Virginia. Not satisfied with the resounding failure of this campaign, he tried his shot at a open US Senate seat in the state of Virginia in 2024. He even set up a PAC for his candidacy, but then decided that his efforts were better placed running for the Republican primary for the U.S. House Florida District 23. He ran an admirable campaign, getting almost 2000 people to vote for him. However he did end up last among all the candidates, (joint last, to be fair)
But Gary has way too much to offer to the public, and now with his President Donald J. Trump (possibly) term limited, he's going to run for President of the United States of America in the 2028 elections as a Republican supporter of our President Donald J. Trump. (Like I said, you have to say the whole thing). In the man's own words, this is the job he’s been literally born to do.
I mean, why else did God ensure he was born in the United States, that One Nation Under that very God? Unfortunately, the voting public doesn’t seem to be heeding this very God’s edict!! Which is why I am here posting about how you need to drop what you’re doing and do your religious duty of voting for Gary whenever it is your turn to vote in the Presidential Primary for the 2028 election cycle!! In fact, I am strongly considering applying for citizenship of this great country as soon as I get eligible, just so that I can cast my first presidential vote for Gary Barve, a Republican supporter of our President Donald J. Trump (I told you, you have to say it).
Why Chirag, I hear you ask? Why should we bother with voting for a candidate that has failed struggled to win even a basic Santa Clara City Council seat, and entrust him with the responsibility of leading this country, let alone the free world?
In P. L. Deshpande's story “असा मी, असामी” (this is me, a common man), the narrator-cum-protagonist Dhondo Bhikaji Joshi poses the question why an uninteresting, run of the mill, common man like him should even bother with writing an autobiography. To which, he then proceeds to take inspiration from his keertankaar uncle and his fairly nondescript keertankaari career. “Just because there are world-famous keertankaar like Nijampurkar buwa, Kavishwar buwa, Rashinkar buwa, Badodekar buwa”, the uncle would say, “does that mean this Digambar Kadmadekar should never do a keertan?”
I often think of Digambar buwa Kadmadekar whenever I come across Gary Barve on my social media feeds.
To all the doubters I ask, why not? Whatever happened to the good old values of dogged persistence in the face of debilitating adversity? When did the result become the reason for doing something?
Seriously, I do think there is something wonderful about my man Gary running for President. There’s something teachable here. He hit the lottery by being born in this country, and is trying to maximize his winnings by going for the biggest prize there is. Every child born in the country is told that they can be anything, literally anything they want, even the President of the United States. In my career, I’ve always advised people to focus on building their talent and squeezing every possible drop out of that talent. Winning and losing is just part of the game, but giving it your best shot is what it is all about. The talent needed to be President of the United States is to be born in the United States and Gary is squeezing every drop of whatever talent juice he has for it. Not to mention, I am a sucker for irony, and the irony of an Indian guy succeeding our President Donald J. Trump is just too juicy to let go.
Gary’s persistence requires recognition, not ridicule. There’s a potential Oscar-winning documentary waiting to be made on Gary’s journey to the White House. There’s pathos and loneliness and exhilaration and satisfaction all in one story. The ultimate Hollywood all-American underdog story, with some DEI thrown in to satisfy the liberals.
Gary Barve needs your help! Donate today to his campaign.