This Wednesday, I woke up to a short text on my phone, “Mamdani Mubarak.” For a second, I thought it was a festival greeting, like Eid Mubarak or Ramadan Mubarak. And then it struck me. It was time to celebrate.Zohran Mamdani had done the impossible, beating the odds to become the new Mayor of New York City.The son of filmmaker Mira Nair, whose Monsoon Wedding once made us smile from ear to ear, Mamdani’s rise feels symbolic.The world fazed with a Trump here, a Putin there or an Erdogan there, could do with the good cheer and all embracing politics of Mamdani. At a time when thousands of immigrants have been packed home by Trump, including those who came in shackles in India, Mamdani’s warm embrace of immigrants warmed the cockles of my heart and posed a moral reset.He dined with taxi drivers, shared coffee with security guards, and stood shoulder to shoulder with blue collar workers. It’s a reminder that this world is not yet fully surrendered to billionaires and Bezos.There is space yet for socialists, the poor, the dispossessed, the marginalised.We are, collectively, tired of the billionaire class. Sure, we enjoy luxury and all things fine for which I am the first in line, but what’s luxury without conscience?My early image of New York was shaped by Gossip Girl, a city of “old money” where Dan Humphreys could never belong in Blair Waldorf’s world. But as I grew, I learned that the real New York breathes in its art, music, food, and subway and it is Dan who is the spine of the story. And now, it has found a leader who represents that pulse, not its penthouses.Mamdani’s victory is deeply political, yes, but also profoundly human. It comes at a time when Islamophobia still shadows much of American life. Yet he made no attempt to hide his faith. He greeted voters with a cheerful Assalamu Alaikum and never diluted his identity for public comfort. That honesty, rare in politics, became his strength, something I think I’d do had I been presented the opportunity.He was confident of what he was and did not try to appear to be something he wasn’t.That eventually worked in his favour, He hit out at Netanyahu, for what Israel has done at Gaza. Just as he did not mince words, when talking about Narendra Modi and Gujarat violence of 2002. For those who may not be aware, Mamdani’s father hailed from Gujarat and migrated to Uganda.Mamdani is my hero. And not Barack Obama who dropped his middle name “Hussain” during his presidential campaign to be more “electable”. He should be the hero of every right thinking human being who believes there’s space for all colours, races, religion and castes on the stage of the world.Gen Z, predictably, is obsessed with him, and not just for his progressive politics. They see in him a leader without airs, a man who rides the subway, chats with night-shift workers, and talks about love and liberation in the same breath.In an age of everything being calculative and performative, his authenticity is a huge green flag.As a young Indian woman, often surrounded by leaders trapped in moth-eaten ideas of caste and communal binaries, Mamdani’s victory feels personal. He is what I wish Indian politics could nurture, a leader unafraid of intellect, and inclusion. His quoting of Jawaharlal Nehru in his victory speech struck me deeply. It was a reminder that, seventy-eight years later, Nehru’s secular, pluralist vision still matters and perhaps India needs to remember that.Mamdani’s victory comes just twenty-four years after 9/11, a reminder of how far narratives can shift when courage outdoes fear.Can we in India imagine something similar? A Muslim chief minister in Gujarat, or a Sikh chief minister in Delhi, four decades after the 1984 pogrom? Or even a Muslim mayor in Mumbai where the BJP chief Ameet Satam went to social media with his pledge, “We will not allow any ‘Khan’ to become a mayor.”And yes, beyond the politics, there’s also the plain charm. Vogue may call having a boyfriend “embarrassing,” but exceptions exist, especially for someone like Zohran. He feels like the world’s best argument for multiculturalism.It’s not his lineage that wins hearts, though, it’s his simplicity. The quiet grace of a man who doesn’t need a billion dollar campaign to feel seen or as the internet may call “a man written by a woman”And then there’s the finale. When he walked off to Dhoom Machale it felt right. Like the universe saying, “The world still has rhythm.”As Kylie Jenner brings back her “King Kylie” era and the internet cycles through nostalgia, Mamdani’s win is a reminder that maybe, just maybe, the world is healing.Perhaps 2026 could be a better, braver echo of 2008, only this time, with leaders who believe the world belongs equally to everyone in it.Maryam Ziya works with Radio Mirchi.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.