I was feeling exasperated and suffocated - beads of sweat trickled down my face. I was after all standing in a queue that had gathered at one of the government offices in my locality. The objective was of course to gain possession of the prized "voter id" card - after all its election season..........The queue was getting lengthier and more boisterous by the minute. Unsuspecting souls trying to cut the queue were treated to a avalanche of pleasantries by the fellow queue-mates, the guy in charge of regulating the line was losing his sanity by the minute, a few of the gray haired "seen-it-all" type citizens were ranting their "Who cares about these sons-of-b****** politicians.....to the hell with these elections...all I care for is my voter id card which is being asked for everywhere nowadays!!!" - now this is by no means a complete account of my observations as a silent bystander but a good indicator of the madness that comes tagged along with "elections" in our country......
Elections have always been great time to witness the complete gamut of pyrotechnics that the "theatre of politics" can summon........"poster boys" are made out of yesterday's nobodies,calling each other names(coward,weak etc etc) is not such a bad thing,loyalties and allegiances to coalitions are being switched as rapidly, "Fronts" are being created where everyone thinks of himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate etc. Politics and media are like parasites - they feed off each other......if one is a theatre the other is a circus.......The media goes the whole hog when it is election time - projecting their innumerable 'this-is-the-most-reliable' kind of pre-election surveys (which invariably never match the actual election results!!), interviewing every politician worth his salt and chewing upon his controversial 'sound bytes' etc. In this whole melee, the only people who are left out are the voters themselves...............That is sad because this is something like writing a Harry Potter book forgetting Harry Potter !!!(excuse me for the bad example.....)
In spite of feeling so left out of the 'drama', we must all vote this summer for the following reasons (order not so important......)
1) Its cool to vote......
2) Its a chance to show politicians that "we-could-screw-you-too" albeit we can give it back only once in 4 years....
3) Its often a chance to choose between a) a devil (read Coalition #1) b) the deep sea (read Coalition #2) c) Nobody (read Independents)
4) Simply because you feel patriotic.....
5) Because JFK once said "Ask not what your country can do for you..but ask what you can do for your country"!!!
6) Flaunting the indelible ink mark on your finger is the latest fashion statement....
7) When you candidate doesn't win, you know for sure that you don't share the "mass mentality"!!
8) You get the moral right to crib that "Democracy is a necessary evil" during your 'water-cooler' sessions in office...
9) You deny a worthy candidate of his right to "proxy-vote"!!
10) Lastly because Aamir Khan is endorsing the "Vote India" campaign!!
Finally to sum it up like an ad-man...."Vote India Vote!!!!" (punchlines sell in India!!)
Elections have always been great time to witness the complete gamut of pyrotechnics that the "theatre of politics" can summon........"poster boys" are made out of yesterday's nobodies,calling each other names(coward,weak etc etc) is not such a bad thing,loyalties and allegiances to coalitions are being switched as rapidly, "Fronts" are being created where everyone thinks of himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate etc. Politics and media are like parasites - they feed off each other......if one is a theatre the other is a circus.......The media goes the whole hog when it is election time - projecting their innumerable 'this-is-the-most-reliable' kind of pre-election surveys (which invariably never match the actual election results!!), interviewing every politician worth his salt and chewing upon his controversial 'sound bytes' etc. In this whole melee, the only people who are left out are the voters themselves...............That is sad because this is something like writing a Harry Potter book forgetting Harry Potter !!!(excuse me for the bad example.....)
In spite of feeling so left out of the 'drama', we must all vote this summer for the following reasons (order not so important......)
1) Its cool to vote......
2) Its a chance to show politicians that "we-could-screw-you-too" albeit we can give it back only once in 4 years....
3) Its often a chance to choose between a) a devil (read Coalition #1) b) the deep sea (read Coalition #2) c) Nobody (read Independents)
4) Simply because you feel patriotic.....
5) Because JFK once said "Ask not what your country can do for you..but ask what you can do for your country"!!!
6) Flaunting the indelible ink mark on your finger is the latest fashion statement....
7) When you candidate doesn't win, you know for sure that you don't share the "mass mentality"!!
8) You get the moral right to crib that "Democracy is a necessary evil" during your 'water-cooler' sessions in office...
9) You deny a worthy candidate of his right to "proxy-vote"!!
10) Lastly because Aamir Khan is endorsing the "Vote India" campaign!!
Finally to sum it up like an ad-man...."Vote India Vote!!!!" (punchlines sell in India!!)
13 comments:
Reason could also be,
1. Jaago re - agar aap election ke time per vote nahi kar rahe ho, to aap so rahe ho.
2. It's your duty to vote. Don't you think so.....???
And a correction that we get only a chance in 5 years and not 4 years to screw politicians(in ideal conditions). But in India anything is possible.
But well composed blog, usage is awesome, but i sometimes feel, its too much for a common man to understand. Dont you think so... :)
Well written blog, the reasons given to vote are commendable, though i think " that the we-could-screw-you-too" part is just a fantasy and just nice to hear that the people are the real power behind a democracy...but the reality is very far away from this....what is more important is the number of people who really turn up to vote...an average percantage would be 40% for a urban sector and even less for the rural areas...when the opinion of majority is not reflected, it isn't a fair poll...so that way the "Jaago re" is a great initiative i think.....I'll just end by saying "Go India!"....u can count on me voting....
Influenced by Arvind Adiga I think !! Good one,we just have few things in our control - either contest the elections and work for the people ..or atleast choose the right candidate .
what if you do not find a suitable candidate to vote??
should we still vote coz it is the coolest thing this summer ?
Great thing to do this summer as you said. I am going to vote coz i feel that every vote not registered will be grabbed by someone else by some other means. Also I feel the youth should vote coz its they who have the biggest stake.
We(well...i am youth :-P ) have to live with the consequences more than anyone else.
I agree to your views to an extent.But voting aint the coolest thing at all to do this summer !!
And you are made to wait at all govt offices not only at the place of getting voter id.
And its not cool to vote but it is our duty to vote.Instead of cursing the future govt in future ! we should do our bit of surveying and vote for the right person.Every year there is approx 60% voting which is very less.Hope these campaigns inspire people to vote !
@Shreenidhi:
Thanks for reading....Janaagraha's 'Jaago re'campaign is really making a wonderful effort to get ppl to vote....more to their tribe!!
I think the 'common man' has always been a very intelligent fellow only that he is always confused about what he wants !!
@jrnymn:
kudos to your resolve to vote..thats the way to go!!
Agreed "people's power" is no longer the driving force of today's democracy but still its our only hope.....We Indians never give up on our politicians and cricketers do we??
@Navneeth:
Arvind Adiga is one brutal writer...he doesn't mince words....Love his style thoroughly....!!I agree with u completely....we have only one option so no reason to let go of that one!!!
@Vikas:
A valid argument....but I would say voting for a "not-so-suitable-but-better-than-most" candidate is a far better choice than not voting at all!!
@Anonymous:
Way to go....your vote is going to make a difference for sure!!!
@Harish:
We live in an age of smart marketing and packaging...we need a film star to tell us to vaccinate or even educate our kids....so these campaigns are trying to achieve the same thing - to make voting an "in" thing for the youth of today!! Hope these campaigns succeed in a big way!!!
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