India Votes...

Yes... Its finally over. The biggest orchestra ever organized is over. And tomorrow is the verdict. As supposedly many people of my "age-group" did, I too voted. And I am not too happy. Don't get me wrong here, I am happy that I voted. But certainly sad because an old myth got shattered. The myth that education makes you responsible. The myth that education enables to make decisions and a better decision. The myth about education has been shattered. Abysmal 40% of polling in an area populated by primarily educated guys. After all the jaago re, I was feeling somewhat confident that this time would be different. And with all the things happening/not happening in the country, I was certain that people will come out to carry out their duty, at least in frustration. But no. People continue to sit on their asses and watch the news in which some stupid guy will give predictions, rather than go their and set those predictions.

As a certain survey across 172 countries shows that in terms of the voter-turnout (since 1945), India - the 2nd (or 1st??) largest democracy', ranks 105th (out of 172 countries). And this election probably contributed for it to reach abysmally lower ranks.

Perhaps this mail floating on the net says much:

10 reasons why South Mumbai didn't come out to vote on April 30:
Clashed with Salsa class
Election whites were not dry cleaned
No candidate was a hottie
Tony Jethmalani contesting from suburbs. Sigh!!
There was no valet parking at booth
I spotted servant in queue ahead of us
Driver did not come
But eElections over dude! aren't they?... Obama won!
No party is tackling real issues, eg, reduce Golds Gym rates.
There was no "home delivery!"

Apart from this, elections brought out the contrasts in India. A constituency in Nagaland had only 3 contestants and one in Andhra Pradesh had 224! Some places in Jammu had voter turnouts as less as 10% and some places in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka had as high as 75% turnout. As I write this, my mind skips to the day that I voted. It was a cool morning, temperatures around 25deg (not that it mattered). I headed out to the polling booth along with my parents and brother early in the morning. The polling station was in a school in a nearby vicinity. Being early in the morning I expected to see a decent crowd there. But to my disappointment, there were only 3 people in the queue ahead of me. First in the line was an old man, probably in his 90's using a cane for support, looking feebly through his thick glasses, who would go on to use his finger impression. Next in line was what I believe to be his son, who was still wearing a lungi, had a very disinterested face, almost as though he had been forced to come to vote. He kept on cribbing about the duration it took for each of them to vote and kept on saying to the old man to vote for HD Kumaraswamy (I hope he found the name of Kumarswamy there ;-)) Next to him was a business man, wearing a suit and a tie. He had shiny shoes and looked intelligent through his gold rimmed glasses. He would go on to sign in the register in his own Sheaffer pen. Like me, the old man, the young man and the business man pressed the button on the EVM to cast their vote. In that sense, in that one moment, hearing the pleasent sound of the EVM beep, all the differences between us melted away. In a way, we were equal at that single moment.
I know this must be usual, but time and again when I see a demonstration of India's strange and immense contrasts, and the understanding that still remains, I am somehow moved.

Well I started to write this post keeping something in mind, but in the ended up writing something drastically different. Thats why I call this My Take. I can write whatever I want :-)

You have to be an Indian if....

1. Everything you eat is savored In garlic, onion and tomatoes.
2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil.
3. You try to eject food particles from between your teeth by pressing your tongue against them and making a peculiar noise like, tshick, tshick, tschick, tschick.
4. You are standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.
5. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think its normal.
6. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to mark up.
7. You recycle Wedding Gifts.
8. You name your children in rhythms
9. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere close to their real names.
10. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says "No Food Allowed"
11. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.
12. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.
13. You use plastic to cover anything new in your house whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch.
14. Your parents tell you to not care what your friends think but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other "Uncles And Aunties"will think.
15. You buy and display crockery, which is for special occasions, which never happen.
16. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
17. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
18. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.
19. Your kitchen shelf is full of jam jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with some household items).
20. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
21. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
22. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
23. You majored in engineering, medicine or law & now........are after Software and only Software no matter which field you belong to.
24. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. (And they prefer it that way).
25. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
26. You feel like you've gotten a good deal if you didn't pay tax.
27. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.
28. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.
29. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel rush to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.
30. You only make long distance calls after 11 p.m.
31. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
32. You call an older person you never met before "uncle."
33. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.
34. Your parents don't realise phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last 2 decades, and still cream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
35. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them away from getting dirty.
36. When dining out, you think Rs 10 is enough of a tip.
37. It's embarrassing if your wedding has less than 600 people.
38. You list your daughter as "fair and slim" in the matrimonial no matter what she looks like
39. You treat the NRI persons (especially from America) as if they are the only persons living in this world (including YOU).
40. You've seen the ground while inside the lavatory of a train.
41. All your tupperware is stained with food color.
42. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
43. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

44. You have really enjoyed reading this mail