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 :-)
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 :-)
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