Report Card Age - Age of the Reasonable Voter

The power lies in your hands

When India gained independence in 1947(or to be precise were ‘gifted’ independence in 1947), the huge population had little or no say in the election [again to be precise ‘selection’] of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru as India’s first Prime Minister. All that the word ‘democracy’ signified was that when it came to our political ideology, we were with the western side of the two power blocs existent at that point of time in world history. Whether we accept it or not, Nehru was clever enough to ‘strike a balance’ by going democratic and socialist both. He wanted the US, but was too afraid to lose the Russians or the Chinese for the matter of fact. The idea was to take the best, and leave the rest. But one gets a feeling that this was done to accommodate the policy and outlook of Non-Alignment that Nehru always endorsed. He wanted India to benefit from everyone, not a bad idea at all.

Over the years, the Indian democracy plunged into the dark and dead phase of a single party system. If you ask me, this was no different from what was going on in China. The Indian National Congress, riding high on the pre-independence exploits of Nehru and Gandhi, managed to win the confidence of the Indian voters over and over again. But there was no contest actually; no other party was a big gun enough to pose a challenge to the strong and widely respected INC. See during those days, the INC was not a political party for the people of India. The image was that these are Gandhi’s men who fought hard for our independence and hence deserve to govern us. In the deification of Gandhi, we gifted ourselves with a long lasting Congress hegemony. In the 1970s, the Janta Party did manage to upset the INC momentum, and in the 1990s the party [INC] went through a lot of ups and downs But in the long run, INC continues to dominate the Indian political scene – and that too by quite a margin.

What actually propelled the growth and success of INC? As mentioned above, it was the general belief that INC is NOT a political party but simply ‘Bapu’s group’. Also, both direct and indirect illiteracy ensured that the INC people enjoyed their dominance for a long time. Direct illiteracy obviously means people who were not educated. But what about indirect illiteracy? See even the educated masses were ‘educated’ and ‘trained’ to respect and spread INC ideals. The course books included scores of paragraphs describing the work of INC and glorifying INC leaders. INC popularized itself in the course books and created a section of educated people in the society which helped in spreading the message of INC. Indirectly illiterate, these people had no idea that were not ‘educated’ but ‘trained’. It is quite an irony that Gandhi himself wanted the INC to dissolve as he believed that it had served its purpose. But with Nehru and a few other opportunists in waiting, INC was transformed into a full time political party. This meant bidding farewell to the Gandhian concepts of complete selflessness and social service.

The 90s showed us how ‘unstable’ a democracy can get. Also, how desperate the leaders can be. When the NDA finally showed up as a strong opponent to the INC led UPA, we entered the age of coalition parties. Yes indeed the Janta party was a coalition, but a coalition which was fragile and uncoordinated. Hence, the Janta Party cannot really be included in our history books as a ‘proper coalition’ or as a coalition which forced the INC to seek friends.

Over the years, elections in India have been fought over petty, unreasonable, ridiculous and useless issues. Right from religion to caste, the blame game continued and the voters were misguided or uninterested in elections altogether. But now we see a different breed of voters. This is a time when a democracy is tested. This is a time when political parties must revamp their strength and modernize their methods. Any party that fails to concur - will be lost forever. The political parties of our time must realize the importance of restructuring their framework as well as their ideology. We all know how badly the BJP struggles to reach to a conclusion when it comes to deciding the party’s basic ideology. The members are nibbling away at each other’s faults and the whole alliance [NDA] is shapeless and in despair.

The INC meanwhile, is surrounded by allegations of corruption and poor governance and has become the ‘virtual punch bag’ for most of us. Need an outlet to drain all your anger and disgust? Start a discussion about UPA and you will be relieved and leave the room as a relaxed and satisfied soul. I don’t know what actually invited this avalanche of hatred, but the UPA surely needs a BUZZ!!

After Rajnikant and CID jokes, the UPA jokes entertain audiences all around the world.



We now shift our focus to State elections. If we look at the past one decade, we will see that the verdict of voters in two states, prove that India has entered into the age of the reasonable voter. Gone are the days when a party could rule without offering any form of development to it’s voters. When the Laloo Prasad government was given a shocker by Nitish Kumar and company, almost every political analyst blamed the dismal condition of Bihar for the fall of Laloo Prasad Yadav. But what we fail to realize is that along with the pathetic condition of Bihar, it was also the realization of the ‘good’ by the people of the state that led to the election of Nitish Kumar’s team. The people were able to reason out that the current party is not capable enough to take care of Bihar anymore and it is time that someone else was presented with the opportunity to provide and protect the State of Bihar. If we closely observe the activities of Nitish Kumar in the recent past, we can easily deduce that the man has realized that it is only through effective development that his party will be able to continue in Bihar.

Mayawati’s elephant succumbing to a team of experienced ‘cyclists’, namely the ‘Baap-Beta’ combination of Mulayam and Akhilesh, is another example of how poor performance can lead to an absolute shocker. Mayawati was busy constructing parks and statues while the people of UP were struggling to make ends meet. Along with this, extreme levels of corruption and widespread discontent among the ‘Dalits’, forced them to withdraw support from their own party. Meanwhile, Akhilesh has promised to deliver. Yes that does not sound like anything new but going by the trends, the duo will know that without development, they cannot expect to stretch their welcome in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Yadavs are infamous for crimes of all sorts. They need to get rid of this tag and make a move towards developing Uttar Pradesh in a manner that will dazzle not only the people of the state but also the people of the country as is in the case of Nitish Kumar.

So with the voters drawing up a list of pros n cons for every political party that appears before them begging for their vote and support, it becomes very important for each party to enter the ‘House Of The Voters’ with a report card in hand, clearly indicating how useful they have actually been. I’m so happy that the ‘Report Card Age’ has finally arrived in India. Just waiting for it to spread its wings and reach every corner of the country, so that the country and the states can actually experience the good that comes from living in a democracy. Buckle up, the journey begins!

NO ROOM FOR GODLINESS !!

Not even close to the real picture

His room had the ability to bring deep shivers to trademark Indian mothers. Guarded by a wooden door, it sent out a tiny creak equivalent to the cry of a newborn baby, only not that endearing. The floor was smeared with footprints and seasoned with tits and bits of fallen hair and materials immensely difficult to identify. The chair, out of position, had clothes all over it loosely placed to look like a garland. The idea was to separate each clothing from another so that it becomes easy to distinguish between them in the ‘sorting’ session which took place every morning. The table had a sweat shirt laid across it (probably washed the other night and pressed on the table due to lack of a clothesline in the room). A set of books at the corner of the table gave the impression of a scholar but the layers of dust hanging onto them immediately corrected the observer. Three water bottles stood up high like skyscrapers with a flip-it calendar resembling an ancient structure placed right behind them. An unorganized pen stand gave the idea of a painting painted in haste with toothbrushes and nail cutters hanging around the pens and pencils. The other items enjoying residence inside the stand included pizza seasoning sachets, scraps and a razor blade. These were like uninvited guests, or maybe unwanted guests.

The curtains, originally meant to be creamy in color  had shades of brown and black here and there. They looked like one of those Italian dishes you order in the restaurant with pepper and other seasonings sprayed over them. The calendar on the wall had a picture of two birds on the branch of a tree with flowers in the background. All this was photographed with perfection, but the only problem was that the calendar displayed the days in September while everyone on the outside was busy celebrating Christmas. The backpack on the floor and the empty bucket beside it further added to the beauty of the room as one exercised extreme caution as to avoid the ‘n’ number of slippers and shoes which adorned the floor. The bed sheet reminded you of the face of the oldest person on earth that you've come across. Not because it had the aura and spark of the same, but because the curls and river like tributaries on the bed sheet had a striking similarity to the wrinkles of an elderly. A red blanket, shining out of nothingness lay unfolded in the corner of the bed. The pillow cover was another Italian dish with snake like black cables gliding over it running into the laptop thumped on the chair. More cables ran out of the laptop and went in different directions connecting it to the headphone, mouse, speakers and the charging point of the battery charger. The chair was placed close to the bed and the mouse stay put right in the middle of the bed. All this to ensure comfort and pleasure to the operator, without causing the slightest of troubles or delay while watching sci-fi movies and pop videos of global prominence.

The idea was to keep it simple. Every once in a while he would tone it all down with a broom or a mop. But like any other recurring truth of life, his form of living would return to him like a faithful pet.

COLD NOVEMBER RAIN

Ride in the Rain sometime...

On a normal day, the song ‘November Rain’ by Guns n Roses always gets the play button push on my cell phone. But this was no ordinary day, heavy rains lashed on my room’s window as I struggled to push my right foot into the shoe with the laces tied a bit too tightly for the occasion. Hopping from the window to my bed, I grabbed my cell phone and gave the headset a sad but meaningful look. Forget about listening to songs and humming a melody or two, this was a day when you start searching for poly bags to keep your beloved cell phone safe.

I checked the lock screen on my cell phone. Besides the beautiful wallpaper of my heart throb Audrey Tautou, the clock on the screen indicated that I had exactly forty-five minutes to reach the classroom doors. Life is hard, especially when you mistake a box of peanuts for a box of cereals at night and wake up with a coffee mug and an empty cereal bowl next morning. I could hear the clouds thunder outside, but the bubbling sounds within...made me swear that I’ll fill my room with cereal boxes once I return.

I stepped out of the building, onto the road and SPLASH! God bless the municipality for only they know how to make the worst roads all over the world. One big crater on the road filled with mud water got the beating from a passing SUV, and the result was a huge wave of brownish water embracing my denim jeans. These are times when you can’t stop yourself from thinking that whether God does it all on purpose or not. I spell out a few curses in Hindi. It’s strange how a few dirty words drain out all your anger, almost magical.

Moving on, I literally tantalized the autorikshaw-wala as I won a battle of words and emotions to make that trip to the nearest metro station. Well, I don’t know much about revenge. But I've heard this one proverb, it goes like, “Revenge is sweet”. It sure was loud when the autorikshaw-wala bombarded me with Tum toh thehrey pardesi on a sound system which might cause Tiesto or even Guetta to faint. This guy had a big plastic sheet covering him and a poly bag wrapped on his head like a turban protecting him from the rain. Whatever happened to raincoats, may god bless them.

Surviving the ‘pardesi’ attack, I entered the metro station only to be stopped by the CISF security personnel for their two and a half second frisking and surveillance procedure. Well I reached just in time to catch the metro train stationed at the platform. Breathing heavily I search for that corner where I’ll be at peace for the next twenty minutes or so. We all have this one spot in the wagon where we like to stand. You see, getting a seat in Delhi metros is only a myth. But you always have this one spot where you like to stand, and when you finally get there, you feel blessed. The train started moving and just then I noticed a lady running towards the stairs on the platform. She slipped as if she had stepped on the world’s smoothest banana peel and landed right on her back. The sound of her landing could be felt inside the train. People gathered around the poor lady as she moaned with pain, the train gained pace and we entered the concrete tunnels.

“It is too damn fast this Delhi life, really hard to keep up”, said a tall and dark man standing next to me as he smiled awaiting appreciation for his special comments on the incident. He looked like one of those South Indian movie stars who never make it big. He even smiled like them, I kept thinking to myself... “Which was the last South Indian movie that I watched?” Oh yes, Ayan it was, nice movie.

“The government has failed to acquire apt number of metro trains for this large Delhi population. I see people running here and there all the time. These politicians are busy taking money and handing out bribes. God bless the country.” said a man as old as time standing right behind us. The lines on his face were so deep; one could find hidden water resources inside them. He had very little or no hair on his head and the lights inside the wagon shot off from the screen of his temple to send beams of light all across your eyes.
He could hardly stand and was waiting for someone to offer him his or her seat.

In the mean time, I failed to understand how a slippery floor, a women making haste and corruption could be inter connected? Some things just escape my mind, or maybe they’re actually meant to. The metro glides peacefully and I keep checking my watch. I look at the floor, brown and wet every bit of it. People smelled of soaked water or worse. I was getting impatient. Metro rides are not my thing and that too on a rainy day. I checked my watch again, there was enough time left.

All of a sudden, somebody shouted, “Bomb! Bomb! It’s a bomb.”

My heart skipped a beat as I turned my neck slowly; I wasn't looking at the watch anymore.