Last week was election time in Chennai. State elections. I was beside myself because I had just received my ID card from the Election Commission. Of course, it was due a good two years ago.
2009 saw me running to and from the Corporation Office in my part of the city trying to get myself in the electoral rolls.My name till date was in the Mumbai-West electoral rolls and I was strenuously trying to get myself moved to Chennai. My son, who was just back from Leeds, had set himself up all nice and cosy for voting in Mumbai and he did it through Jagore! I tried the same, but was not very successful.
General elections arrived in the summer of 2009 and I had no voter ID no slip from the electoral rolls, nada.I do not concede defeat very easily, an irritating aspect of my personality---almost a bulldog-like doggedness once something plants itself in my brain.So the 2009 elections saw me out there checking the rolls for my name, with my driving licence and passport as IDs. No luck. I came back furious at not being able to exercise my franchise. Another trip to the Corporation office---I must add that the people in that office are extremely helpful and spent a whole lot of time checking out the lists for my name. They told me that the new voters' list ran literally into ten of thousands of new names, and they found it physically impossible to deal with it. They assured me I would have it when the next elections rolled around.
I made polite noises to them but grumbled aside.
Well, they were right and I was wrong. This time around I got it all, but hey! human error still showed its pesky face. My mother who was on the rolls these past two decades, did not receive her ID card, and her name was not there either. Well, anyway I took off from work that day, and decided to get there bright and early just in case I had to stand forever in the queue. I felt almost obnoxiously civic that morning of 13th April, as I went around asking my neighbors if anyone needed a lift to the polling booth. I was there around quarter to eight and the queue was not threatening. Everything went about quietly, smoothly like a well oiled machine. Oh yes, the police were there , holding very lethal looking guns. No, the Election Commission was not going to take any chances. There were separate lines for men and women; there were volunteers who checked our slips and directed us to our booths; chairs were set out for senior citizens who braved the heat and came to vote.
There was such a wonderful cross section of the Indian populace right there in the compound of that small Corporation school, in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.Right behind me was this woman from the fishing village who could not read or write, and who wanted to know if she was in the right place; next to her was a young woman talking on a cell phone; with me of course was this very old lady, a neighbor, who refused to sit down saying there wee others who needed that seat more than she did. In the line parallel to mine, where the men stood, there was sudden commotion, and the cause for it was the actor Ajith who again, is my neighbor in 4th Seaward Road. He stood smiling in the blistering heat not heeding the milling press, and his three piece suit ! A pregnant woman was allowed in first; the volunteers were polite. My finger was marked with the notorious indelible ink; I cast my vote pressing the button on an electronic voting machine. and I came out proud to be part of a system that ensured such order, at least where I voted.
This is exactly what we need and want in this country :a fuss free, efficient , corruption free system. Never mind the fact that the school badly needed a paint job; never mind that some of the benches were broken, window panes needed replacement; all's forgiven. We know the difficulty of volumes in this country. Generally everything gets blamed on the teeming millions, but this one time I saw our teeming millions as our strength. They came out in droves to exercise their right, and they did it with dignity and a keen sense of belonging. This is their country, they have had enough of people selling it down the river. They are not fools to be tempted by paper money and such trivia. It is an awakening that I see, a true democratic awakening that is exciting and bodes good for this sovereign democratic republic.
2009 saw me running to and from the Corporation Office in my part of the city trying to get myself in the electoral rolls.My name till date was in the Mumbai-West electoral rolls and I was strenuously trying to get myself moved to Chennai. My son, who was just back from Leeds, had set himself up all nice and cosy for voting in Mumbai and he did it through Jagore! I tried the same, but was not very successful.
General elections arrived in the summer of 2009 and I had no voter ID no slip from the electoral rolls, nada.I do not concede defeat very easily, an irritating aspect of my personality---almost a bulldog-like doggedness once something plants itself in my brain.So the 2009 elections saw me out there checking the rolls for my name, with my driving licence and passport as IDs. No luck. I came back furious at not being able to exercise my franchise. Another trip to the Corporation office---I must add that the people in that office are extremely helpful and spent a whole lot of time checking out the lists for my name. They told me that the new voters' list ran literally into ten of thousands of new names, and they found it physically impossible to deal with it. They assured me I would have it when the next elections rolled around.
I made polite noises to them but grumbled aside.
Well, they were right and I was wrong. This time around I got it all, but hey! human error still showed its pesky face. My mother who was on the rolls these past two decades, did not receive her ID card, and her name was not there either. Well, anyway I took off from work that day, and decided to get there bright and early just in case I had to stand forever in the queue. I felt almost obnoxiously civic that morning of 13th April, as I went around asking my neighbors if anyone needed a lift to the polling booth. I was there around quarter to eight and the queue was not threatening. Everything went about quietly, smoothly like a well oiled machine. Oh yes, the police were there , holding very lethal looking guns. No, the Election Commission was not going to take any chances. There were separate lines for men and women; there were volunteers who checked our slips and directed us to our booths; chairs were set out for senior citizens who braved the heat and came to vote.
There was such a wonderful cross section of the Indian populace right there in the compound of that small Corporation school, in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.Right behind me was this woman from the fishing village who could not read or write, and who wanted to know if she was in the right place; next to her was a young woman talking on a cell phone; with me of course was this very old lady, a neighbor, who refused to sit down saying there wee others who needed that seat more than she did. In the line parallel to mine, where the men stood, there was sudden commotion, and the cause for it was the actor Ajith who again, is my neighbor in 4th Seaward Road. He stood smiling in the blistering heat not heeding the milling press, and his three piece suit ! A pregnant woman was allowed in first; the volunteers were polite. My finger was marked with the notorious indelible ink; I cast my vote pressing the button on an electronic voting machine. and I came out proud to be part of a system that ensured such order, at least where I voted.
This is exactly what we need and want in this country :a fuss free, efficient , corruption free system. Never mind the fact that the school badly needed a paint job; never mind that some of the benches were broken, window panes needed replacement; all's forgiven. We know the difficulty of volumes in this country. Generally everything gets blamed on the teeming millions, but this one time I saw our teeming millions as our strength. They came out in droves to exercise their right, and they did it with dignity and a keen sense of belonging. This is their country, they have had enough of people selling it down the river. They are not fools to be tempted by paper money and such trivia. It is an awakening that I see, a true democratic awakening that is exciting and bodes good for this sovereign democratic republic.
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