Elections India 2009

Did you become a part of the largest democratic election in the world – the general elections for the 15^th Lok Sabha in India? It is estimated that a whooping 714 million people would exercise their power to vote in this election.

Yes, I did, I did. I voted and I’m elated, delighted, exhilarated, happy, etc etc.

I have a feeling that can’t be described in words.

During my last visit to Lucknow, my home town, I’d registered myself as a voter. I’d got myself photographed, my thumb prints, signatures recorded, etc. In a nutshell I did all that I could to get myself registered as a voter at my home town.

I was carefully seeing all the advertisements and the sentiments on the blogging circle about voting. The Jaagore series: http://www.jaagore.com, and the Time of India initiative: http://www.lead.timesofindia.com, in print, radio and television proved to be very, uhmm, if nothing else than informative. Apart from these there were several other campaigns that also caught the imagination of the tech or rather the net-savvy young and urban Indians. Some of the mentionable few were No Criminals: http://www.nocriminals.org/, Vote Report India: http://votereport.in/.

If all of the above was good and motivating, there came, without warning, the perfect anti-thesis – the print, radio and television ads of political parties. As if this in itself was not enough, there came a flurry of constant nagging phone calls and sms’es exhorting the voters to vote for a particular party or a candidate. This was despite one sending the touted DNC (Do Not Call) registry.

Initially, I was looking forward to voting. But, in between all this overselling, my decision started to vacillate. I was divided and torn whether to cast my vote or to turn chicken and wait for another 5 years (hopefully). And as if by chance I got an alibi, just what I was looking for to not vote – a friends marriage at a distant location almost simultaneous to elections at my home town and then some work at Delhi for me. Such was my schedule that there was no way that I could have made it to Lucknow on 30^th March ’09 to vote. Just what the doctored ordered.

I consider it a really fortunate turn of events that I reached my home town just in time for casting my vote at the Lucknow constituency as a part of the India Elections ’09. I can attribute this to a friend’s marriage. More about the same on Trip to Ranchi –I, II…

This post is all about my exploits as a voter.

When I woke up on 30^th April’09 at my hometown, the first question that my parents put forth was whether I’d like to cast my vote. They said that they’d be leaving pretty soon. So, if I wanted to vote, I’d better freshen up in a jiffy and tag along. I looked at the sun outside and the lazy demon inside me won the day. I refused to vote, citing migraine and was dismissed by parents as a gone case. They left to vote and were back in about 3-4 hours and were brandishing the blue ink-mark on their fingers.

They were short of teasing me, that I’d been a chicken and that at the young age of 27 I didn’t vote and them; soon to be septuagenarian’s managed to cast their vote.

I’ll summarize what happened next. I dragged my lazy ass out. The crux is that I did mange to stand in the long queue and await my turn as a voter. I stood in the sun for greater part of the second half of the day when the mercury was reading above 43 ^C. But, again it was my fault. I could have accompanied my parents and cast my vote when it would have still been morning.

But, nonetheless it was a good experience. I was excited while I was casting my vote.I saw the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the first time. They were pretty simple. The name of the contestant and the party symbol were there next to a button. All that one was supposed to do was to remember either the name of the contestant or the symbol of the party and press the button next to the one of your choice. The moment a button is pressed a loud sound will emanate from some where close by and the officials will tell you that you’ve successfully cast your vote.

All said and then, I must laud the efforts of the Election Commission of India. The entire thing was very well organized and managed. Kudos to them for completing this gargantuan task with amazing organization.

Lastly, I hope that I was part of the greater good – to vote to bring a difference to Indian Politics. I hope that I and all the informed people who voted have been able to do some good and may we see some change in the otherwise hopeless Indian political landscape in the 15^th Lok Sabha elections. Amen!

The White Tiger –Aravind Adiga Reviewed

About the author

Aravind Adiga was born in Madras in 1974 and was raised partly in Australia. He studied at Columbia and Oxford Universities. He was a former correspondent in India with TIME magazine. He has published articles in publications like The Financial Times, The Independent, and The Sunday Times.

He lives in Mumbai and claims to travel in overcrowded Mumbai trains and stands in queues, etc. And this, he says has given him the insight into the miseries of the average Indian.

Dissection Box:

Aravind Adiga has written a very incisive and at times controversial book. This book came to me as a curiously inauthentic description of the ideologies, mindsets and situations as faced by Indian people. It seemed to me as a novel from an outsider(a non-Indian), presenting cynical anthropologies to an audience that was never meant to be Indian.

The Book:

This is the first novel by Aravind Adiga. Balram Halwai, is the chief protagonist and the narrator of Aravind Adiga’s first novel, “The White Tiger,”.

The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. On one hand it is the tale of rural India where the life (read misery) of people is compared with animals (buffalo, cows, dogs, even pigs to be precise). The misery portrayed here is so absolute and without hope. It is strife with continuous struggle to come to terms with the harsh realities of life.

On the other hand it is the story of urban India, which is teeming with opportunities and where money is aplenty. A place where people will do anything and everything for money.

The book starts in the background of a village in Gaya, Bihar and portrays the journey of its protagonist from darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success.

Balram Halwaai – The White Tiger

This novel talks about a person who’s born in a village in heartland India. The son of a rickshaw puller, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a teashop.

The inspector pointed his cane straight at me. “You, young man, are an intelligent, honest, vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals - the creature that comes along only once in a generation?”

I thought about it and said:

“The white tiger.”

“That’s what you are, in this jungle.”

- from The White Tiger, page 30 -

As he crushes coals and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape – of breaking away from the banks of Mother Ganga, into whose depths have seeped the remains of a hundred generations.

Aravind has described his created character Balram, as “a man of action and change,” “a thinking man,” “an entrepreneur,” “a man who sees tomorrow,” and a “murderer.

As the character of Balram gradually reveals, I found it distressingly amoral and an object of sympathy.

The Narration:

Balram’s narrative progresses in the form of a series of letters to Wen Jiabao, premier of China. This is both innovative and gives a question and answer format to the whole book. But, this form of narration is spewed with pitfalls. For starters it lacks the flow and the reader may tend to get bored if he doesn’t find the questions appealing.

The White Tiger claims to gives us an insight into the rapidly changing India. It is a mix of a cautionary tale which is full of contradictions. Infact, I found on nearly every page a witty observation or a fine phrase, and on nearly every page inevitably something that sounded false. I was so disappointed at one stage that I stopped reading the book at page 71.

But, then with great effort I got back to reading and I must say that it took a lot of effort to finish this book off.

My Verdict:

“The White Tiger” is a penetrating piece of social commentary, attuned to the inequalities that persist despite India’s new prosperity. I am not sure if it correctly identifies — and deflates — middle-class India’s collective euphoria.

This book is full of satires. But, it is certainly a pleasant read. It is about the India that we don’t want to see. Although it has tried to portray India in true light, but instead has come up with an India that does not hold promise. And where everyone is a conman who is waiting to rip your wallet off and if you are unlucky enough then your life as well.

His detailed descriptions of various vile aspects of Indian life are relentless — and ultimately a little monotonous. Every moment, it seems, is bleak, pervaded by “the Darkness.” Every scene, every phrase, is a blunt instrument, wielded to remind Adiga’s readers of his country’s cruelty.

The story is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether forgettable.

5.5/10

Teach India

I will not dwell into what the ‘Teach India’ initiative is all about, but all that I’d say is that it is a social initiative which brings together children in need and anyone willing to help. You can read all about it right here and here. All I’ll write about is how this initiative of the ‘Times of India’ is seeking to change the very perception of people.

The only thing that I’ll say is that ‘Teach India’ was started in the first week of July ’08 through a campaign launched by the ‘Times of India (TOI)’. Since then, several hundred Indians have decided to be a part of this ‘Teach India’ initiative.

What surprised everyone is the fact that Indians have come forward in droves and registered on the ‘Teach India’ website to go ahead and be a part of this innovative initiative. The sheer number of people who have responded to this initiative is mind-numbing.

There is yet another, equally surprising revelation that emerged from this campaign. This surprise has to do with the group into which most of the responders fall. The greater percentage of the people who have registered for this campaign fall in the following category:

1. Young

2. Upwardly Mobile

3. Hard – working

4. Working Professionals

5. Self – employed Professionals

All these people have ‘surprisingly’ committed to spend ‘two hours’ of their already at ‘premium time’ on the weekends for ‘3 months initially’ for this initiative.

This comes as a great surprise to one and all. More so as this comes at a time when the ‘moral brigades’ across India are propagating the belief that it is the ‘young’ and ‘restless’ Indians who are spoiling the culture of our country by mindlessly aping the west. How very ‘wrong’ they were. Not only have these so called ‘young and restless’ people (myself included) taken up to the task of shouldering the responsibility of the down-trodden/lesser privileged but have also taught a moral lesson too many to these microphone brandishing demagogues.

This initiative is changing/affecting, of the many opinions, the following significantly:

1. The world about Indian youth;

2. Indian youth about itself;

3. Indian Demagogues about Indian Youth

There is a great post on ‘Teach India’ initiative by the revered columnist and journalist Ms. Bachi Karkaria in her weekly column ‘Erratica’. The heading reads as ‘Sign up for the 'Teach Neta' campaign’. It is most humorous as well as enlightening. You can read the same here.