Casting the vote, it was my first time. In my hometown, some said: “Bachha bada ho gaya..!!” , was nice to hear that. But at d same time I felt that I too am now more responsible for the events that happen in my country.
It all began on d day the election schedule was announced, I decided to take a leave on the 16th April. My hometown,Bhainsa, is around 200KMs from Hyderabad. My brother booked bus tickets for us. I always have had d interest in the political matters of my hometown as my father involves himself in making sure that d right candidate gets elected every time.
Believe me or not, elections in the rural areas are a different ball game. To start with, I boarded the bus in d night at Hyderabad, and was at my hometown’s bus station at 3:00AM..!! Searched for an auto, but in vain, and was surprised to not find one. My brother n I decided to take a walk to our home. It took 30 odd minutes for us to reach home. On d way, I found many political posters on d walls, on d poles of the street lights, on d ground n where not. I reached home and d first question I asked was ‘every time I could manage to find an auto for myself whenever I got down, but why wasn’t there a single auto today…?’ And I got d reply that police had banned all autos as on d earlier night they found some autos carrying liquor for illegal distribution.(for novice readers, liquor is banned 1-2 days prior to d date of polling). During d discussions throughout d day, I realized that people in d rural areas vote for d candidate and not d political party…something which is not always followed in d cities. Primary reason could be the that the candidate, his/her life and work is more visible to all d people directly in a rural area, which is not d case in the cities as many have a hectic schedule and also that there is lack of communication among people. The next thing I heard was that one of the candidates was distributing money to no limit. To my surprise, the figure reached Rs.250 per vote. Thinking of how they DO it?, Its damn simple, the money is distributed much earlier to the local supporters and during d last two days, these supporters go house to house, generally targeting the people below poverty, and distribute it. U can just replace the money with d word ‘liquor’ and read d above sentence again. I always had heard, but now I realize that money and liquor are d most powerful weapons d politicians use to increase the vote bank.
I also realized how much efforts the Government and Social groups put in just to teach the people of the rural places , most of them being illiterate, about how to use d Electrionic Voting Machine(EVM). What to press, when to press and how to press the correct button.
On d personal front, I cannot stop myself from comparing Polling and a Festival. I felt that polling is a festival that every religion celebrates keeping aside d caste and the God who u pray. For a festival, it’s a public holiday and people go to their home-place to celebrate it. So is d case with polling, it’s also a public holiday, though forcefully implemented onto the private companies by the Government of India(possibly the least best thing that a Government can do for its citizens' right: 'the right to vote') and of course many go to their home-places to cast their vote. On a festival, people get up early and go to d religious place and pray. Parallely, on a polling day, people get up as early as 6:30AM and march towards d polling booth, so as to reach there by 7AM(time at which polling begins) and be d first person to cast d vote. Some even cast their vote on their way back from the early morning walk. On a festival day, people celebrate it by going to the homes of d elderly people and wishing them. On a polling day, people celebrate it by meeting others and settling down for discussions as who will win and how. Wondering how this thought of analogy between a festival day and a polling day pinged in my mind. Its simple. The last time I was at my home was on d Ugadi day(an Indian festival), and d next time I am in my home relaxing is d polling day. And then ‘mere dimaag ki batti jali’ and I thought of d analogy. But d best thing of this analogy is that polling is a festival that is celebrated by every citizen of a nation no matter which religion they belong to.
