Of Elections, Democracy and Bureaucracy

It has been a while since I posted here, but my final year Project is eating up all the time.

But I must add that it is not the act of doing the project that is costing me time, but rather the thinking associated with it. The deadline is here; I am supposed to present it on Tuesday, but of course, the work is not completed. I really hope to make some inroads this weekend. But then I have to help out three of my friends with their project work, and one of the projects is a Mechanical Engineering project. Talk about enjoying the final days at college! But then, I don't regret having made the promises to help them out. They are all dear friends of mine, the rare breed that really understands the craziness, the bit of randomness and the fears in me.

Moving on, the General Elections are eating up the newspaper pages, even Cricket has to take a back seat. Apart from the usual carnival like feeling associated with elections, this was supposed to be landmark elections for me- I was supposed to vote in the General Elections for the first time. But thanks to a ‘very’ honest public servant at the Taluk office back home, my name was not added to the voters list.

After heading home with the intention of taking part in the Milad-un-Nabi and getting into the voter’s list, I waited for nearly two hours in a queue. While in the queue, I chanced to be part of a debate about the state of the nation. One young man was arguing how waiting for things like this was a burden for the public and it was time the Government introduced computerized systems for such services. I pointed out to him, that the cost for introducing computerization for voter’s registration will be a mammoth task financially, because of the sheer number of voters involved. He had just returned from Saudi Arabia and began to talk in high regard for the services the Saudi government offered for the public.

This induced a debate about the pros and cons of democracies and monarchies. Soon others joined us, and the young expatriate declared with some authority that if he were in Saudi Arabia, he would not have had to stand in a queue for such a long time to get some thing done. He also claimed that it was not his desire to caste votes but his wish to prevent any future altercation with the Bureaucracy that prompted him to be a part of the queue. He went onto say that the Bureaucracy that really ruled India and not the politicians. Another expatriate, much older than the former pointed out that he was bearing with the burden of queues with patience because the twenty-odd years he spent in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies had prepared him for it. I pointed out that freedom of opinion was the greatest thing that democracy gave a citizen and challenged the young expatriate if he could take out a protest march in Saudi Arabia if any of his personal liberties were taken away by someone in the administrative machinery.
Being the son of a Saudi expatriate, I knew for a fact that such things did happen in Monarchies. This had the young man in ropes and I concluded by saying, rather arrogantly “The stuff like the long wait in the queues are the sacrifices you have to make for the great things Democracy gives you !”

Soon, it was my turn to submit my forms. I gave the duly filled forms to the official at the desk, and casually surfing through the pages, he wrote down my name in a register and gave me a ticket. I had to appear before a scrutinizing panel on the 17th of March. But I was supposed to write my series exams on that day, so I pleaded with the officer to either postpone or pre-pone the scrutiny of my documents. He was relentless, and when I politely pointed out that I had examinations on 17th March, his reaction was “Hey, young people like you don’t understand the importance of elections. It is not child’s play. There are rules and regulations. If you can’t appear on 17th, you can’t vote”. I was offended and angry to say the least I told him rather angrily “Casting my vote is my right, I am here not here to avail your mercy, and you are a public servant and not the ruler of the country!” People behind me were beginning to notice the argument and the older expatriate told me “Let go son, there is no point in arguing with them, it wont change a thing!” That really brought some common sense to me, and I decided to let it go. I turned to the officer, threw the ticket marked with my name and the date I was supposed to appear for scrutiny at him and said “Okay then, I don’t want to vote!”.

As I walked out, in the corner of my eyes, I saw the young expatriate and the grin on his face and I could not suppress the grin beginning to appear on my own face. His eyes were telling me "I told you, didn't I ?" After all, he was right, wasn’t he?

PS: I hope the Left wins, at least in the two constituencies in Malappuram! I would love to see them beat the League in their backyard, again!