Due to unforeseen circumstances I found myself riding the MTC bus today afternoon while returning from college. As we were sitting in the bus in the sweltering heat, waiting for the bus to start I noticed a woman sitting with her two children in the bus shelter. Obviously she was a beggar woman, just like the hundreds of other such women spread out throughout my country. Now this lady noticed the bus waiting and sent up her daughter inside the bus to beg for money. This child of hers was hardly 3 years old with brown malnourished hair, dirt smeared face wearing dirty shorts and slippers 3 sizes too big. Used to watching her mother beg for money, she aped her walking through the length of the bus.

Now this girl hardly 3 years will be stripped of all her rights. She would never see the insides of a school, would never know the comfort of good family and good food, would never experience the basic things of life. Her family is what we call “below poverty line” in India. They are unable to give themselves the basic necessities of life.

This girl is just one such person living among the millions upon millions of poverty stricken individuals in India. We grow up watching poverty and sickness at our door step. Everyday I see men completely out of their senses scavenging the dustbins for the mere sight of something edible. At every traffic signal I see young girls carrying sick children tap on the windws of newly waxed cars begging for money. Little boys running behind pedestrians. This is the everyday life if you live in India.

Asking what the government is doing about all this is a futile question. Rehabilitating the poverty stricken and slum dwellers all look very ethical in theory, but in practicality yields no fruit. The slums of Daravi in Bombay made famous through Slumdog Millionaire were offered to be rehabilitated in an ampartment complex constructed especially for this purpose. But what did the slum dwellers do? They got their sanctioned flats, rented it and continued living in the slums. If you did not agree to do this voluntarily, the flats were snatched by goondas and were given for rent.

This is the true situation of India. The more you try to avoid looking at it and acknowledging its prescence, poverty continues to glare back at you, grimier than before.

Well, voting season is here. There is no feeling of hope or excitement because whichever political party might come to power, nothing is gonna change. Call me a pessimist but if you live in India this is how things work here.

Politicians keep changing their alliances left, right and center and at the end of the day it is just a shift of money and power from person to the next. But elections in India are a time for great big tamashas and traffic jams in every important junction done in the name of campaigning. And I was unfortunate enough to experience one such traffic jam last weekend while returning from a friends place. As I was driving from Mylapore they blocked off the entire stretch of Cathedral Road and the whole area was filled with cops. Sometime later, some police cars filled with these police people with big guns drove in front of a huge, expensive looking black car which was followed by an Innova with all satellite type things coming out. I think Karunanidhi was inside. Anyway traffic was suspended for so damn long.

This is the first time people are creating more and more awareness for voting especially for first time voters. It all started with Tata tea’s Jaagore campaign (“election ke din aap vote nahin karrahe to aap so rahhe”) which I just found out yesterday was for just registering to vote. Many of my friends who have registered to vote did not get the voters ID card and those who did get it, found out that their names were not there in the voters list. If this is how the system works, what faith am i supposed to have in the Government? Last election, four years back I went with my parents on voting day to the school assigned to our neighbourhood to cast votes. There we found out that at least 80 names consisting of my parents and neighbors had been already used i.e. someone else had voted for all these names. This is what we in Tamil Nadu call kalle vote. If these are how things are done how are we supposed to have faith?
And they say “your vote counts!”.
No it does not!!! I know that! Do’nt tell me otherwise!!!

I actually like my country despite all these negatives. I have never looked up to the bright shiny lives of people in the West or elsewhere and wished mine to be that way. I am not a rebel nor do I want to dip my fingers into the filthy rot of politics and be all “Mera Bhaarath mahaan”. I mean, yeah, mera Bhaarath is mahaan but only to those who feel it. My India is amazing, but filled with corruption, poverty and vile ministers it is unpleasant.

Young politicians are trying to give India a new facelift. Like Rahul Gandhi, who I might add, very cute a politician.


And no matter how much we try elections are always like this big joke. Actually this time around the elections are poised to take place sometime around the time of my exams which is actually convenient for me because we get close to a months study holiday. Not that I’m actually gonna study the whole month.. oh no no no.

Anyway summer is the perfect time for elections. With all the problems we are already facing this is not the biggest.