THE VOTE TO DISLIKE

The last Thursday, on 24 April 2014 it was the Election Day for us in Mumbai. Mumbai has a dubious distinction to be among the places showing historically the least voting percentage. They say that the extended weekend is far more important for any Mumbaikar than going out to vote. Many say that it is below the dignity of the affluent people of this place to stand in a queue like common hoi-polloi. This year, there has been several drive to motivate people of this place to come out of their comfortable homes and to discharge their national duty of voting, after all this is the way one can contribute in nation building by a strengthening democracy. To exercise the right to choose a person of your choice, that is available to each citizen of this country, which is something very unique for this largest democracy on earth as this luxury is still not available to citizens of many countries. The drive exhorting people to come out and to vote has been everywhere; in newspapers, television and on the Internet and to some extent it seemed to be successful also which reflected in the increase of the voting percentage by almost 10 points, best so far after our independence. Still there was a joke on social media that number of selfies was far more than the actual votes cast in Mumbai. Jokes apart this poll created a special confusion and dilemma for me and many of the voters in North Central constituency of Mumbai.

The sitting two-term MP is the daughter of the superstar of yesterdays who used to represent this constituency and after his death the throne was passed on to his daughter because his son was facing many criminal charges and who is presently in jail. This was little contradictory also because the residence of the supremo of the opposition party also falls within this constituency and this parliamentary seat is considered to be a strong bastion of the party at the centre. They say that only contribution she had made previously in relation to public welfare was that she had accompanied her late father during one of his padyatras. Otherwise she looked me to be very socially challenged and lacking all the skills required for a leader. The stony face always looked lacking any expression and her communication skills seem to me to be limited to murmuring some sentences before television cameras. All along during the run-up for the election I was confused whether she is the person whom I should vote for?

The second contestant, from another National party, was another daughter of a slain senior leader of the party and whose previous act of public service was of losing an assembly election. The person, who was rejected even for assembly election was found suitable for the parliamentary election. There was news that the party was finding it very difficult to find a suitable candidate for the seat to fight against the sitting MP. They were searching for some star but finally settled for this sister of a clown. I was wondering whether I should vote for the person who has nothing to do with welfare of common man. I could not attend to any of her road-shows but before the TV cameras she hardly looked inspiring enough to be given any vote.

The only colourful election office I could see nearby was of the party which is in power in one north Indian state and which has shown its presence in this part of the country because of its so-called secular credentials. Only reason for fame for this boy is that he is the son of one sitting MLA of the same party and in this state both the party and the person is same. This boy also has an additional experience of losing an assembly seat vacated by his father besides marrying a former bollywood star. They say that he is true reflection of an enterprising person from the north who has made it big by selling leather footwear in Mumbai (Another one made it big by selling vegetables and was former minister and the state party chief). The father has a reputation of being loose cannon and many a time by simply opening his mouth he has created many avoidable controversies, the quality that is not expected from anyone working in the space of public service. From the cut-outs, placed near his election office, he appeared to me to be dumb and somehow he appeared to be posing for photos shoots for publicity of movies; maybe because of being married to a bollywood star. In TV interviews he claimed to be one youth icon but he appeared to me to be a clown not worthy of getting my vote.

A week before the actual voting day, we in family started to discuss as to whom should we vote for? We were very sincere for carrying out our national duty to choose what is best for the country but simultaneously we were very confused to see is the options available to us. I was still under pressure from several advertisements and the drive by the Election Commission to vote for the best person. Then suddenly I thought that their educational qualifications could be some indicator and then I did some search over the Internet. I found that the daughter of the late actor was a simple graduate from some college but the remaining two were not having any degree at all, basically illiterate and perfectly fit for running the country. I was already under profound confusion to learn all three were possessing properties worth hundreds of crores, what was driving me crazy that the two ladies in the contest looked very masculine to me and the boy looked very effeminate. My effort to reach that any decision was causing severe headache to me and then I realised that nobody votes in this country on any parameters to choose the best person; we are all guided by our own prejudices and merit of the candidate is the least of our priority while selecting our representatives. Even if we go by some parameters then we don’t have suitable options available to carry out our national duty honestly.

Then I thought that there is one sure shot way to reach at the decision; I thought that I would vote for one whom I dislike the least among these three. Suddenly everything looked very clear and there was no confusion. Even the decision of voting I arrived at, looked very reasonable to me. My wife reminded me as to whether I am ignoring pressing national issues like nation-building, our economic development, our youth, technological developments, revival of the economy and above all the wave of change? Somehow I had only one reason while voting that the candidate whom I disliked the least here in North Central constituency in Mumbai is the person of my choice for getting my vote. Whom did you vote for and what were your parameters for voting?

A House of Cards

This morning I thought for going for a walk after a very long time. I simply came out of my house before it could go for another round of nap and in the process I left my purse and mobile behind. Not a big deal after all I was not going for shopping. But while I was starting my bike to go to the nearby play ground I realised that my driving licence has been left in the purse at my home. Suddenly, I started thinking then that I didn't have even my identity cards and then I realised that I had already started feeling uncomfortable. In this mega city I am an unknown person a person without identity, only because I don’t have any identity card.

While walking I was having multiple worries. If the traffic police asks for the driving licence on the next corner, if suddenly something goes wrong and I land up in hospital. I hardly know anybody around, nobody knows me in this big-city. Having left my purse behind I have no identity and simultaneously I have no means to make any kind of payments, no cash and no cards even I can’t make a call. I was feeling even more uncomfortable now; one card allows me to ride my bike another permits me to drive the car, here is my quarterly railway pass which permits me to board the local train every day to my office. There is another identity card which permits me to enter into my office still it is better than those cards people wear around their neck in most of the offices nowadays and this is very common in all the ministries. There are multiple debit and credit cards to confuse our financial life in addition to the PAN Card and the TAN Card. There are other health check cards and not to forget cards from each of the shops where you keep making purchases and your purchase points keep getting accumulated. Then I started thinking of the Club card, Gym card, Health Card issued by hospitals, my own CGHS card, Railway pre-paid card, Airlines preferred customer card, voter’s identity card, Aadhar card, Pre-paid and post paid mobile cards, Pink Card, Yellow Card, Red Card, Green Card, Poverty Card, Ration Card and there are now Gold, Silver and Platinum Cards to measure as to how rich you are and as to how big your status is? It is simply a never ending stream of cards in our life.

I was wondering who is using whom; whether we are using these cards for our own comfort or this system is using various cards to regulate us humans. It had become now a real nightmare both to manage these cards and also to manage life without these cards. In any developed system; consolidation and convergence of information of stake holders is the requirement of the day. But, what is happening that this world has become very complex with so many cards floating around to make our life even far more complex. This system of issuing cards, at the drop of the hat, is certainly is not human centric rather these cards are being issued for the benefit of a particular system used by us humans; this is the system centric.

It is high time now to think for only one card having all the details of a particular person which could be used to update the database of the particular system that the person is using. Similarly now the technology has improved to the extent that even the card carried by the person could store the updated new information and may be our lives could be simpler without these hundreds of cards. But if that single card is lost then what; let our system be built around us human beings where his or her presence itself replaces the requirements of all the cards. Are we ready for it?