This is an election season and only two phases of the
General Elections are remaining now. This election, unlike most others has
generated a lot of interest in the nation with almost record turn outs in states.
The main reason for this is that people see their roles in politics as very
significant and it’s the poor who are the most enthusiastic voters more often
than not. Gujarat, my home state voted on 30th April and I
voted as
well. A lot of buzz was there in the air with many social organizations
encouraging people to vote. All political parties campaigned hard and it
was a day for the electorate to exercise their franchise.
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| An old woman being taken to a polling booth for voting. |
I reached the voting booth quite early at 7.15 am and
was surprised to see a lot of rush of the people at that hour, people are up
earlier than usual and you can hear the sound of vehicles going down the
streets which usually remains sombre. The policemen were ensuring whether all
the security arrangements are in place or not. Many people came in as early as
6.45 am in their jogging gear. There were long queues and I had to wait for
almost an hour before getting a chance to vote. During that time I interacted
with few senior citizens and while we discussed about politics (which was on
the expected lines), I was quite taken aback by their enthusiasm and energy to
contribute towards building a strong nation. They had a strong sense of
nationalism in them which was visible during the course of our discourse. While,
they were all retired from their professional lives, they still kept themselves
busy by doing some social work and helping their family members in some way or
the other. And one of those uncles (as I would fondly call them) told me that
to succeed in life it requires hard work, perseverance and basic honesty; all
the talk on innovation and big ideas are required no doubt, but you cannot
compensate hard work with that. These lines made me think about a puzzle called
life and certainly inspired me bringing instantly a smile filled with adulation.
I felt good hearing those nuggets of wisdom from them.
During the time at the booth, I saw people coming on
wheel chairs being accompanied by their family members, people with all sorts
of physical disabilities. It just made me more responsible. A friend also saw
7-8 months pregnant women coming in to vote, people who could not manage two
meals a day were there too. I stayed at polling booth for some more time hoping
to observe different shades of our diverse democracy. Some came in big cars,
others by walking or through different modes but they all were equal only for
few minutes though. It is during elections you are judged as a voter along with
everyone else as a voter. Caste, religion don’t matter on that day what matters
is only one thing ‘Vote’. There were some youngsters like me who were excited
to vote. I saw ‘selfies’ being clicked outside the booth and imagined that
those pictures will be soon uploaded on social networking sites.
Over and above, I was impressed with the majority of the
people I saw that day. It was a day which I enjoyed.
