Experiences at a polling booth

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 30^th 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.  

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.