A Mock Election for Real

Venue : Village School,Khairadeep,Aurangabad,Bihar
Date : A Month of April Probably,Year 1993
Time:Classes Resuming after Lunch Break

HeadMaster : We shall study the The Chapter of Bal Sabha today.
(Bal Sabha is a concept that was introduced by Bihar State text Book Corporation to make primary students familiar with election process in a playful manner.)

As was the custom,students read one paragraph each followed by Master Saab explaining
the paragraph.The concept of bal sabha was thrilling enough for these 4th standard Kids who were not even in there teens.Mohan,a student of the class was feeling restless to say something.He was the topper of his class and a favourite of Master saab.

Mohan : Master saab,can we organise Bal Sabha in our School?

That's how it began,the kids were about to have their first tryst with something called election.Excitement was in the air.Hurriedly,whole of the school was summoned inside
the only hall or room in the school.Kids were happy to have got relieved from studies for the remaining day.The process was explained to everyone,everybody had to write the names of the candidates they wished to endorse.

Master saab asked for candidates to come forward.Mohan being the one who proposed was the obvious choice,a girl surabhi also came forward and the process kicked off with 100 odd voters and two candidates for the post of Prime-minister of Bal Sabha.
Counting was done by master saab himself and mohan emerged winner.

HeadMaster:Boy's a prime-minister is helped by his cabinate in carrying out his duty.We'll have our cabinate too.

Some posts were created by Master saab for the cabinate and he himself handpicked the post-holders too.The posts were :
Bagwani Mantri
Safai Mantri
Prarthna Mantri etc.

Surabhi was Made Bagwani Mantri and Bal Sabha started funcioning from next day onwards.Surabhi,being the bagwani mantri ensured that she collected all the varieties of flowers available in the small village and get them planted inside the school premises.Safai Mantri took care that school campus was properly groomed every morning and ensured the participation of each student.He also proposed "Leepai" every thursday for the campus(Leepai is done with a mix of cow-dung and water on the bare soily surfaces,considered auspicious).This was the most popular move,as every student
involved in leepa got a official permission from master saab to have a dip in canal flowing by so that the students could get themselved cleaned of cow-dung on their bodies.Swimming in canal was always a popular activity among those school kids.

With flowers blooming and the campus cleaner,the mood in school was festive.The kids found their first encounter with the democratic process called election more than good.However,they were told by Master Saab that it was a mock election and they should see the real ones too.

A few months later,assembly elections took place in Bihar and the same school was choosen as polling booth for a couple of neighbouring villages.The kids having grown a little older were eager to watch this 'real election' with the memories of the
'mock election' still fresh in their mind.

A few gun shots,hooliganism and extremely tense faces,this is how the real election marked their first impression on kids.As they grew older further,more of such 'real elections' were held. The memory of Bal Sabbha\Mock elections gradually got replaced by that of Real Elections.

After some 16 years later,on the eve of another real election,one of the kids
remembers his first encounter with election(though a mock one) and wishes
"If my first impression could have been the last too".

P.S. : Mohan ---> The Author

Inbetween Life & Death

24th March,2009:: Tuesday:: 00:19 Hrs

First few pages into Randy Pausch's,The Last Lecture and out of nowhere a wish came,a wish to have pancreatic cancer,just as Randy had,with some months or a year left into my life,So that,I wud have an excuse to unburden myself of my expectations and do my own Dasvidaniya.

No,it's not being pessimist,rather an Extreme Optimist.The optimism that this one year wud be far more satisfying than the 40 or 50 years I'd live under normal circumstances.It's like an intense desire to experience the state where I have a few months of my life left and then test myself.How would I behave,what great a height or low a depth I will achieve?

Perhaps,I could do it without a pancreatic cancer too,but then it'd be difficult to justify it to me myself and then probably I will never do it.

That's all for now ,let me dive deep into the book...

Ashutosh

Is Our Multi-Party Character at its Peak?

Never has it been that we have so many wannabe PM's going into election all at a time.This election is probably the Local Maxima of India's Multi-Party Democracy and I sincerely think that 2014 will see a much more consolidated fight between two projected PM candidates.
From 1989 onwards multi party democracy has seen a steep rise of influence with many regional satraps playing a major role in deciding who occupies the coveted chair at North Block.We have seen many maya,mamta or jaylalitas causing tremors across delhi with just a sneeze.But now I believe that this all will end,not immediately but over a course of time and we'll see the trend catching up in 2014 elections.Well 2014 is 5 years away and I'm not predicting this on the basis of planetary postitions either,I have some reasons to say so....

(1) The two national parties over the past few years have worked on their Second Generation Leaders and probably it's the last time that Advani will decide who's who at BJP or Sonia Gandhi will play Rajmata.In all probability,Rahul Gandhi will take on the baton from her mother and Narendra Modi from Mr. Advani.Both of them have mass national appeals and them participating against each other will see a strong polarisation of votes.

(2) Don't you think,it's too much of uncertainity over who will be our next leader?
The public after having been perplexed by so many choices will finally zero on to two or three(The Rule of Three :)).This I see as a gradual evolution of Indian Democracy into a matured one.Indian Public after having been disappointed by National Leadership looked on to Regional Leaders and as is clear,the aspirations are still unfulfilled barring a few exceptions(eg Uttaranchal) so once again the mandate will move to national leadership.

(3) Unlike National Parties,state based parties are still nascent ones and rely heavily on Individuals for their existence.Once the Magic of Bal Thakrey or Lalu Yadav wanes,their votes are likely to be up for Grabs and with national parties gearing up so well,I think they'll have this chunk.

(4)The betrayals at Bhuvaneshwar and Patna is a lesson enough for both BJP and Congress that alliances can't be a long term solution and already we can hear talks that going alone this time in some states will prepare them well for future elections.
Though a bit shocked,BJP in Orissa and Congress in Bihar & UP is relieved to go alone and test the waters.

(5)A likely fractured mandate this time will see further distraction of public from regional politics and I rely heavily on the our Democratic Intellect when I say that 2014 will see a reversal of fortunes for regional parties.

With Thakreys fighting a battle for survial and Lalu being in the most vulnerable state this time,we can see the signs of future to come.
We'll have to wait till 2014 to know whether I have been correct or not,but for Now we have a very interesting contest going on and let us savour it as India has never seen an election as chaotic as this one...