My First Vote

Today is a special day for all the candidates who's constituencies go to the polls in the third phase of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. It is a memorable day for me as well. I went to cast my first vote today with my mother who quite ironically also cast her first vote today. Mom is an aware and responsible citizen who can talk sense about anything remotely to do with politics, but unfortunately due to some or the other reason she could not make it to the electoral roll earlier.

The entire process was quite simple. I went in with my identification proof, got my finger inked, and cast my secret ballot. It all happened in a minute. But the sense of being a responsible Indian and having done my duty lingers even after. There is a different sense of belonging now, one that is much stronger than what I have ever felt.

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Strange Memories

It was May in the year 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister, came to Muzaffarpur - a town in Bihar - to deliver a speech to locals as part of the election campaign for the INC. The programme was organised in a large open field in Chakkar Maidan. A special bullet proof glass case, well equipped with loudspeakers and microphones, was arranged for. The roads had been cleaned laboriously, and barks of all trees in the town had been smartly painted in the typical 'geru' and white colour. In short, Muzaffarpur was ready to welcome the Prime Minister.

On the scheduled day, Rajiv Gandhi arrived in a helicopter, dressed in white kurta-pyjama. Quite a crowd had gathered to listen to him. People were seated in front of his podium on the ground. A lot of people were standing. A few others were at the boundaries of the ground. among these few others was a family of 4, consisting of a husband, a wife, a daughter and the wife's younger sister. The daughter was 1 and a half years old. The little girl could not understand anything but she could hear a fair man in white clothes speaking from a glass case. Her mother told her that the case was bullet proof. This was all she remembered of that incident.

A few years later that girl, for some strange reason, thought that she had heard Mr. P.V. Narsimha Rao speak in her town that day. A possible explanation for this belief could be that Mr. Rao was the Prime Minister then, and most politicians dressed in white clothes. It was only when her mother clarified that she realised who it actually was. The girl was to learn after a few years that Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated just a few days after he delivered that speech in Muzaffarpur.

Being a typical north Indian family, which migrated to Bombay in 1994, politics was a special interest and a topic of regular discussion in that girl's family. But still nothing can explain why and how that girl remembers that particular incident so vividly till date. It's not that it was an episode which she was reminded of regularly, but then such things do happen in life. People do remember strange or particular incidents of their childhood. Such was the case about Rajiv Gandhi's speech in 1991 which that little girl (who is no more little now) remembered and will always remember.

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When At the Movies

People who truly savour the occasion of watching films have certain set ideas about their seats. It is seen that top row seats are the hottest in demand and are the first ones to be sold out. My family and I are movie aficionados and we try and watch as many films as we can, together. Luckily for us, there is a very comfortable theatre at walking distance from our residence, and off late that has become the only theatre we go to. I have been the one who got tickets at a majority of occasions. I used to feel lucky on learning that the top row seats were still not booked and would grab them immediately. But after a few instances in the top row, my preference has changed from 'top row' to 'anything but top row'. The reason is simple. There are always late comers to movies, always. And these late comers, instead of seeking help from the ushers, like to probe into the darkness with the help of seats, and the people seated on them. they will invariably kick the seats (I wonder how), especially the ones in the top row, as that is the common passage to all the seats. Imagine, you are engrossed in the film, the story is opening up, you have settled down with your companions and popcorn and suddenly - just as you are about to hear the opening dialogue, you get a good jerk on your seat from a dear late comer. There's not much you can do about it besides grumbling and cursing the culprit. Such offenders very conveniently forget to apologise, I doubt if they even entertain the thought. In fact some of them return with an encore to give you a harder kick because their seat is on the other side. The late comer has finally found his seat and is now getting into the movie, probably by pestering his neighbour to tell him all that he has missed. And you are completely disoriented and it takes you another 15 minutes to get back into the film.

Its not that I hate late comers to movies; its their misbehaviour that irks me. I have been late only once for a movie, but trust me I did not as much as come close to a seat while foraging for my seat, forget about giving the already seated audience jerks. That's precisely the reason I don't understand how people manage to 'kick' seats. I mean, you are supposed to be walking for heaven's sake! Have some courtesy! Or maybe that's how the average man is today- inconsiderate and discourteous, and I'm only expecting the impossible... yes, I guess I am. Because when you don't have late arrivals, you have these great souls who, in the middle of a movie, will suddenly want to stretch their lower limbs and land a nice push onto your seat. And its not just 'a' push that I'm talking about; its a series of pushes and kicks that goes on till the great soul is satisfied. Such is the disregard in the minds of the masses about others' convenience, such is their selfishness and such is their ill-mannered, ill-bred and uncouth bearing. All this comes out from such small incidences that I fear to dwell upon bigger happenings of social life.

Well the long and short of the story is that i have now begun to seek seats which are a little away from the top row. The guy at the ticket counter gives me strange looks sometimes wondering if I'm a novice into theatres. But let him think what he wants to. I do not believe in spending money to watch a film only to get kicked by late arrivals.

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A Small Ray of Hope

All creatures were created with a view to adorn the only planet in the Universe which could sustain life. We all had our share of the land, air and water; everything was arranged for peaceful co-existence. Why then have we reached an age where Man harbours only and only intolerance towards all other species?

Man was bestowed with superior capabilities by the Creator to uphold and ensure the well-being of all creatures - big or small. But what did Man do? He defied each and every aspect of that well crafted, ideal plan of sustenance. He pillaged the natural resources beyond limits, ravaged the flora and fauna, divided land, water and air, and eventually ended up evolving from an ape into a detestable greedy and selfish creature, not worthy of being called human.

Man only thought of his pleasures, his entertainment and his convenience. Thus he resorted to needless hunting of animals and felling of trees. There are numerous episodes which penetrate my heart like a sword. Episodes of cruelty to animals, fellow humans and indiscriminate wastage of life and resources. Just see where we have reached today. We are at a stage of deterioration and soon this blessed planet (which it was) will succumb to our deeds. We have taken mother nature for granted, polluted the environment and succeeded in depleting the ozone layer. At this point in time, there is only a feeling of despair in my mind; and I desperately wish that we had not become what we have become, and the world would have remained that ideal world in which Adam and Eve had lived. But what stays with me is my small ray of hope, as our continuous degeneration blurs my horizon.

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