India Votes, Awaits Results and Hopes for Change

It is just past 5:00 in the evening now, and the final voter turnout is still expected. This is the news I got on the net, in an article titled “Last phase witnesses moderate turnout:”

“While Tamil Nadu recorded 22 per cent voting till 11 am, Uttar Pradesh registered 21 per cent, Puducherry 25 per cent, Punjab, West Bengal and Uttarakhand 15-20 per cent each, Himachal Pradesh 12-15 per cent, Chandigarh 18 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir six per cent.”

Though the numbers in TN seem encouraging, I am certain that the numbers will not be too high. Blame the heat. No matter what people say about braving the heat in order to bring about change, the sun manages to win in the end. Sad, yet true.

I left home by about 8:00 AM with my mother, to cast my vote in the polling booth just across the street. After seeing that the line in my booth had just over 50 men, and maybe 15 women, my mother and I took our places in the respective lines, glad to have come early, as we could get done with things soon and get back home before the sun sucks the life out of us.

I was hoping for a bit too much. With just about 50 people in front of me when I first reached, I had about 40 people in front of me even an hour after standing in the line. And yes, it did start getting pretty hot by then. I had moved about 6-7 feet in an hour. The next hour was different. The line started moving faster, but it was also partly because of some people giving up and going home. I don’t blame them. My t-shirt was clinging on to my skin because of the sweat. I thought got tanned by a shade or two. I was wrong. A lot more than a shade or two. So anyway, a few people decided to go back home because the line would just not progress! My mother managed to cast her vote and exclaimed on seeing me in the line, “You are still that far behind in the line? Will you get home before noon?” I was hoping I would. My mother walked back home.

The presiding officer came to deliver some instructions. Some of the elders around me decided to ask him why the process was so slow. He complained that the authorities inside the booth were all school teachers and were not properly trained. Apparently, they conducted a week-long training programme. He conducted it himself, he said, but most people would either not attend it, or not be bothered about what he was saying even if they did make it. The free food was what they were interested in. Was interesting to see one of the government officials openly talk about such practices at a time when they are supposed to be at their professional best. So what was the orders that he had come to deliver at the booth? “Don’t be scared when you look at each candidate. Don’t look at the photo identity card a million times. Just see if it matches and get on with it. Don’t waste too much time unnecessarily.”

That did the trick.

Things did speed up a bit. The presiding police officials were, surprisingly, kind and helpful. A few more line-dropouts and half an hour later, I finally cast my vote! And I am glad I did. Things finally seemed much better once I pressed that button. But once I got out of the “classroom,” I noticed at least a hundred people standing in the line. The line for the women was much longer than it was in the morning too. I just hoped that the conditions would improve and that no one had to return home without casting his/her vote, not able to withstand the heat.
I got back home, switched on the air-conditioner and slept. The ones still braving the heat would have done anything to swap places with me.

Watching NDTV for the past couple of hours, I see that things are not much better on TV even now. They continue to try and create news. It was fun to watch Deve Gowda literally shoo the reporter from his house. She deserved it, I tell you! So anyway, the polling as of 1:00 PM is said to be about 35% in Tamil Nadu. A little better than I expected, actually. I am impressed. Only, I hope that the results are encouraging as well.

For that, we will have to wait for another 3 days. And there is nothing that we can do till then but speculate. I hope that Amma, Chandra Babu Naidu and a few others make a sensible choice when the results are out. I sure don’t want to see the government at the centre to continue screwing our nation for 5 more years. And I don’t want to see communists at the centre either, as that would be even worse! So yeah, let us see how things go. Any predictions? Post them all here.