Salutations on a good 60 spent and wishes for excellent centuries ahead!

I am one of those corny Bollywood kind Indian patriots...the kinds who would not have any trouble kissing (a cleanish) part of Indian earth getting back home, the kinds that would carry the flag and run through enemy territory and collapse on Indian soil (give life for a useless cause in the name of India)...and so on.

D Day tomorrow!

It is election day tomorrow and I am thrilled to be part of a constituency that has a couple of viable candidates to vote for. Mine is the constituency where the high profile independent Capt. Gopinath is standing. Mine is also the constituency where a junior from AU is standing for election.

Am not going to put down in writing how I will vote tomorrow - it is a secret ballot, even in these days of blogs. It has been such an exciting time with the candidates making a bid to gain our votes. For the first time, I feel like my vote counts. Maybe ground reality is different (no maybes about that?!) but all I know is that with the current wave of political consciousness among the literate class, my vote could be part of that wave that changes our system, one candidate at a time. If nothing else, the major parties will have to stop and rethink their selection of candidates. Atleast that.

Am taking the kids along to see us vote and impress in their minds the massive strength of the Indian democracy. Not sure how we are all going to wait until May third week for the results...a nerve wracking wait, with lots at stake.

G'night!

Captain Gopinath's campaign

The ultimate new age campaign. I get alerts on facebook, emails from friends of friends, micro posters at auto stands from volunteers.....targeted. Bangalore South is the part where the majority of the software companies are. New businesses and apartments to house these new business employees. His is a known name and it is totally possible that he will win, if he gets his name out to the non-apartment dweller, poor people (domestic workers and lower middle class), etc.

My maid and her large family now know about Captain Gopinath. And I plan on talking more about him in any of my circles. When you get into the details, you find that a 'delimitation' exercise has happened - meaning constituencies have been redrawn all over India. Am sure this is an off-shoot of vote bank politics that has benefited some and disadvantaged others. Heard talk that Deve Gowda's vote bank was reduced in his constituency.....will he actually have to work this time to keep a seat? Wouldn't that be super cool?! After all the machinations and behind the scenes political gaming, it will be poetic justice for him to lose in the elections!

I am clear on my destiny in this elections....thanks to my in-laws starting the process for us before we returned to India, we were some of the very few returning NRIs who got a voter ID within a month of landing here. And we have used it so far....to vote and as photo id. More as photo id, but that is the nature of the game.

Thanks to that, we actually vote in Bangalore South. I found out that a lot of geographical Bangalore South is actually Bangalore Rural for voting purposes. April 23rd is the V day - anyone interested in DOing better be voting...otherwise, our other national pastime of complaining is called 'whining'! :-D

The year of the Independent!

Looks like this is the year of the independent in India's political history. I am thrilled to see some intelligent candidates standing up and talking as independents. One is Meera Sanyal, an executive of a leading bank who has thrown her hat into the ring as an independent candidate from Mumbai. The other is a Captain Gopinath from Bangalore. I am sure these candidates have their weaknesses, but they can talk, they have acted to do something by just standing for election and they can't do worse than the corrupt jokers in power. At least they have made their money! Yes, that is how cynical I have become.

I have decided in line with what seems to be popular opinion in my circle that the only option is to split the vote. Both the main parties are full of crap. I used to be a congress voter because it seemed like a better option than communalism. Now, I see Jagdish Tytler given a ticket after managing the massacre of sikhs in Delhi - not just a ticket but a clean chit and a ticket. The congress is also the party of inaction, talking independence some 60 years later, ensuring that THEIR sons and daughters are taken care of and so on. The BJP was never my cup of anything....I love my tea, so can't use that expression here.....and even if I were to tend right, Babri Masjid, Godhra, Mangalore and now Varun Gandhi would have cured me forever of that disease.

My vote has the chance to count as never before. Independents (the right ones!) can make the difference. And I want for the major parties to see and take the feedback that it is only by listening and actually doing something about people's outrage will they get into power. So many years of coalition politics only seems to have made them all efficient wheelers and dealers. So everyone, please vote and consider my suggestion of going the independent way.