The voter and the voted

Two days back, I was on my way to meet a few of my college friends. It had been a long time since we had met each other and each of us was intrigued to see how the others had changed over time.

On my way, I came across a group of children wearing masks of a leader of a Tamil Nadu based political party. I couldn’t help smiling at the sight. I stopped walking and waited to see what the kids were up to. The kids huddled together, placed their hands one over the other, sang a Tamil rhyme, pulled their hands back and declared a sorry-looking kid as the catcher. The catcher placed his palms firmly over his eyes while the other kids hurried to hide in different locations.

I got interested in the game. I wanted to see how the catcher recognized the other kids despite the similar masks they were wearing. But the catcher faced no problems whatsoever. “Ramesh out'u… Chinny out'u.. Sumathi out'u..” he went winning. The game ended in a couple of minutes and the kids huddled together for a second game.

Looking at the group, I very badly wished that the kids had been given masks of different political leaders. The hide-and-seek game, then, would have turned into a fantastic satire of the current political scenario in Tamil Nadu.

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Watching the recent election-related advertisements being telecasted on Tamil television channels, I only wonder – “Do these people realize that the more often such ads are going to be telecasted, the more frustration spectators are going to be subjected to?”

We, as a society, have reached a point where when we see a romantic scene followed by a foreign-duet in a film, we sigh exasperatedly in unison. 
We have reached a point where reality has become sufficient for us. 
That being the case, do the political parties still think that ads in which different actors are made to cry/rejoice are going to influence our votes?! Seriously?!

Even the argument that the ads are capable of influencing the less-informed, less-privileged people does not hold good. Because, good governance or bad governance, they are the ones directly affected and when they have their own lives acting as testimonies to the governance, how big an impact can television ads have?

But if one badly wants to campaign via ads, why not try something like this – Shoot real interviews with real commoners, include everything that they say (good or bad) in the video, add a small promise by the political leader at the end saying, “I understand many of my people are happy with the government. But I also see that many people are unhappy. I realize that it is difficult to keep all the people of such a large, beautiful state happy but I promise that I will work towards it.”

Doesn’t such a video seem more realistic? Even if it fails to garner love/support, it will at least refrain from inducing irritation.

Which actually becomes very important in the current scenario.

Because we, unfortunately, have reached a point where we no more vote for a party that we love/respect but instead we vote for a party that we hate less.

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How many of us can claim of being elected by people for doing them good?

How many of us can claim of laying proper, smooth roads across an entire town/municipality/city?

How many of us can claim of enhancing public transport services across a state?

How many of us can claim of achieving 100% literacy rate in a remote, rural village?

The minority that can make these claims unfortunately does not seem to realize the fact that having a road or a school or a government building named after them is much more fashionable than having a scam or a misdeed named after them.

Perhaps, it is left to us – commoners – to create an advertisement showcasing how much legacy matters.

****

At times, I wish I become a journalist just to ask the elected representatives one simple question – “Do you guys introspect?”

I fail miserably in understanding the logic behind being in a position where altruism can be practised at its highest level yet not caring to even scratch its surface.

When I hand over a five rupee coin to an old woman asking for alms, I feel terribly sad but some corner of my heart also rejoices the act of giving. Isn’t the feeling same for every person involved in social service? Shouldn’t the feeling be same for politicians/people’s representatives as well?

If anything, their feeling should be manifold since they are the ones who face people’s problems in a more consistent fashion.

****

One of my colleagues, an aspiring I.A.S officer, once narrated me the incident which had made her want to become a government servant.

She and her friends had once visited a tea shop. There had been a 6-8 year old boy in the shop who had been serving the customers tea and snacks. He had been wearing shoes of different sizes with polythene cover tightened to act as shoelaces. My colleague and her friends had ordered tea and when the kid had come over to serve them tea, my colleague had asked him if he attended any school. The kid had calmly placed the tea glasses on the table and had replied, “Every person who comes to this shop asks me the same question. I tell them I don’t go to any school and they feel really sorry. But apart from feeling sorry, no one seems to do anything else”.

I keep repeating the story to myself time and again.   

Not all of our problems need to be resolved by the elected representatives. 
There are so many little things that we can change ourselves.