Vote Musings

I am 32 and this is the first time I will vote. Only information I have in anything about electoral candidates and agenda is thru media news. Some good, some bad, some ugly, some smart some wise, some dumb, some crazy, some winners, some losers, some talkative, some quiet, some idealist, some flexible, some no stand, some dreamers, some visionaries, some puppets, some puppet makers, some back stabbers, some shameless, some criminal, some administrators, some cheats, some sleazy, some lazy, some loose, some stiff, some heirs, some hard workers, some politicians, some leaders.

I don't know who to vote. Since childhood I have changed a many favourite political leaders. When I was a kid it was our PM Indira Gandhi. Though she had died by the time I could talk properly say 5-6 years old bit killings are not told to children, and being a girl child she was an example of the first lady PM India ever had, that women can be PMs. I liked this fact. Women can be something. So she was my favorite leader then. But after that there were many bad PMs in my consciousness. President didn't matter.

Rajeev Gandhi was good looking but he was an avreage politician couldn't live to her mothers dreams and expectations who lost her favourite son to a freak accident. That son could have changed the map of this country with his iron hand. He had some revolutionary ideas and had just started when cold hands of death took him. And this other son had further married a foreigner wife who would never be accepted as a PM or a PMs wife, this was plain political suicide. What an idiot! He could have lived his life in oblivion but then his brother died and he had to stand there and make a fool of himself. His wife supported him and he lived thru it. But his heart was not into it. He just wanted to open a vine farm to live there in peace, but life is never simple. And he was released of it with his death in 1993. As a kid we made a lot of jokes on Gyani Jail Singh = Sardar. All Sardar jokes were fitted with his name. Like this one....

Once a school inspector comes to inspect a school where both Rajeev Gandhi and Gyani ji studied. He was to test there English. He asked Rajeev so tell him what is the alphabet handing him a cue card. Rajeev said M for mother. Teacher said good and moved on to Gyani.
He asked him what is this with another cue card.. Gyani looked at it confused and started wondering. Teacher asked again. What is this Gyani.
He answers, "Sir ji Ae ta Rajeev Gandhi di ma puthy pai hai..."
(Sir this is rajeev gandhis mom lying upturned.) It was the alphabet W.

Hmmm and many more. Gyani ji was Indira Gandhi's pet just the way Sonia Gandhi has Manmohan Singh. They choose a smart sardar and make him there face while the political heir gets ready to take the throne - first Rajeev, now Rahul. Just blood doesn't ensure that you get the talent and intelligence of Nehru, or fire and stubbornness of Indira Gandhi. None has it. Not Priyanka nor Rahul. Sonia will never be free from the burden of the family of the man she loved. That was her destiny nothing else, being the custodian. Never the leader. But her son is weak, may be another 5 years. She hopes to please get mother in law if she achieves that.

After a bad string of leaders like VP Singh bloody idiot, he started the quota war in this country, creating bad blood, making it official. Trying to get more votes as penance for the unfair forefathers. I don't believe that. But once you become rich then you don't need quota. And that too opportunity to earn should be fair not quota. In our country every one needs education and a decent job.
Then came pouty PV Narsimah, not not at all impressive, and blah blah Deve Gowda.

And then came one, I liked - Vajpayee. Handsome, great conversationalist, interesting character, his poems, yes, I had a girlish crush on him. If I could vote I would. Anyways I liked him and he was almost 5 times my age. I think a lot of women had a crush on him, the bachelor boy.

That's the BJP strategy getting a bachelor and groom him. No family means full loyalty, who will the tea boy go back to so he stayed in office. He slept there, he bathed there, he lived there. He was different. He wanted to do more, more than he ever could think of. This boy was no Harvard educated, royal bred, rich businessman or son in law. He was an average boy who earned 10 rs a day. 

He didn't know how but he had a fire just to keep fighting, after many setbacks, he came to that point. He had to do so much to prove his loyalty too BJP RSS - the Hindu Lobby. They were here to save the Hindus from the Mughals. But they don't know that war has ended centuries ago. Even British came and sucked our blood and went back. Now it's not about religion.

Pakistan is just jealous of us because he was smaller than us. It kept claiming that it was 50-50 but no buddy, politics and geography is simple. Ratio of population. But that doesn't mean the parts have to be separate. They can be mixed together well and live well. Why to fight and live in another country. Privacy is ok but what secrecy. Will there be a time when India and Pakistan merge into one - Bharat, Hindustan. I wish I could visit harappa and mohenjodaro and lahore, yes anarkali bazaar and roam there happily. It wouldn't matter I am a Hindu or a Muslim. It would be a great feeling that no land is far from me, geographically may be, but this is just a road trip away. May be some day.

But BJP is something my parents want to vote, my elders, my family, most of the people I guess who will vote are planning to vote to BJP. Most of our generationon is first time voters, for the previous two cycles of 5 years we were in between education and new jobs, changing cities and we couldn't register. And who was interested in politics at that age. My ma in law also spotted BJP and Mody, we were on opposite sides where she supported him and I doubted his intentions after the Gujarat riots. My ma in law felt these are just stepping stones. And I said once a criminal always criminal.

But now I don't think so. I doubt the story behind Gujrat riots now and I want to ask him, If he could,would he stop the carnage. Whatever was possible in his hands did he do it. Whoever burnt the train and murdered people traveling in train from the pilgrimage were the culprits. The revenge is a never ending vicious cycle. 

My ma in law now is an AAP member and is asking all the people to vote for aap when her own kids wouldn't. We both don't agree with him. The IIM management guy. Believe me they are no rockets just lame nerds with management jargon and crappy consulting ideas. And I have already shared my views on royal prodigy.

So you feel I will vote for Modi. I have an inclination. But not sure. If he did it, it was wrong. If he couldn't stop, he was weak. A CM should be powerful, get the criminals in and punished for their killing and rioting. To stop this early than let it carry on. I ask you did you do this Mr Modi. I feel I should vote for you because you are my only hope currently.  You are the best out of the lot. I can't wait for another 5 years. A lot of things need to change here. Even political parties feel they need a change.

Like BJP has floated a mini AAP to take congress from both sides. But Modi brings me some confidence, he has these good intentions and he looks wise.

Wisdom is what we need now. Not intelligence or bookish knowledge, simple maths, practical approach. Someone wise and steady. But I am confused. I have wondered  at
Times to vote on NOTA because a message needs to go that we need able leaders. Not idiots, crazy or tainted. Why can't we have a simple wise man with no skeletons in his closet or spider webs where his brain should have been.

So do I give my country to fools or a wise but tainted man who could let people die in revenge or in silence. Fools can kill more people and spread more misery with their inefficient policies and wastage of national wealth. No growth, no aspiration, no production, no surplus, no happiness, no vision, no direction. Enough is good but it's always surplus which makes us successful and happy.

So who do I vote. I wonder. I wonder...
One chance. Maybe people can change but brains can't grow. A bad can turn good but dumb can't be smart. Like game of thrones. None is evil really. There are always various sides to a story. Every character has his own version of story. It tells you the complex angles in a story from various angles. Each petal opening like an onion before the big war breaks out. The core of the life and death. When an elephant runs, its bound to shake, tremors, trample a few on his way. Instead of the wolf or a puppy.  Reminds me of animal farm. The conflict between the working and the owner class. I think I need to re-read it. It's a very cruel book. The misery and the drudgery of daily life comes glaring at your face. That's why I want to vote for a man who worked with his hands. I know if need be he wouldn't fear to use his hands. But killing is not allowed.

So, I wonder...

To be continued.... over next 5 years...

(Image credits-Hindustan Times)