What is 8 times @Rs 2000? , He asked with a smile on
his face. I promptly told him the answer and his smile got bigger. I asked him,
Bittu why such a big smile?
He answered and said, Bhabhiji, I would sell my vote
along with that of my family members for at least this much. And, in this way I
can replace my washing machine. It is not working and it’s causing a lot of
inconvenience to us in this cold. I was amazed, here the papers were full of
write –ups, short clips were being made and the voter was being told to use his
vote judiciously and not to sell it to the highest bidder for cash or kind. I
actually saw the clip that was posted by one of the DC ‘s to spread awareness
sin one of the closely watched elections of all times.
Punjab is in the midst of its fiercest, ugliest
triangular battle that gets shriller by the day. My own village has couples not
talking to each other since the last election; AAP drove the wedge between the
marital bliss of our local shopkeeper and his wife. She is a die -hard Akali worker
and he is a jharoo supporter and well rest is history for this month.
The public has the shortest memory, they do not count
what you have done for them, the visits to pilgrimages, the atta dal or the
free units of water or electricity or the shagun schemes, it is one pension
that they didn’t get or one street that wasn’t made wipes off the slate.
The congress tries to cash in and sell the anti
incumbency platform, saying that the previous government has looted the state
and they will change the farmer, usher in industrialization, bring in a
revolution and also wave a magic wand and wipe off the debt we face. The
turncoats who crossed parties get shriller and the dramatics of their words and
the expressions are worthy of the finest Shakespearean drama and I am reminded
of the Bard who said ‘ all the world’s a stage and all the men and woman
playing a part.
In our case Punjab is living it to the hilt. We have
singers, actors, politicians, sportsmen, army officials; teachers all set to
convince the voter to vote for them.
The broom party that plans to sweep, clean our state
out of drugs, give the youth jobs has promised the latest revolution and his
trump card is to give the Dalit an identity.
I think that is the worst form, to cash into a
personal’s identity and to manipulate and cause divisions is the worst .to
divide and to stir up emotions and then to deepen the lines is wrong and the
worst form. He tries to evoke the blood of the revolutionary Punjabi that flows
in us by merely wearing the yellow turban but these kind of fakes, oily
salesman selling utopia merely are given one chance and then they fade into
oblivion.
I am also wondering with the current demonetization
how the politician is going to finance the election.
Its evening time, and as the canvassers come back home
and all they talk about is the freebies given and the grudges they have against
each other is why the other got the toilet made first and why hers was later or
the fact that she hasn’t been given pension in spite of having three acres of
agricultural land!
It’s a land of plenty. We have everything and we just
crib about everything, it’s like the pot is brim full and water is spilling and
we don’t want to turn off the tap.
The press is full of drugs and the pandemic and the
falling water table, the fact that we have no industry but all we worry is
about the comic characters we have who mud sling and the war is on who shouts
the maximum and is the loudest.
To leave a message for the next generation is just to
wear the whitest kurta pajama, with the sign of the party and to bad mouth the
other! Some just calculate how much they can make by the 4th.
Its easy peasy and free money, in exchange for the
inedible ink that fades away into oblivion. A people that elect corrupt
politicians are not victims…. but accomplices. (George Orwell)
How can I explain to my cook that it’s a domino
effect? He sets the wheels in motion, but how many of us can stop it ? The
wheels of time will alone tell.Maybe getting a Pink Gandhi is the safest , he is being any ways booted out of the calendars and maybe in this way I could show my solidarity to the Million Woman march too .
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