Voter Woes

My daughter has been inquiring about her voter identity card. I have told her that it will take a month or two to arrive. She filled up the registration form  online. And she believes that she will get her voter identity card faster compared to registering the offline way.I hope her belief is strengthened & she gets her card soon.

Contrast this with the indifference of my husband who is hardly bothered that he is not on the voters list. About why, he is not there on the list till now, calls for another story & its better left to another blog post.

My husband has rather very strong political views .And add to that , the fact, that he spends his free time engaged in listening to speeches of the the party he loves ! Sorry, maybe, not the party, but the leader he loves.

Since my nagging yielded no results , I used coercion. I told him that his party will lose by one vote because my husband will not be able to vote. Yet, my husband remained steadfast .Rather, he said that he is fine if I did all the groundwork for him. Meaning, that I must fill up the form so that he gets a voter card .Political parties who are trying to form partnerships, to go for it together, in the elections need to learn from me & my husband ! This is so, as I & my husband hold divergent views on all things political ( among so many things ) .

I tried filling up the forms & received no confirmation that the registration  was done.I thought maybe , it got done & was relaxed. A month later, releases in press urging voters to register, filled me with new enthusiasm. So much so, that I felt ,I need to convince, at least one person to get enrolled as voter. And as Charity begins at home ..even this should start at home.

So once again I started on my task. This time after repeated attempts, I finally did it. I got a confirmation that the registration has been accepted. By the time , I finished doing this, I had almost memorized the form !

And then we went & submitted the documents at the voter registration centre nearby. My husband accompanied me ....despite me & he not seeing eye to eye on most matters.

Before I conclude, I have two voter identity cards.....so even if my husband gets his card, the party I vote for or the neta I put my stamp on ,will win by that solitary vote !!!

As they say...everything is fair in love & war & in Elections ...especially in voting !!!!!

Haldi Kumkum

 It was the end of Sankranti season. Sankranti begins generally by 14-15th of January & continues for a fortnight ending with RathaSaptami. Rathsaptami had gone by & Sankranti was over.

In Maharashtra where I stay, Sankranti is celebrated by Hindu women inviting each other for Haldi Kumkum. And gifts are exchanged. Basically, small gifts are given though as status rises, gifts have got bigger & bigger. Nowadays, in large communities across the state, ladies collect money & go in for a community haldi kumkum .And gifts, therefore, are bigger. This helps in giving them a
feeling of togetherness. Ladies, who are mostly housewives have their brief spell of fun & frolic.And the best part, is they pool money to  buy things for their homes or themselves which they may be unable to buy if they brought it alone.Things are brought in  from wholesale markets & bulk  discounts make things affordable.

I asked my maid, the other day , about  the community Sankranti gift received by her, this time. And she said, that they had haldi kumkum the night before.I said ,"And how is that  Sankranti haldi kumkum ? Because Rathsaptami just got over. "My maid clarified, "It was an  election haldi kumkum."Then, she went on to explain, that a particular party candidate standing for the Municipal elections in their area is a woman.She had got a stage set up in their community area. She gifted  steel bowls to ladies.My maid continued  that ladies had  come from all far flung areas in the city, simply for the purpose of collecting bowls.She further added that ladies would collect bowls on behalf of all female members in the family.My maid collected three bowls- one each, for   her daughter, for her mom in law  &  for herself.And they came with one til ladoo each to signify sweetness ( the bitter pill of election was thus sugar coated ). And to think, that  for one  steel bowl with an added til ladoo, people are expected to vote for a particular candidate is just too simplistic . Is the vote of a  citizen so cheap ? Maybe, the electorate is more smarter than anyone can give it credit for.

My maid went on to say that there were some games as well.She won the musical chairs game.And what was the prize, I was curious. My maid laughed heartily & said, 'I was told that Paithani saree is the prize.I waited for prize distribution till 10.30 pm.The madam, sorry the female candidate was to come after 10.30 to do prize distribution & urge people to vote for her ."I asked ,"How can Paithani saree be given as prize ?'Paithani saree is made of silk & woven with gold & silver.And genuine Paithani sarees cost  a few thousands.

Paithan in Maharashtra is famous for its famed Paithani sarees.Thesea re made of silk with silver & gold woven into them.And each saree takes  long paintstaking weaving time of the skilled weavers to turn into the alluring sarees which are coveted by all !

My maid  said, 'Of course, its affordable ..it will be a  semi Paithani saree ( silk & some other fabric woven together bringing down the cost  of the saree...& no silver or gold woven into it  ) ".My maid said that she waited in that awful windy cold weather for the prized Paithani saree.Because she felt, if she left, without waiting for the prize, somebody else would take it away. If one is not vigilant , one's vote would be snatched away & bogus voting would result.And her patience paid off & she got her prize.And no , it was not a Paithani saree .It was just a polyester saree in blue colour !

I laughed . She laughed as well.Perhaps, its symbolic of what the electorate votes for, looking at the manifestos & then gets nothing after the party comes to power. This happens election after election.Every five years, someone or the other, fools us to vote for them .And thereafter, refuses to deliver on promises made.

Elections

The nation is in the grip of Election fever ! And it is summer as well ! So temperatures are soaring ! The manifesto of AAP promises to lower  the age of poll candidates  to 21 years .I am in favour of lowering it further, to teen age .This is the sure shot way of channelising the hyperactive energy of teenagers &  their raging hormones ! Moreover ,teenagers  will fare better than our netas !

In the midst of all this ,my teenager announced,"Daddy,I am standing for elections ." Daddy ( aghast that AAP has come to power ...still they should have waited till my daughter's board exams were over before reducing the age ),"How can you ? " Teenager ," Group captain elections at school. " Daddy," You have to give board exams.Please give attention to that ." "Bye,Daddy ".Call disconnected.My teen does that.She is informing us....not seeking permission.Moreover ,my hubby never understood that his daughter has leadership potential.She dreams of being the Group Captain. Board exams and all be damned !

Next day,my daughter arrived home, with  a flushed face.I thought maybe it was the heat.Yes,I was right ,it was the heat, of school elections."Mama ,I was not selected.Last year,they never allowed girls of 9th std to stand for elections as even Vice Captains .This year ,they said ,only boys can stand for elections to Group Captains.It is so unfair.You know,the guy who won, was not even standing & then our Sir ( read Kingmaker ) told him & he stood up & won !  " .A pause & she continued ",.Atleast ,I stood for elections.Two of my classmates ,both girls, were not even allowed to stand.Only one of my girl classmate is group  vice captain now.All other vice & group captains are boys ".

At last she  nailed it ", ",I tell you ,our school elections are as unfair as the national elections.Mama,I am writing to the Princy ( read Principal ) that all this is unfair." I butted in ," Just one person writing is hardly going to make any difference ." My leader of a teenager," Mama,I will write it & it will be signed by all of us (read girls ) ." I know ,my kid is preparing for larger roles ...she is getting lessons in fairness,gender equality,etal !

This is the fifth post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge,2014.

Sharing blog posts of two of my fellow bloggers here :

Suzy Que

Prudhvi Latha

Self -regulation.

On 16thSeptember,2009,one of the headlines in the Times of India read that the government expects the pharma companies to do self -regulation.This is real news !

The article went on to state that most of the pharma companies in India are the MNCs which have been fined for gross improper conduct by courts in the US ,UK & Europe.The fine runs into several million dollars as they bribed doctors to change medicines & sent them on foreign jaunts for recommending their products et al.When in the west,the pharma companies can behave so blatantly in violation of all laws which are much more stringent ,how does the State expect that there will self -policing ?Moreover most of the pharma MNCs are at loggerheads with Indian pharma companies as Indian pharma companies make cheaper versions of drugs available to the Indian public.This is a huge loss for the MNCs in the Indian pharma market.There are many court battles being fought about patents & trademarks between the Indian companies & the MNCs over such matters.

With the elections around,it is understandable, that a lot of money has changed hands from the MNCs to the political parties.No political party seems to oppose self regulation in the pharmaceutical industry.This means that the MNcs have cultivated all of them without discrimination !

The Times report stated that the MNCs account for nearly 70% of the Indian drug market.With our rulers allowing the pharmaceutical industry to discipline themselves,this share of the Indian drug market will very soon become 100% !On second thoughts,if there is self -regulation allowed for all -industries,individuals,etc,is there any need for governance ? Obviously,there won't be, as that would be Utopia !