03. Know your candidate

Before I begin my usual ramblings let me ask you a few questions.

1. Who are the candidates competing in your constituency this year?

2. What are their educational qualifications ?

3. What are they doing other than politics for their livelihood?

If you didn't know answers for any of these questions, don't worry you are not left alone. Welcome to the gang... But the only difference between you and me is that you got these questions from a random blog, wherein I got it posed before me in an interview.

Seriously... I dont know why someone would ask that question in an interview for a multi-national HR company. Anyway the person getting elected would be eating from my pocket. And it doesn't matter who gets elected in a small town that is omni-absent (antonym for ominpresent) in almost all national maps. These were the thoughts that were going on in my mind right after the interview. But I had some hopes for the interview though, cos I was sure most of the guys would not know answers for these questions and hence I hoped that I might crack it.

My hopes for success in the interview were shortlived. Fate has its own way of crushing your false hopes whenever you were feeling upbeat about something. Just as I came out to have some coffee in the eatery nearby, I met one of my friends, Santosh. Santo had also attended the interview but in a different panel. Knowing that he was of some one with similar academic accomplishments, I thought that I would compare my answers with him.

Hearing the questions he was asked, it seemed my questions were more reasonable and easier. For example he was asked the name of the new dog of Obama family. But unlike me he din't feel the questions ridiculous.

"Dude, You should know these stuffs. Atleast when you come for placements" He said.

"Why? Is the name of Obama's dog the password for any nuclear missile? Or, will it help me generate 10 times more electricity from a power plant ?"

"You are saying this cos you don't know the answers for them" he snapped back.

I could not prolong the argument, cos it was atleast half true. I did not know the answers for the questions, and my success hopes started dripping down. I returned back to hostel, but Santo's comments were still buzzing around my head. I staright way went to the reading hall where they used to have the magazines and newspapers. Usually I start from the sports section and get bored before I finish it and leave the rest to rest in peace. But today either because of the interview or Santo's remarks, I decided to read it from top to bottom.

I had browsed with much effort the first page of the paper, but I started feeling something. "This is not working. I had to read all the useless stuffs for getting a little GK" So I wrapped the paper and returned to my room. "May be I should try browsing" and I sat before my PC and switched it on.

So what's the big deal about these elections? I had been trying unsuccesfully to cast my vote from the day I turned eighteen. Not that i did not want, but some thing or other would turn up and I would end-up not fulfiling my constitutional duty.

The first time it happened was during the ward elections in my native. I had dutifully registered for the voters card and was thinking that I would be a responsible citizen unlike many others who refrain from voting. I even bragged about it to my classmates, had I had any knid of premonition abilities, I would have known that I was throwing stones on my own glass house.

Anyway it so happened that our election officers for the umpteenth time made an unexpected mistake (only hitch here is that everyone expects it) of misprinting my street name. So I could not vote for my ward as the street I was 'allotted' belongs to another ward. When our ward councillor who was rerunning for the third time informed my dad about it, my dad got so furious that he started scolding me for my 'horrible' hand-writing.

Now, I have to let you know one thing. Am not new to my dad scolding me. It had happened so many times that I could have filled a diary each year for my entire life till date, if I had started noting down the bawling I have got from my dad. But what revolted in me was that I was scolded before a relative stranger, the councillor. So I just shouted at him " Why do you make such a fuss for a thing which has no benefit for anyone ? If at all you are interested you vote for me too. Am not interested". I stormed back into my room. Something struck me when I turned me to look at my dad's reaction. It was the reaction of the councillor, a feeling of being rejected and neglected. Little did I know then that I would experince the same feeling he experinced later in my life.

Just as I was brooding over my past, my PC came to life and I started browsing for Obama's dog. I never expected that this dog would attract such a media coverage. So the next thing would be to see the candidates of my native. I did type the key words, but beyond the name of the candidate I could not get much useful info that would cajole me to vote for any particular person. I wonder what my ex-councillor is doing now. Didn't I mention that he lost the election which I failed to vote ? He always speaks to me with an air of vendetta from then as if I were the reason for his loss. I should have controlled my temper that day.

Just as I was scanning through the probable sites to look into, a friend pinged me in Gtalk. And that triggered a series of useless chatting and orkutting for about half an hour. So when I was finally over I brought back my attention to the elections. May be I could ask someone in Gtalk for a suitable website. I scanned through my friend's list to see who might be the right person for this. There he was, my friend Satya was online. He should be the right person for the job.

Let me introduce you another interesting personality in my life. Satya, a guy you can see only in movies. He is cool, participates in college elections, bunks all classes, looks cool in any costume, gets in bad boy list of all profs, speaks with a dozen girls (or more), and finally lands in a great job. I knew him from the first year of col.

My real encounter with him was durin second year elections when he campaigned for someone 2 me. Our college election system was so designed that only guys with a minimum academic qualification could compete in elections and reps, as they were called would elect the college President. Since Satya's super cool schedule did not let him meet this criteria, he had placed a geek called Jai for student representative in my class. He came to me for his regular campaigning, but I had to reveal him that i was planning to compete opposite his candidate. So it was cold war between us for those two weeks. He once cornered me in his room and started canvassing me to withdraw from competition. Had I known it was only a bubble reputation that comes with these posts, I would have happily complied to his requests. But it didn't happen so.

The elections came, votes were cast and we were waiting for the results. First came the results of each class. So ran the anouncement " .... Candidates: Jai and Rakesh, Margin: 2 votes, Winner: Jai". Now everything around me seemed to me like a buzz. Some people were patting my back and some clapping for Jai. I went towards Jai for my 'graceful' handshake. Then I turned towards Satya. Now. I could have given the same graceful handshake and continued our cold war or scorned at him and left, making it a lifetime vendetta. What we did was something both of us did not expect. We smiled at each other and made a warm embrace, I said " Congrats da" and that was the beginning of a great friendship. The results for the College President was announced later, but I don't remember who won, cos it made little difference to our lives.

Back to present.... I pinged Satya and bang came the answer, There is a website called empoweringindia.org and said it would give decent details about your candidate. He also gave me names of few magazines where they publish really 'real' information about notable candidates. I did find out that one of the candiates in my place is an aluminus of XLRI. Seems there is a good candidate in my neighbouring constituency who's an IAS and was the key person behind Lalu's railway ministry. So there are decent candidates to vote for...

So why do we still keep saying that we don't have good candidates ? May be because all of us are in oneway or other thinking like Jai.

Jai ??? The geek who won in our class election. As I said , myself, Satya and Jai got closer and we were a team in organising most of our department events. I would take care of the finance, Satya the logistics and Jai dealt with cajoling profs. Things were going smooth for about a year until one fine day we started realising that Jai was no longer active in his 'rep' duties.

When I and Satya confronted him, he said "I don't want to be elected again and am not interested in money you guys get from conducting events"

Those were the exact words he said and they are still buzzing in my head as I write this blog. Satya had a verbal fight with him and almost hit him but for my interference. It took about a month for them to come into speaking terms. I said nothing to Jai. I haven't said anything to him still. Didn't he realise the time myself and Satya spent at the expense of our academics to do his 'rep' activities? I could understand how my councillor should have felt. Being thought as a regular nobody who tries to eat off your pockets. May be that's what the councillor feels whenever I meet him and that might be the reason for the strange way he looks at me. I very recently learned that the very same councillor left a profitable business, because he felt he could do something the previous councillor conveniently neglected. Poor guy.. I shouldn't have been that harsh.

But still, elections may not affect people like you and me who are blissfully protected from naked reality by the corporate culture. But there are people whose livelihood hangs on the one percent hike or cuts made on taxes and grants. There are a lot of people who have left prospering careers because they wanted to realise the fantasies they had during their youthful days about their nation. Think we should at the least realise there is hope ahead for Indian politics, a place which can be sought after by the young and educated.

All I want is to make people realise that politics is no longer a last sought profession of good-for nothings and criminals. More and more worthy candidates are starting to appear. Please don't use the age old lame excuse of unworthy candidate for lazily enjoying the election holiday.

As a first step "know your candidate".