View from India: Election Day (in Thiruvanmaiyur District, Chennai)

By Parvathi

Last week Tamil Nadu (state) elections were held. I was beside myself because I had just received my ID card from the Election Commission. Of course, it was due a good two years ago.

2009 saw me running to and from the Corporation Office in my part of the city trying to get myself on the electoral rolls. My name had previously been registered at Mumbai-West, and I was determined to get myself moved to Chennai. My son, who was just back from Leeds, had set himself up all nice and cosy for voting in Mumbai and he did it through Jagore! I tried the same, but was not very successful.

General elections arrived in the summer of 2009 and I had no voter ID no slip from the electoral rolls, nada. I do not concede defeat very easily, an irritating aspect of my personality no doubt - almost a bulldog-like doggedness once something plants itself in my brain. So the 2009 elections saw me out checking the rolls for my name with my driving licence and passport as IDs. No luck. I came back furious at not being able to exercise my franchise. Yet another trip to the Corporation office!

I must add that the people in that office were extremely helpful and spent a whole lot of time checking the lists for my name. They told me that the new voters' list ran literally into ten of thousands of new names, and they found it physically impossible to deal with it. They assured me I would have it when the next elections rolled around. I made polite noises to them but grumbled inside.

Well, they were right and I was wrong. This time around I got it all; but hey! human error still showed its pesky face. My mother who was on the rolls these past two decades, did not receive her ID card, and neither was her name was there.

Well, anyway, I took off from work that day, and decided to get over there bright and early just in case I had to stand forever in the queue. I felt almost obnoxiously civic that morning of 13th April, as I went around asking my neighbors if anyone needed a lift to the polling booth. I was there around quarter to eight and the queue was not at all threatening.

Everything went quietly; smoothly, like a well oiled machine. Oh yes, the police were there, clutching very lethal looking guns. No, the Election Commission was not going to take any chances.

There were separate lines for men and women; there were volunteers who checked our slips and directed us to our booths; chairs were set out for the elderly who braved the heat and came out to vote.

There was such a wonderful cross section of people right there in the compound of that small Corporation school. Right behind me was a woman from the fishing village who could neither read nor write, and who wanted to know if she was in the right place. Next to her was a young woman talking on a cell phone. With me, of course, was this very old lady, a neighbor, who refused to sit down saying there were others who needed that seat more than she did.

In the line parallel to us, where the men stood, there was a sudden commotion; and the cause for it was the actor Ajith who is also a neighbor of mine (though we almost never see each other). He stood smiling in the blistering heat in his three-piece cotton suit, not heeding the milling press!

A pregnant woman was allowed in first; the volunteers were polite. My finger was marked with the notorious indelible ink; I cast my vote pressing the button on an electronic voting machine. I came out proud to be part of a system that ensured such efficiency (at least where I voted).

This is exactly what we need and want in this country: a fuss-free, efficient, corruption-free electoral system. Never mind the fact that the school badly needed a paint job; never mind that some of the benches were broken and windows needed replacing - all's forgiven.

We know the difficulty of volumes in this country. Generally everything gets blamed on the teeming millions, but this one time I saw our 'teeming millions' as our strength. They came out in droves to exercise their right, and did it with dignity and pride (of course I'm projecting). This is their country, they have had enough of people selling them down the river. They are not fools to be tempted by paper money and trivia. It is an awakening that I see, a true democratic awakening that is exciting and bodes good for this sovereign democratic republic.
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My comment: How will we view our civic duties in 2012. Note: Parvathi made no mention to party or politics. Results will be announced next month.