Why Not Again?

There is a house in Thiruvanmaiyur along the beach road where I usually take my morning constitutional – a big house of indeterminate color, with all kinds of frills, picture windows and Rapunzel towers; one, that stands out and would catch the eye of sidewalk artists and movie audiences – that seems mostly abandoned. The yard is choked with weeds and refuse; neighbors heaving their trash over the wall. It is said to be used occasionally for photo shoots for some of the oodles of movies the highly successful Tamil film industry cranks out on a daily basis.

One time I was out there early morning, watching the fishermen unloading their catches and I noticed a helicopter hovering over that particular place. I didn’t think too much about it at the time; but lately, I’ve been thinking that it could also very well function as India’s version of our witness protection program or as a safe house for Tamil Tiger plotters. Hide in plain sight. Why not make the lie so big, so obvious, that no one will question it?

Mockery is one of the most potent weapons in the human arsenal. It has always been so. Christ on the cross was said to have been mocked. Obviously, Bush was mocked constantly. Since Obama’s election, mockery has been pretty much off the table as the president has shown himself to be far more adept in the art (of mockery) than any of his critics.

Besides, it’s in bad form to mock a black man. One might be accused of racism. Though, this too might be dependent on other factors as we are discovering that black or white may not be the issue at all. Justice Thomas, for instance, might be mocked and no one will say much about it. It’s only Obama that cannot be mocked. What’s the difference? Both men – last time I looked – are black. Here we come to the nub or it: only certain black men can be mocked while others can’t. The modifier that explains all this appears to be ‘conservative’.

Note how liberals strut around, routinely mocking tea parties, Republican lawmakers and presidents, popular talk show hosts and commentators, second amendment supporters, presidential aspirants, religious leaders and their congregations, etc. Make no mistake, these are attacks and they do damage.

You might say that Limbaugh (and some others) mocks the Left. The difference is that Limbaugh gives reasons for his mockery. The Left gives no reasons. Ordinarily, the press would step in to mediate. But, we all know that the media tilts the playing field to favor the Left. Limbaugh’s words and audience are routinely treated as if they do not exist. Instead, people like the girls on ‘The View’ are given star headline treatment.

The day after Osama’s killing, Limbaugh went on air and mocked Obama. There it was! The Left was outraged (if they said anything). What was supposed to be America’s proudest moment since the start of the war on terror, was being mocked unabashedly. Other talk show hosts, known for being critical of the president, refrained from doing so. Not Limbaugh!

Maybe it’s just me, but I too found the whole deal somewhat hollow. For me personally, it did not seem to rise to the status of a significant event. And any attempt to see it as such seemed somehow contrived and cheap, and quite worthy of mockery – an ‘emperor has no clothes’ moment, if you wish. A proper trial would have sat well and settled it. The subtext is, of course, that we can no longer expect a proper trial in this country. Obama has taken that from us as well.

It should have been a moment of quiet restraint and reflection. It needed to be handled with much greater fineness than simply dumping a corpse into the drink. Mike had it right, I think: ‘Defeat snatched out of the jaws of victory’, he wrote. Neither does it impress that al-Qaeda confirmed the kill publicly. I seem to remember AQ websites being largely supportive of Obama winning the election in 2008. They got their wish. Why not again?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

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.