Saturday 2 February 2008

Who?

My friend... His friend.... The guy who sits behind her at work.... You know the other guy from work? You've all seen him... Mid twenties... maybe more.., maybe less... him? I saw her.... Oh yeah she works there too... No no thats her sister.... You're mistaken.... Have you seen her? I saw her on tv once.... She gets up early.... He told me.... Tells us about the stock market on tv.... What about the others? They get up too.... They work.... Even the guy who sits behind her at work... They all work.... The guy who called me now.... My flatmate..... He slogs.... Mid twenties.... maybe more... maybe less.... educated? speak english? employed? Indian? live in Urban India? How many must we be? I don't know.... A lot!! Take a guess.... Two hundred million.... Are there more? Must be... What about his sister who'se just in college? Should we count her? There are too many to count.... I guess we should.... She can also vote.... Vote? Who does that? They do.... Who are they?? You know them.... Indians.... I'm Indian... I don't vote.... And why? Who? What who? Who should I vote for? That guy... No he sucks.... What about that one? Are you crazy? How about the third guy? There are too many third guys.... They are always looking after themselves.... What about the AIIMS docs who got water cannoned and beaten up? Poor cops... They must've felt bad doing that... But someone made them do that.... I'm not voting for them!! I hope she doesn't as well.... She doesn't vote at all.... She should vote!!! You want her to vote for the guys who beat up people in parks? Telling you what to do... She can't even walk back safely home.... They burnt down something... Or broke it.... They always do that.... She's not voting for them.... You're left with the third guy.... He sells.... What? Everything... They'll sell my vote.... Make some money.... Become a minister... Do nothing.... And then sell my vote at more money.... Then who? I don't know... Do we have a political voice? Who 'we'? All of us... Middle and upper Income, urban educated employed tv watching, movie going, Goa tripping, slogging your ass at work, party hopping, college going, shopping, new mall checking out, studying, cricket watching/playing, shouting, laughing, orkuting, amazingly hard working Indians.... No political party in India cares about us.... See what they did to the kids outside AIIMS... Not one political party supported them.... Only the media and the judiciary... And the Indian media and the judiciary are awesome remarkable institutions.... We were right.... So who do we vote for in 2009? Who will young India vote for in 2009? Congress? BJP? Third Guy? Don't Care Won't Vote? Or I want to vote but someone better? We need a political party to fill this gap, the urban educated youth is a vote bank that is just going to grow and grow and grow.... 31.8% of India's population is under 15 years old.... With the rate we're developing most of these will be educated.... By 2030 we will overtake China in population.... Even though 77% of our population is Rural, this figure will continously go down as urbanization reaches everywhere... Someone needs to emerge and catch this vote bank.... I hope someone does.... Someone who makes me want to vote.... But what are the options? None.... I had hoped that the Youth for Equality formed during the anti reservation protests would turn into a larger youth political movement.... But now their yahoo group forum advertises Reliance data cards and IT jobs.... Lok Paritran have tried a bit in the south but its still not large scale enough... But quite a few people voted for them... But not that many... People have to start now though so that they have a decent chance in 2014 and 2019... By 2019 the electorate should have changed quite a bit.... I will be 37 in 2019.... So even people half my age then will be able to vote..... someone born when I finished school will be able to vote..... The millenium kids... Who've not known Black and White TV, Life without cell phones, Only ten minutes news on DD, News breaks during movies and cricket!!!, even they will be able to vote.... Who are they going to vote for? Or will they also stay the Don't Care Won't Vote generation!!! Someone tell them who....

3 comments:

Kuber said...

Pandeys for president...! I know this is part of the attitude that doesn allow us to vote..Maybe when voting's possible online in India..
N yeah, whats the wit the age bit dude, u keep reminding us of it, "2019 u'll be 37" yes Pandey you will grow old..
Nice thoughts tho, i for one din even know about Lok Paritan etc.

Anonymous said...

I like what you've got to say.
Moar blogging from Pandey!!

Ankit said...

man, that was some fire in d belly! n i dont mean acidity by that ha! :)
but yeah, ur post really got me thinking dude, we are after such an opinionated generation, but when it comes to being governed by individuals...a) we are left with no decent choice and b) maybe we are just sadistically happy for the lack of choice or c) we dont realize for whatever resaons, that WE could BE the CHOICE!!!
when r u coming back here for good sir?
WOuld you like to materialize your thought into something concrete or u just wanna keeps them floating in the VIRTUAL space???
the CHOICE is yours NOW...before you become "37" in 2019...trust me...all this needs is people like US...restless for CHANGE and willing to contribute some time and some compassion...you think u r up for it??? or are the infosys's and the tcs's and the amsterdams' still keepin us busy???