The political brouhaha

THE POLITICAL BROUHAHA 

 As the Lok Sabha elections enter the sixth phase and heading towards a political climax, campaigning is taking new twists and turns. Starting with sober development and welfare planks, election speeches are now taking a more personal colour, leaving the voter confused and anguished.

Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Maut ka saudagar’ comment on Modi, Modi’s AK-49 remark on Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi’s Hitler remark on Modi, UP politician Imran Masood’s threat to ‘cut Modi into pieces’, Amit Shah’s revenge remark and Azam Khan’s comments on Muslim jawans wining Kargil are all fine examples of politicians stooping to the lowest level to score brownie points and, of course, woo voters.

They have again proved the point that anything is fair in war and of course not ‘love’ in this case. The politicking has left the aam aadmi all the more confused about whom to vote.

If on one day a particular party does something impressive, the next day it goofs up. If one plays the secularism card, another claims to do something different if it comes to power. Some even trying to divide the janta by blaming others to be communal, while others are busy washing others’ dirty linen in public. The rest try to make their own alternative front, ultimately to support whosoever comes to power.

News about candidates changing parties and constituencies, reshuffle of candidates, bringing in star power and sulking faces have occupied enough newspaper pages and prime slots of news channels. In some cases, the candidates are so new to the area that the voters hardly know anything about them. Hope the angry confused voters do not press the Nota (none of the above) button to the maximum this year.

Last-minute campaigning is at a rapid pace with hawans, road shows and innumerable rallies trying to prove how one is stronger than the other.

With the maximum number of first-time voters these polls, all political parties are eyeing for their votes without giving an iota of thought to what impact they are having on those young minds with their mindless politicking.

If one party is portraying one leader as a panacea to all problems, another is all about a family. Then, yet another party thinks only it is fit to rule. And the voter? Even more confused than ever.

 

Memoirs in auto

Memoirs in auto
  

As a section of auto drivers accused their former saviours – the Aam Aadmi Party -- of betrayal and vowed to campaign against it in run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, a debate raged over who was the real villain. While some argued for Kejriwal’s party, others said the auto drivers, known for fleecing people, deserved it.

But for many like me, autos are a saviour, a lifeline in a city where commuting can often be a harrowing experience. To avoid long and tiring travel by bus and changing three metros from home to my workplace, the auto was my only resort.

After the 25 per cent hike in auto fares, drivers for the first time readily agreed to go by the meter. Before that, most of the time, the meter was just a showpiece. We heaved a sigh of relief as we no more had to waste time by bargaining.

One day, a driver gave us his fare list chart and advised us ‘madam yeh rakha karo’. Before that though we saw people selling the same chart on roads we never had the bright idea of buying it.

Refusal and asking for exorbitant fares was a constant issue. We were very happy to read a news item where it was mentioned how to lodge a complaint against auto drivers. We often used to scare them by saying that we would complain but it did not work all the time. A few among them used to shoot back: ‘kar dijiye complain’. When any traffic police personnel were in sight, we would be the boss. The auto drivers used to sulk but had to say yes, and after occupying our seats we used to feel pity for them and for the next one hour we had our share of constant nagging.

The auto also gave me and two of my friends a feeling of safety as it was open and we always thought we could jump out like some super woman in case of emergency. But (luckily) we never had that opportunity to do so.

Looking for an auto when the distance is almost 20 km was a real task. The answer was often a straight ‘no’. Sometimes it was only a surprised look with only the eyes doing all the talking. ‘Are you mad madam?’ Gradually, I and my friends learnt to guess whether the answer would be an affirmative one just by observing their body language.

But by and large, commuting was an experience. The drivers were stories in themselves. In quite a few instances, we were mute listeners of their history and geography; how they came from a faraway state to settle here but the cruel national capital did not give their due. But a few among them were optimistic. I still remember one who mentioned proudly with a sparkle in his eyes that he is proud to be an auto driver and it is with this income he made his daughter a doctor and his son an engineer.

To kill time, I and my friends used to play the most common game, ‘antakshri’. But sometimes, we would find auto drivers with an ear for music. As if that was not enough, we had to answer their music quiz. Though some musical conversations were sometimes hilarious, we would not dare to ask them to stop. And how can I forget some autos with stereos playing songs of B-grade movies.

We also encountered a few dare-devil auto drivers who used to give the peak hour traffic a miss by some super stunts. Many a time, we found ourselves travelling on cycle tracks and even footpaths, though it was against traffic rules. But we never complained as it saved us precious time. The journey was scary but we used to reach our destination on time after following a zig-zag route amid heavy traffic and sometimes their shortcuts.

Auto travel in Delhi definitely has two sides to it, but it would not be complete to conclude without mentioning the few good Samaritans who went the extra mile to reach us home safely when it was quite late on the capital’s unsafe streets.