It is April of 2014 and I have just arrived from the office
fighting sweltering heat waves. I am frazzled to the core. It is a Saturday evening
that is why I am not that bothered about the fatigue as I have whole Sunday before
me to rest and relax. I take my regular evening bath and in supine position lay
on my bed with my cellphone in my hands. I am surfing net and am online on my ‘we
chat’ app as well.
Suddenly a message pops up with a message “Hi!”
It is a very old friend of mine, Ramesh. We were best friends in college, we still are. After college, I went after job search; he joined his
father’s business.
Me: “Hi!”
Him: “What’s up?
Me: “Nothing…what
about you?”
Him: “Chilling
yaar…Saturday night.”
Me: “Ok… and what
about your Ankita? How are you both going?”
Him: “Ankita is
past buddy… now I am lost in the silky strands of Megha .”
Me: “O.K… so how
is atmosphere in your city.”
Him: “Lively as
ever.”
Me: “No… I am
asking about political atmosphere… in a week time there is going to be voting in
your state…right?”
Him: “What
voting?... we care only about minting money buddy… we are businessmen, mind
you!”
Me: “But even
businessmen need the political system to be working and that is why we need to
vote.”
Him: “Political
system is at the beck and call of our moolah muscle dear and we don’t need
political system, the political system needs us... I have never cast my vote… I
am not a commoner who needs to vote.Furthermore… I don’t have to whimper before
the custodians of democracy for roti,
kapda and makan”
Me: “But I think
that everyone should make their contribution felt in a democracy even if they
are super rich.”
Him: “Rich people
don’t need democracy… on the contrary democracy needs us and our money.”
Me: “Ok… just
imagine a situation?”
Him: “Leave it yaar…let’s talk about something else.”
Me: “No I insist…
I would like you to imagine a situation… I know you are good at imagining!”
Him: “Umm…ok… I
know you are stubborn… you won’t relent until I imagine… tell me what is the
situation?”
Me: “Imagine that
one morning you wake up and don’t have water in your plushy bathroom for your
ablutions then what would you do?”
Him: “What yuck! …
I thought you would tell me to imagine about a girl.”
Me: “For a change,
imagine about this situation.”
Him: “Ok… if I
find one morning that there is no water in my bathroom then I will enquire
water supply department about the problem.”
Me: “And if you
come to know that they are on an indefinite strike then?”
Him: “Then I will
call water tanker supplier … remember I can buy anything.”
Me: “But what if
this water supplier charges huge amount?”
Him: “No amount
is huge for me.”
Me: “But Imagine
if it charges exorbitant amount like 2 crore per day for one tanker…”
Him: “But why
would it charge that much? Gundaraj hai
kya( Is it rule of hooligans)?
Me: “Yes... there
you are, if people of this country, at any time, choose to shun voting, it
means that at the end of the day the Raaj
of people(Rule of People) will be supplanted by Gundaraaj (Rule of Hooligans) and it doesn’t matter however rich
you are, your all money could get spent in a matter of a day if there is no
govt. to look after the situations related to economy and law and order of the
country. In the absence of a democratically elected govt. there will be anarchy
all around. Arson, felony will become daily events and…”
Him: “OK, Ok…
don’t scare me more, I have got your point, now I think that I was a great fool
not to have voted earlier. Thanks for your timely goading. This time I am
surely going to vote.”
Me: “Don’t forget
to take your madam Megha to vote with you.”
Him: “Sure I will
take her with me and I will urge other family members of mine to do so as
well.”
Then we talked on several other things till some more time
and after that I had my dinner and went to sleep satisfied that Ramesh would
get the ink on his index finger in 2014.
You also don’t forget to get the ink on your finger in 2014.
P.S: This creative endeavour is an entry to a contest being held
at Indiblogger.in under title: Indian General
Elections 2014 with social mobile apps.
A did a double check when I read the heading! 2014! :) Well written Neeraj and all the best for the contest! Hope you have a great year ahead :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Pallavi and wish you a great year too!
ReplyDeleteCool conversation ... All the best mate!!
ReplyDeleteThanx dear.
ReplyDeleteNicely shared and very well weaved in.
ReplyDeleteThanx Karan !
Delete