I was in the office cafeteria where the televisions were vivid with McCain’s speech conceding defeating. You could almost feel the pulsating energy of the American gentry, gracefully gathered to hear their leaders on the culmination on what is being called a historic election.
I walked down to the cafeteria payment counter and was counting the change, when I was surprised by what I heard. The young, simple, cafeteria counter boy from the city of Kharagpur, seemingly swept away by the display of graciousness and a unified empathy, displayed on the television screens, said, “Madam, America ka election system sahi hai; Haarne ke baad bhi saamne aake speech de rahe hai and apni haar sweekar kar rahe hai! India mein to ek doosre ke upar ilzaam lagane lagte hai and politics ko ganda banate hai!” (Madam, the American election is system is so good; even after defeat, the candidates emerge and address the people, and accept defeat! In India, the candidates would have started mud-slinging, and made the politics even murkier!”)
I was speechless, and I could almost sense the pain in his voice. Young Indians of Youngistan are also craving for change, and the partisan party politics of India doesn’t hold any charm! Yes, Americans have welcomed change, and even in India, as we usher in another season of Parliamentary elections, it will soon be time to change!
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Manish Says:
November 5th, 2008 at 12:17 PMThe craving is there but how many of us are really willing to put efforts for the change? We just think and end up saying its the problem of system, time kiske paas hai, kaun dimaag lagaye, let it be like that, kya farak padhta hai etc etc.
Simple question I ask is that how many of us have voted in the last election? how many of us have got voter id cards? how many of us have made efforts to enlist ourselves in the voters list of the place where we live?
I am also no different from others but at the end of the day we just wish everything to be smooth. We have got into the habit of accepting everything, living in comfort, cribbing against the system and then just go holidaying on the day of election.
I was also surprised to see the passion of the Americans who were there to vote at Midnight and chose their President. We need a similar passion for change.
snigdha Says:
November 6th, 2008 at 5:32 PMI agree with Manish. Its sad to see the state of affairs in the political scene here in India. As the TV screen displayed the scrolling NEWS which read, “McCain:- I respect Obama for his victory.” The news that flashed on the screen was Uma Bharti slapping party Gen Sec for bringing in her supporters in large numbers without her knowledge.