We, the irresponsible people



The elections are over. The public is quite sad that the month-long entertainment is coming to an end and they are now in the climax. The folks from the film-industry are going to heave a huge sigh of relief. One, those who campaigned for the parties are getting a reprieve and those who refused to be part of this circus and flown off are booking their return tickets. Two, those who have made summer blockbusters are waiting for the election to end so that they can release them.

For the proverbial aam-aadmi, it doesn't just make any difference. He is actually depressed because from now on, he has to pay for any entertainment.

Hang on. This post is not about the circus called election. This is about how we respond to it. Many of my colleagues didn't vote citing that it's a waste of their time. Some even had a very caustic remarks about the politicians.

This scathing sarcasm about the politicos is not new and it's increasingly getting on my nerves. To the extend, that the other day I blew my top when somebody in our canteen commented that 'What good will these elections do? All these leaders are ___ anyway'.

I thought hard on that. In reality, we, the people, are actually worse than our politicians. Let me explain.

The government employees don't want to work but will continue to expect hikes and their right to strike when the hikes are denied. They are utterly irresponsible to not worry about where will the goverment get their hike money from. Not to mention the amount of bribe they receive and often even demand from the rest of the people.

We freely litter the landscape, pay bribe to a government offical to violate a rule or two, and cross red signals. Filmmakers plagiarise stories and the public pirate their movies. We evade tax, encroach public spaces and honk wildly till we reach home.

The government headed by these _____ politicians have banned plastics but we discreetly use them. They have banned Gutkas but we slyly get it from the bunker shops. The auto drivers who loudly criticise about petrol hikes and blame the leaders for that, actually adulterate the fuel, release heavy toxic smoke from their engines, often dislodge their silencer to save fuel, and in turn, polluting the noise fabric and of course violate meter norms and demand astronomical rates.

On the contrary, I see the politicians actually talking real issues. When I followed the campaigns, I heard them talking about environment, fixing rate for sugarcane, seed management, and even IT. I wonder how many of my colleagues who despise these leaders are aware of the problems faced by the sugarcane farmers or how much of plastic they really burn.

Yes, there were freebies doled out and some atrocious claims made. I also don't deny that politicians misuse their power. But I see everyone with some power definitely misusing it, albeit for a little extent.

And there are some politicians with brazen carelessness about the state of affairs. I can include the likes of Laloo, Ramadoss under this category. But barring these people, on the whole, I believe they have been responsible and anyday not worse than you or I.

My own personal grievance about these politicos is they are not visionaries or think on long term. But I guess lack of planning is an Indian attitude and cannot be simply attributed to our leaders.

How many of us plan our career or family for the next 10 years? We plan for the finances simply because it's a national habit and culturally and socially if you have savings or a house or a land, you are considered responsible and intelligent.

Otherwise, there are hardly visionaries among us. So what's plaguing us as a nation and what's the aam admi's relationship with the democratic system that we are so used to for nearly sixty years?

I intend analysing these questions.