Do you still remember the good old days when the country got to a grinding halt for 4 days.. to leisurely ruminate on the swinging fortunes of the countries political elite.. Days would be spent in front of our weston tv.. watching the likes of Pranoy Roy, Vinod Dua, Yogender Yadav and Nalini Singh masterly discuss the nuances of our countries thriving democracy. The TV would be switched on first thing in the morning and good old Pranoy Roy and Vinod Dua would still be there, eyelids drooping telling us who was leading where and who was trailing. DD needed to air movies , which were a rather rare commodity then, more like fillers, so that the gentlemen could get some rest. The young bearded Yogender Yadav would come up now and then with his charts and his analysis, dissecting each and every result and lead and pulling out trends and conclusions. Obscure places like Dausa, Madhepura, Amethi and Chhindwara would have their days of fame as their names popped up now and then on national TV, by virtue of the famous faces they chose, or rejected.. Thats when our (not so) little minds learnt about words like caste equations, anti-incumbency, sympathy vote and booth capturing. A little innocence was lost when we realized that most of the country still voted based on caste and religion. That western UP was decided by which way the Jat vote went, whereas in Karnataka it was between the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats. And then there was UP and Bihar, the dream states for any budding psephologist, the country's two electorally largest states, with their deliciously convoluting mix of castes and sub- castes and rich cast of characters. It did help that the counting always started last and was the slowest keeping our friends busy and nation in suspense for just a couple days more.
But.. well as they say.. all good things must come to a pass. Somewhere along the line someone invented the electronic voting machine and ruined all the fun. What used to be a liesurely Kathakali performance, is now more like a short breathless break dance session, done and over with in just about a day.. But then lets put the romantic's cribbing aside, its Election season again, the time when the largest democracy in the world takes another collective attempt at moulding its destiny. Its time for the elephant to dance and for us to marvel at it, all over again.
