I'm 20 again. Yes, it's true, at least according to the voters' list. After sending in the required Form 6 for inclusion of my name, they finally enfranchised me. Bt they put my age down as 20. I think I ought to be thrilled, runing around with arms raised, jumping, whooping. I did manage to cast my vote. the officials in the polling booth checked my identity cards and details and agreed that the age was a mistake. And all along, i was hoping they would accept me for a twenty year old without even batting an eyelid.
Very few voters turned up from middle and upper income areas of bangalore. Very few of my neighbours voted. "No time," said one lady. "Oh I forgot," said someone else. The newspapers were debating this public apathy. It seems the young and restless are more bothered about using the public holiday to go off to a resort or party away. It's the poor who need politicians to do things for them. the better off can pay for what they want.
I'm left with a dab of indelible ink on my finger wondering what it all means.
2 comments:
Being mistaken for 20 sounds may be compliment. But for those who want to use the EPIC card as an id card have problems. My maid wanted to open a bank account, but her voter id card with mistakes was not accepted.
We have published other interesting experiences on voter id gaffes at
http://www.citizenmatters.in/genre/Voices
Best Regds, Meera
Bangalore news, views and opinions at www.citizenmatters.in
Yes, Meera, being mistaken for 20 may be a compliment, but not in this case. There have been just too many errors in the voters lists this time. Most of my family, and so many otehrs like us, sumarily had our names removed from existing rolls for no reason at all!
Post a Comment