Business As Usual

I woke up this morning to a blanket of fog. It engulfed everything – buildings, lawns, cars, people, cattle and stray dogs. From my 14^th floor balcony, all I could see was fog. The mister switched on the TV. Out of habit, he tuned in to a news channel. But unlike every other day, he didn’t switch to a music channel after checking the highlights. I had my breakfast while watching the news. It was like looking at a car wreck – hard to look at but harder to look away from. I couldn’t watch any more. I wolfed down my breakfast and took the elevator down to the basement parking. I switched on the ignition, let it run for half a minute. I noticed the petrol tank was close to E. I had had the petrol tank filled to the brim last week. It had cost me 2800 rupees. I drove to the nearest Magenta Line Metro station. It was business as usual on the roads. Filling the petrol tank so soon bothered me. I did math in my head for driving all the way to work versus taking the metro. After all, taking the metro was temporary – till things got back to … normal. I had the headlights on high beam. Because of the fog. The blinkers were on too. The parking lot had more space than usual. I double-checked if the headlight was off. I pet the puppy in the parking lot. It followed me for some time. Its mother kept an eye on us from a distance. The lines to enter the station, which extended till metro station entry usually, were non-existent today. The platform was less crowded than usual. I got a seat in the metro – it didn’t happen often. The recorded announcement on the train informed that the metro won’t halt at three stations. They apologized for the inconvenience. Not many bothered to look up from their phones to pay attention to the announcement. The woman standing in front of me told her friend that she would be participating in the protest today. Her brother was detained yesterday. I wanted to enquire if her brother had made it back safe, where was he taken for detainment – but I didn’t. The train slowed down at Jasola Vihar, Jamia Milia Islamia, and Sukhdev Vihar – but didn’t stop. The platforms at these stations were deserted. I made up a story in my head that at each station the metro driver wanted to stop the train as a sign of his protest, but fearing his job – he didn’t. I relinquished my seat to a lady with a baby. Standing up, I peeked down at the roads. A building in Jamia had a spray-painted message – Ideas are bulletproof. The buildings and campus in the Jamia University were empty. There was a scattering of people right outside the gates. I couldn’t see any posters or placards. The train trundled on. I got off at my station. I stood on the skywalk, looking at either side. On one side there was Jamia, and the other had GK and Nehru Place. I wondered what it took to participate in protests, be one with the crowd, chant slogans, make yourself heard. I thought - nothing will change. I remembered the blanket of fog. It made me feel small, insignificant, helpless. It engulfed everything without giving anyone an option. I began walking towards the office. There was a Christmas party planned today.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – Election 2019

I am at a loss of words. But I still want to document my thoughts about what is probably India’s largest, dirtiest and most passionate electoral battle till date. Despite different analysis by some leading psephologists, journalists, analysts and many common people like you and me, Modi won (again). A landslide victory. Stunning millions of people like me. Most Modi bhakts and many analysts are not surprised. They believe it was evident. Evident because Modi’s ideology resonates with that of Indians (or Hindus?). Evident because the fakir can have no hidden objective, commercial interest. Because Modi’s family is the nation and not his estranged wife and old mother who only resurfaces during significant political moments.

But it was not evident for me. Even after all the exit polls indicated the same thing, I still had hope. Hope that the ‘liberal’ and ‘secular’ won’t be misconstrued as dirty, unethical words. Hope that India’s core values of democracy, unity in diversity, secularism will resurface. It is obvious that I undermined the obvious undercurrent of vikas, need to bring Hindutva under the spotlight and make economy, communalism, secularism take side roles. My vision was coloured too. I admit saying on multiple occasions - ‘anyone but Modi’. In my list, corrupt, megalomanianc, cynical leaders fared better than the pied piper who now has the power to take India anywhere it wants. And history has proven often that absolute power corrupts.

But despite my natural inclinations, I am urging myself to be optimistic. And I do believe, that whatever stance anyone held during the built up to the election, it is time to restore peace and get life back to normal. This election was the dirtiest one ever. It brought out the worst in people. Whichever side they were on (there were only 2 – pro Modi and anti Modi), most people I knew were bitter, loud, abusive, tenacious, condescending, know-it-alls, angry, smug, mean, uncouth, rude, depressed and/or sad. Seniors at work misused their seniority to impose their political inclinations on their subordinates, friends became enemies, hundreds of people exited Whatsapp groups after heated arguments (that just might have been a blessing in disguise though), like property wasn’t a big enough issue – families fought over politics as well, trolls ran amuck on social media dissing people into depression. Things got very ugly. I was mean to many people. Many people were mean to me. But it didn’t balance out the scale. It just made matters worse.

Like it, love it, bear it or hate it, Modi has swept the elections. Pro-Modi people are celebrating with mild comments like ‘told you so’ or stronger sentiments like ‘Modi haters, which country will you now go to?, Modi will ensure that the haters are weeded out, anti Modi people are disillusioned, confused, weak and unintelligent and worse. Those who disagree or vehemently disagree with Modi’s ideology will respond by not responding or starting their own mean comments like ‘The overall IQ of India is less than that a herd of sheep’, India is headed to a dark place, this is the end of India as we know it – secular and communal. But what use will it be? These sentiments – especially sentiments of those who ensured Modi came back with a landslide victory shocking all his political competitors – will be misused by the ruling government to lead them towards their alleged agenda of a single minded, non-democratic India. Sentiments of those against Modi will be exploited to create problems for the current government. But what good will it be to us?

Whether we are celebrating or dissing this victory, it is time to bring things back to ‘normal’. Stop calling each other names. Stop thinking ones with different ideology are less competent. Stop boasting. Stop roasting. It is okay to appreciate the government, just as it is okay for the people to question the government. We are the common people who can do extraordinary things simply by having the other’s back – in spite of their political inclination, caste, colour, creed, religion, region, sexual orientation or even taste of music. Let us look beyond the surface to what are the things we need to fix to truly grow better as a society. Whether we do it by hating Modi or worshipping him - does not matter (now). What matters is that we play a role in society’s betterment and have the same ideologies when it comes to what the society needs – peace, brotherhood, love among other things like economic security, safety, development for all.

We have taken our time to celebrate or grieve this election’s result. Let us spend the next 5 years in ensuring that we are better people. I’m going to start by practicing what I am preaching.

Jai Hind!