My first brush ... with politics

Well, to those who know that my birthday is on the 9th of October, and that I was born in 1990, the same year which was sanctified by ... well, my appearance ... then it takes a very little amount of elementary mathematics to calculate that on the 9th October of 2008, I stepped into the world of adulthood. (for those who are still wondering how: 2009-1990 = 18, the age laid down in the Indian Constitution to be qualified as an adult. Happy? No chori here mind you, I still have my birth certificate. 

Now, six months into adulthood, and I am still wondering, what has actually changed ... The first instance of change (the same word Mr. Obama keeps yelling n times in his n lectures) from boyhood to adulthood came in the form of the Lok Sabha elections 2009. Not that I was particularly looking forward to it ... because the only thing in politics that interests me is the NDTV Big Fight ... but it was still a means to assert my right to vote, and to tell the world at large, or at least the people standing in front of me, and behind me in the queue, that I am ... well ... an adult. 

Voting was well .. an extraordinarily ordinary experience ... at least I'd thought that there would be local goons, wearing kerchiefs, and threatening to conk you out if you didn't vote for their party(as had happened in Bengal in all these years), and that there would be policemen and BSF guys aiming rifles at the voters, and prodding their pockets for bombs and stuff, that might be concealed somewhere .... but nothing!!! There was absolutely nothing!!! It was a complete flop, perhaps even bigger than Ram Gopal Verma's Phoonk.

I still don't know whether my vote can do anything to change the ... system ... but, then again as a responsible citizen of my country, I guess these are things which I actually should be doing. Also thanks to the Tata Tea Jaagore ad for the small impetus it provided for going about. 

To wrap up, here's the photo of my index finger, with that bluey-blacky ink smeared on it.