Ok, before I start, I have to tell you that I enjoy politics.
Having worked in a Hindi news channel for a full six years, I have had the privilege of front-row seats to several unfolding political dramas. I have had the honour of speaking to the top politicians of the country, watching them tear through the arguments of their opponents, articulate the most absurd defenses as solid logic in chaste Hindi and then in fluent English within seconds.
I have witnessed several politicians fighting elections, winning & losing them, seen them falling from grace, getting dirty with words...
And then there a few rarities in the business...the ones who don't ever speak a word, yet reporters hang onto their every move.
There are the kinds who always make the news, and the kinds who become the news by default.
There are the good ones, the clean-imaged, result-oriented kinds, the ones who let their work do the talking.
And then there are clumsy, media-savvy ones, who always seem to be caught with their foot in their mouth.
Believe me, its fun. To sit back and watch the events unfold. The chase, the fight for the best visuals, the exclusive chat, the race to be the first with the news.
Its a mad circus out there, the political arena.
And I love having been there.
But today, watching a political party take out a road-rally on one of the busiest streets of Pune, I felt a sense of disappointment. Young boys, perhaps in their formative few years on the bikes, waving the party's flags on their vehicles, several women in pinned-up sarees uncomfortably holding up the party's flag, marching down the road with hundreds of others, jeep after open-jeep with boys and girls barely out of the teens shouting slogans for the party, I felt something was certainly misplaced.
Do these youngsters and women even know what they are doing? Have they just been pulled out of their classrooms and their kitchens to increase the size of the crowd, in the process leading to unnecessary chaos and traffic jam on the road in the middle of a busy working day? Is this the political reality of the country, or should it be about the power to do something to improve the future of these innocent supporters who continue to vote for these political ringmasters who disappear as soon as the voting is over and done with?
Is politics only about weaving a web of words and then entangling the entire nation and their hopes in it? Is it just about latching onto the weaknesses of your rivals and then celebrating their fall?
Our political leaders, some of them so highly educated, are mere name plates on their seats of power. Lack of intent and obviously action.
I think its time we citizens starting taking the decisions. The first one about who to choose, and who not to.
Having worked in a Hindi news channel for a full six years, I have had the privilege of front-row seats to several unfolding political dramas. I have had the honour of speaking to the top politicians of the country, watching them tear through the arguments of their opponents, articulate the most absurd defenses as solid logic in chaste Hindi and then in fluent English within seconds.
I have witnessed several politicians fighting elections, winning & losing them, seen them falling from grace, getting dirty with words...
And then there a few rarities in the business...the ones who don't ever speak a word, yet reporters hang onto their every move.
There are the kinds who always make the news, and the kinds who become the news by default.
There are the good ones, the clean-imaged, result-oriented kinds, the ones who let their work do the talking.
And then there are clumsy, media-savvy ones, who always seem to be caught with their foot in their mouth.
Believe me, its fun. To sit back and watch the events unfold. The chase, the fight for the best visuals, the exclusive chat, the race to be the first with the news.
Its a mad circus out there, the political arena.
And I love having been there.
But today, watching a political party take out a road-rally on one of the busiest streets of Pune, I felt a sense of disappointment. Young boys, perhaps in their formative few years on the bikes, waving the party's flags on their vehicles, several women in pinned-up sarees uncomfortably holding up the party's flag, marching down the road with hundreds of others, jeep after open-jeep with boys and girls barely out of the teens shouting slogans for the party, I felt something was certainly misplaced.
Do these youngsters and women even know what they are doing? Have they just been pulled out of their classrooms and their kitchens to increase the size of the crowd, in the process leading to unnecessary chaos and traffic jam on the road in the middle of a busy working day? Is this the political reality of the country, or should it be about the power to do something to improve the future of these innocent supporters who continue to vote for these political ringmasters who disappear as soon as the voting is over and done with?
Is politics only about weaving a web of words and then entangling the entire nation and their hopes in it? Is it just about latching onto the weaknesses of your rivals and then celebrating their fall?
Our political leaders, some of them so highly educated, are mere name plates on their seats of power. Lack of intent and obviously action.
I think its time we citizens starting taking the decisions. The first one about who to choose, and who not to.
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