DECENCY IN PUBLIC LIFE - 5

21st April 2009.

Dear Fellow-Campionites,

It’s an amazing paradox, I thought to myself today. When we go shopping for clothes we look at the brand, see the colours in the natural light, examine the texture and ask the cost. And yet we are perfectly willing to place our fate for five years in the hands of those we barely know, no questions asked. Last Sunday I went to “Meet the Candidate” meeting at Sewa Sadan (I wrote to you about that) and came back convinced whom NOT to vote for.

Today, on Sunday evening, I decided to see for myself the kind of person who wants to decide our fate for the next five years. She showed me the way – literally. Meera Sanyal was doing a padyatra in the Ambedkar and Geeta Nagar slums behind the World Trade Centre. I decided to walk alongside and judge for myself whether she truly deserved my keemti vote. Although I had seen my fair share of poverty and famine-stricken villages during my career in the civil service this was the first time I had ventured into a slum, the size of a small township, right in my backyard. Small, narrow alleys where three people could barely walk together passed of as a ‘main road’ in Ambedkar Nagar. It was suffocatingly hot and humid. Dotted with typically small shrines of Sai Baba the aroma of incense hung heavy in the air. Was it to disguise the stench from the toilets outside, I wondered?

Meera’s padyatra on Sunday evening covered the areas of Colaba and Cuffe Parade, and culminated in the Ambedkar Nagar slums. She walked in as though she knew the alleys and the by-lanes of the slum like the back of her hand. Dressed in plain green salwar-kameez Meera confidently greeted the residents with none of the diffidence of a new-comer. Going into their ‘houses’ she namaste-ed the seniors and reached out playfully to the children. Your main problem is water, I can see that, she said. You have voted for different parties in the past. They have done nothing. I do not belong to any party. We all deserve to live with dignity. Give me a chance. All I need is your good wishes to succeed, she said. Remember my symbol, the ballebaaz, the batsman hitting a six.

Soon there was a large group of children following us chanting the usual election slogans as we went deeper into Ambedkar Nagar. I trailed behind and stopped at intervals to talk to a few people.

Has any party campaigned here? I asked.
No.
Not at all?
No.
Not even the candidates in the fray?
No.

Strange, I thought. And just a few days ago I wrote in my mail of 15th April, “True, the slums have proliferated as has the vote bank. But has anyone even interacted with, let alone cultivated, this vote bank?” Meera has. She spent more than an hour and a half in a place you and I would not venture into. I have witnessed it. It was clear to me that Meera was running this campaign as a well-planned exercise. The film Lagaan was discussed as a subject at the IIM-A. Meera’s campaign should find a place there too. For one, it is overwhelmingly cost-effective. She has a few highly motivated people in her team who have planned out the padyatras – a hugely cost-effective way to have direct contact with potential voters, and yet keep within the legally permissible limits of spending. The routes are also well thought out – kaizen at work. And most important of all – her band of helpers. Campaigning hard they persuasively remind the slum residents that Meera Sanyal is the daughter of a fauji. Do not let the parties divide us in the name of language, caste and religion. . .

Last Sunday I went to “Meet the Candidate” meeting at Sewa Sadan and came back convinced whom NOT to vote for. Today, I know who is getting my vote.

30th April is not far away. Cast your vote for the one YOU think is best for you and your family. But do vote.

Yours sincerely,

Deepak Tralshawala