Change is in Me

I could hear them from a distance, their endless cry. The rhythmic counting of ek, do, teen, char that created a funny feeling. Then, followed by an entourage came the candidate who did a killing Deepika Padukone hand waving act before shaking my hand and asking for my precious vote. I am not that big a fan of Tata Tea so I didn't move my lips a little to ask her about her Job Profile. Elections, who cares? We made fun of them and continued our friendly banter.

After a while or so, we were again approached by this person who looked very nervous on his face unlike the very confident Miss Padukone. He told us how he planned to stand for the post of college president as an independent. Curious, by nature I quizzed him further to gain a little knowledge on how things worked. He was pretty cooperative and answered all our queries pretty well, that was the first time I got to know the date of voting. He introduced us to his agenda .The whole hierarchy below the president's post is nothing but a bunch of puppets and things can be changed only by the power of this post. He confessed that he knew he would lose. I actually knew that -the moment I heard him say the word 'independent'. He was a bright young fellow who had ideas, ideas that can lead to change.

Curious by the hope he held in his eyes - I googled a bit and found out what it was all about. In this year's general elections, In the South Bombay constituency a higher executive of ABN Amro bank named Meera Sanyal - fought as an independent candidate and created a huge roar in the media. She featured in every possible talk show and asked educated people to jump in. She lost by a record margin of votes in that constituency. But, as a result, of that hype - on an average 3 more independents contested on each of the 540 seats. That is roughly around 1600 more politicians to choose from, out of which even if 30% are honest enough that is around 500. Then we have a parliament with 500 honest politicians only if you vote right. That is the power of an individual in our society.

Another factor that might have never crossed your mind before is that these people who stand for Elections in Delhi University aren't here to gain popularity among their peers or to just see themselves in powerful positions. Most of them do garner the ambition of getting into hardcore real politics and by not putting up any resistance - we become the ultimate losers. It is not of any use to tell you how useless most of these people are because we are no better.

So, as we are about to select our own representatives soon - I push forward this appeal to you to go on the 4th of September to make a change. Otherwise, who knows Miss Padukone might just end up leading our country – one fine day. And remember the change is in me.
These links might help you to make up your mind.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/newdelhi/Defaced-walls-herald-DU-student-elections/Article1-445373.aspx

http://www.du.ac.in/du/Code_of_Conduct.pdf

Do try and search information about the candidates before voting, it just takes a minute - have a look at notice boards in the college. Enquire about the independents.

-Arpit Kumar

B.A. (Hons.) English; I Year