The cruellest month

As we approach April, the cruellest month, here are some thoughts and hopes about the oncoming elections.

Above all, we hope that the polls are safe and violence-free. Already, with reports coming in of candidates being manhandled and attacked, as in the case of Congress candidate Nagma, whose meeting at Meerut on Thursday led to scenes of chaos, it is obvious that the stakes are high and tempers are running on fast burn. It will be a shame if this important process of democracy results in lives and properties being lost or destroyed.

 We hope that a minimum standard of decency and civility is maintained. Imran Masood, contesting for the Congress from Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, appeared clearly inebriated when he threatened Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, with dire consequences. Perhaps the fact that there are cameras everywhere might restrain candidates even in the absence of their own standards of decency.

 We hope that the elections will be free and fair. No capturing of booths, no bribing of constituencies, no greasing of the media's palm or any underhand means to get ahead. This is India's single fine moment in the eyes of the world as a sovereign and modern democracy. May the best man or woman win.

Hopefully there will be less hype and hyperbole - screaming TV anchors, hyperventilating politicians, grandstanding prime ministerial candidates and editorials sprinkled liberally with purple prose. All this we could do without. Hopefully the elections will expend less hot air and overkill this time around.

Hopefully we will be allowed to get on with our lives. All of us are not consumed by political interests. We still want to watch cricket and go to the movies and drink at pubs and continue with our daily routines. Elections are not the be all and end all of most of the people in this country. May the powers that be in the government and media remember this and allow us to continue the even tenor of our lives.

May we speak of other things? Can every dinner party conversation not swivel around the issue of seat counting please? Some of us really don't care if the Congress gets 100 seats, BJP just about reaches the break-even mark, that Arvind Kejriwal gets 50 or that it will be a hung Parliament.

We in fact would prefer to talk about the latest book we've read, the newest film we've seen, our own love lives or even the weather. Can dinner party windbags and self-proclaimed psephologists remember that?

Lastly, can Messrs Arnab, Rahul and Rajdeep take a chill pill please? Each time they find their blood pressure rising and their thoughts running away with their words, would they consider counting till 10, or recalling green meadows and blue seas until the moment passes? Will TV anchors do us a favour and sign up for yoga and meditation classes, chant Buddhist shlokas or remember to take their medications before they go on air?

Because as the elections loom closer, a sense of humour, a sense of decorum, a sense of perspective and the greater good is the only thing that will see us through. Or else not only will April be the cruellest month, but also the fact that it begins with April 1 will mean that the joke is on all of us.

Malavika Sangghvi is a Mumbai-based writer malavikasangghvi@hotmail.com