What a lovely Voting Day !

😆 What a lovely Voting Day !….from conversing with Common Citizens to the ex Governor of Odisha !

😥  ……though the day began tinged with some sadness as a close friend lost her father early morning and I, though shaved and bathed for that fresh clean look, deferred Voting till afternoon and rushed to the Shivaji Park Electric Crematorium

🙂 …my 18 year old daughter was voting for the first time and she eagerly did so in the morning itself

I returned ,bathed again for that fresh clean look again

🙄 …..enquired with my Thursday Dhobi about his Children and why he had not gone to his Village this summer like he always does….he said he had allocated his savings for his son’s NIIT Computer Class which cost Rs 150000 but would cost him Rs 60000 in monthly instalments of Rs 8000 as he had shown them his Caste Certificate…he did not have the Monies to go home this summer….he asked for a glass of water saying this was the fourth house today and at each he had drunk a glass of water as it was really hot in Mumbai….Instead I made him some Iced Tea and he loved it !

😐 ….then left for my Polling Booth and Voted at @ 1.30 pm….Another elderly gentleman with a walking stick went straight ahead of the queue and was rightly allowed to vote immediately…..When my turn came ,I graciously offered a senior lady  sitting at the entrance to the polling booth,who could not walk and found it difficult to even stand in the queue,to go ahead of me to vote,but was quite rudely told by another senior citizen couple behind me that she was not in queue like them and why should she go ahead !…I even graciously told this couple they could go ahead of me but they were adamant that they will go only after me !…the lady,not wanting to create a scene, sat down again at the entrance with me shaking my head in annoyance !….It was Seniors v/s Seniors situation !…how intolerant and impatient our society has become …and there were @ 20 in the queue who witnessed this including Ronnie Screwala of UTV and Walt Disney fame and his wife…..not all seniors deserve graciousness ,especially if they are demanding and display intolerant,  critical and bickering behaviour

🙂 …..was chatting with the polling agent who checked my credentials …when I enquired how was the Voter turnout  he told me 400 had already voted before me of the 1000 Voters registered on their list for that Room in the Polling Booth….Actually I was the 387th Voter….Wow ! that’s nearly 40% already by 1.30 pm and they were expecting it to go over 60% by end today…In 2009 the Voter turnout was @ 40% and even at this Booth it had taken just 5 minutes then…today it took me half an hour….More Voter turnout in Mumbai means a decisive vote in the six constituencies

😛 …..was wearing an Orange T Shirt so many who asked playfully told me that they know who I was Voting for !….I told them I had bathed ,shaved and had a clean fresh look if that told them anything !

😐 …leaving the polling booth witnessed another instance of  intolerance and arrogance ….a rich guy in a swanky car shouting at cops and throwing his weight around because they had rightfully objected to his parking his car just outside the School which was a Polling Station…the rule is that no car will be allowed to park within 200 meters of the polling station…remembered the scene from ‘The Three Idiots’ when the three main actors including Aamir Khan ask the professor if he knew who they were when he refused to accept their exam papers as they had not completed them in the scheduled time…”No” he had said and these guys simply mixed up all the Exam Papers,including theirs, submitted by the students and ran off !

😀 ……then I went to the Club to pack some lunch and stock up on groceries….there at the Confectionery Counter there was this singularly distinguished old man in a white kurta and pajamas with easy slipper footwear,something like flip flops !…he did not have his club card with him and though he offered to pay cash he was not able pick up what he wanted….I graciously asked him to pick up whatever he wanted and that I would sign for it….he said he wanted two slices of the eggless carrot cake and that he would pay me for it in cash and he took his wallet out….I told him that I would not sign if he paid me !….and told the counter guy,who knows me well too to simply give him the cake slices…the old man asked me my name and I told him…he next asked me if I had a visiting card which I gave him….he then told me he would definitely get in touch with me and he was from Delhi and  had retired recently as the Governor of Odisha and his name was Murlidhar Chadrakant Bhandare ! and that he thought Parakh was a Gujarati but was not…the ex Coal Secretary who is in the news for his controversial book exposing the PM’s silence and the complicity of many in the Coalgate Scam…he said he had read the book…..I said I was Parikh and not related in any way to Parakh!….I have always wanted to try out this Eggless Carrot Cake ! ….I feel so happy I signed for someone who really wanted it…and he turned out to be the ex Governor of Odisha !

🙁 …then I touched base with the Order Steward at the Food Court to pack some lunch…he thanked me for the Easter SMS I had send him last week….said he was feeling stressed today….”Why?” I asked ….his daughter was in hospital in Goa with high fever and was to be discharged today  after some recovery…he was tensed up as he could not be with her as he had to work for his livelihood here in Mumbai

🙄 …and we think our problems are greater than those of others and we look for excuses and sympathy !

😀 ….packed some Ice Cream Cups for home and for our Cook too….blogging this after a game of Jenga with my daughter

😆 Lovely Voting Day  !

Update Morning of Friday,April 25,2014

Mumbai registered a highest since 1991 Voter Turnout of 52.66% overall….could have been higher if thousands more had voted but found their names deleted or not in the Voters Lists!….Many close friends suffered this fate and were livid and are planning to file or join PILs and create a  furore….it was not a lovely Voting Day for them !  ….also salute Sachin Tendulkar who flew back from the IPL in UAE to cast his Vote but sadly  not so the other Indian Cricketers and Team Staff and even many from the film industry who jetted off for the IIFA Awards instead….why do so many advertisers choose such celebrities to preach ads 🙁