We all have preconceived notions about various persons or places. To my mind, Sri Lanka was one of those places that Western tourists find fascinating for the cultural quaintness but otherwise like any other Indian town in the southern part of the country. It was vaguely on my to do list, mostly because a friend of mine was posted there but I had no sense of urgency about going there.
This May I was supposed to be going to Leh for a week (my room mate and I had been planning the trip since February) but the Gods had other ideas. At the last moment our trip got cancelled due to some unforeseen mishap in my room mate's office. Weirdly enough, around the same time, another friend's trip to Thailand got cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. So there we were, two girls itching to get out of Delhi without any clue where to go.
After a series of discussions and hectic planning, we hit on Sri Lanka as a viable destination for a short trip within our budget and time constraints. My friend in Colombo was enormously helpful. She took care of hotel bookings.
We landed in Colombo at 2am. It was raining outside and we couldn't locate the driver who was supposed to pick us up and take us to the Taj Samudra. We located a post office and used the phone to call the driver (my friend had helpfully texted his cell number). Then followed a bizarre conversation with me trying desperately in English to explain to the guy (whose English was extremely limited) that we had arrived and were waiting for him. The driver: "You come at 2?" Me: "Yes, we are outside the airport"; Driver: "Outside? Me inside airport. You come at 2?" Me: We are standing at the Arrival." This went for a few minutes...finally my friend had a brainwave and said, "Mention that we'r waiting at the Post office." The moment I mentioned post office he brightened and said "I coming," and sure enough, the car and glided in 5 mins.
We were finally on our way to the hotel. Night time Sri Lanka looked quite quaint with a charming old world feel to it. Suddenly, we were flagged down by a couple of army guys with AK 47s slung across. Both our hearts started beating faster and our throats were dry as the driver buzzed down the window. Surprisingly enough, the army guy very politely wished the driver good morning and asked something in Sinhalese (presumambly about us). The driver said something back and I heard the phrase Indian High Commission!! I had no clue what was going on. The army guy then very politely asked me for my passport as well as Sarita. I was freaking out a bit because while I have an Indian passport, Sarita's is American. If the driver was trying to pass us off as Indian high Commission staff, it might be a bit difficult to explain how one of us had an American passport!! The check went off without a hitch and we breathed a sigh of relief! I asked the driver why he mentioned the High commission. He said otherwise they might want to check our bags. Then he launched into a mini history of LTTE and its attacks.
From the airport to the hotel, it was a 45 min ride. But we were stopped by the army some 10-12 times. Each time the same story was repeated, each time we were let go with a quick check of our passports. while it was very scary to have guys with AK 47s slung on their back stopping us very few minutes, they were extremely polite and courteous in their behaviour towards us and the driver. We were quite impressed.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I was forced to be a Pappu
Why was I forced to be a Pappu? Because inspite of trying thrice, I could not vote. Reason: my name was not on the electoral roll of three polling booths.
I have always been very proud of our democracy. It is actually one of the few things I admire about this country which is riddled with almost every possible social, economic and political evils. After today's experience, I am perilously close to giving into complete pessimism and cynicism.
I came home (Gurgaon) all set to vote yesterday. According to the RWA notice, our polling booth was supposed to be in F Block Community Centre, DLF City, Phase 1. We went there bright and early and was told to find our names on the electoral rolls. There were two booths, one set up by the BJP and one by the Congress. We started browsing through the electoral rolls (with five other people craning their necks trying to see if their names were in it too). Every page brought disappointment. Our names weren't there!! We asked the people at the booth how do we find out our polling booth. They were clueless...one guy tried to tell me it was the voter's responsibility to find this out!! No one even knew where the other polling booths were. Finally someone told us there was a polling booth in G-block also for Silver Oaks people. My father and I reached the place but again we were disappointed. the same story was repeated. No one knew where our names were, how we could find out which polling booth to go to, where the polling booths were located, etc. etc.
We came back home. I started searching on the internet. The Election Commission of India's website had the option of searching electoral rolls but it was not working. Then I tried calling the helplines on the Haryana Electoral Department (ceoharyana.nic.in). Someone picked up but instead of giving me any info just shouted at me that it was the wrong number and banged the phone. All the other numbers were either perpetually busy or just kept on ringing. The numbers are: 2224047; 2220860; 2220861. Finally, after searching on the net for hours, I figured our names might be in the Chakarpur Block A DLF Phase 1 polling booth. So at 3:30pm we trudged there in the heat but the same story was repeated. No one had any clue, our names were not on, etc etc. That's when we just gave up!! I have rarely been this disappointed in my country!!
I have always been very proud of our democracy. It is actually one of the few things I admire about this country which is riddled with almost every possible social, economic and political evils. After today's experience, I am perilously close to giving into complete pessimism and cynicism.
I came home (Gurgaon) all set to vote yesterday. According to the RWA notice, our polling booth was supposed to be in F Block Community Centre, DLF City, Phase 1. We went there bright and early and was told to find our names on the electoral rolls. There were two booths, one set up by the BJP and one by the Congress. We started browsing through the electoral rolls (with five other people craning their necks trying to see if their names were in it too). Every page brought disappointment. Our names weren't there!! We asked the people at the booth how do we find out our polling booth. They were clueless...one guy tried to tell me it was the voter's responsibility to find this out!! No one even knew where the other polling booths were. Finally someone told us there was a polling booth in G-block also for Silver Oaks people. My father and I reached the place but again we were disappointed. the same story was repeated. No one knew where our names were, how we could find out which polling booth to go to, where the polling booths were located, etc. etc.
We came back home. I started searching on the internet. The Election Commission of India's website had the option of searching electoral rolls but it was not working. Then I tried calling the helplines on the Haryana Electoral Department (ceoharyana.nic.in). Someone picked up but instead of giving me any info just shouted at me that it was the wrong number and banged the phone. All the other numbers were either perpetually busy or just kept on ringing. The numbers are: 2224047; 2220860; 2220861. Finally, after searching on the net for hours, I figured our names might be in the Chakarpur Block A DLF Phase 1 polling booth. So at 3:30pm we trudged there in the heat but the same story was repeated. No one had any clue, our names were not on, etc etc. That's when we just gave up!! I have rarely been this disappointed in my country!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
In praise of democracy
I recently read an article that said many Pakistanis were mad that their state was being called a failed state. The reporter interviewed some students who said their preferred form of protest was raising awareness through Facebook (a social networking site). The reason given was that they were women and it has become increasingly unsafe for women to participate in protests outside their homes.
Now, it seemed strange to me that these students did not realise there is a co-relation between their lack of safety and the failure of state. The very fact that the country is becoming more fundamentalist makes it more unstable and prone to failure. So a few people joining protest causes etc on Facebook is hardly going to make a dent in that country's path to destruction. The only thing it will do is mislead some people about the reality of Pakistan.
I have never understood how a country can be theocratic and claim to protect the rights of all its citizen equally. A theocracy is fundamentally unequal because it privileges one religion over all others. To top that, if religious laws govern the land, there can be no pretence of equality of any kind -- of the sexes, of religious minorities, of vulnerable sections. That is why the best form of government is a democracy with separation of church and the state. In a democracy there is space for dissent, unlike a theocracy.
Now, it seemed strange to me that these students did not realise there is a co-relation between their lack of safety and the failure of state. The very fact that the country is becoming more fundamentalist makes it more unstable and prone to failure. So a few people joining protest causes etc on Facebook is hardly going to make a dent in that country's path to destruction. The only thing it will do is mislead some people about the reality of Pakistan.
I have never understood how a country can be theocratic and claim to protect the rights of all its citizen equally. A theocracy is fundamentally unequal because it privileges one religion over all others. To top that, if religious laws govern the land, there can be no pretence of equality of any kind -- of the sexes, of religious minorities, of vulnerable sections. That is why the best form of government is a democracy with separation of church and the state. In a democracy there is space for dissent, unlike a theocracy.
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