Every vote can make a difference!

The country is engulfed in election fever as India votes from April 7^th to May 12^th to constitute it’s 16^th Lok Sabha, Indian Parliament’s lower house comprising of representatives of people from 543 constituencies country-wide. While this is the one of the important issues facing the adult world, our younger kids couldn’t really be bothered much!  Nevertheless, Abhay was intrigued as we headed out last week on polling day (April 17^th) including wheeling our 96 year old granny (which made national news!) to the polling booth to cast our vote. Since Abhay is now at stage where he can comprehend news and current affairs, I did read him a couple of articles on elections reported in a child appropriate manner vide Child Friendly News, a fortnightly newspaper for kids. I am not sure if he understood fully, but it is never too early to instill the importance of one’s own contribution towards a better country.  It is disheartening to see that while people don’t lose an opportunity to criticize or fault with the present state of affairs, they don’t make use of the opportunity afforded to make a difference. Of course, one may have a genuine reason for not being able to cast one’s vote, but going on a vacation taking advantage of the Easter weekend is certainly not one!

I was looking for a story to read on the value of one’s vote but couldn’t find one on the eve of polling day in Bangalore. But this week’s  Young World, the children’s supplement of "The Hindu" carries a story in its Quick read section on the importance of voting titled “Let your vote decide” by Ramapriya Ayyer. As elections were round the corner, Mr Gupta was busy reading the newspaper when his eleven year old son Anuj asks him as to what difference does it make if Mr. Gupta votes or not. Just then an altercation broke out downstairs owing to the new watchman Bhim Singh’s negligence. Many residents of the apartment complex were not happy with the appointment of Bhim Singh in place of the earlier watchman Sakharam, who Anuj felt was more efficient and helpful. On a complaint to the apartment association, the association decides to hold an election on the issue of the appointment of the watchman. Mr Gupta who was in favour of hiring back the earlier watchman Sakharam was hoping to garner enough support for his cause, including that of his friend Mr. Shekhar. But the election was evenly poised with many supporting retention of Bhim Singh as the apartment’s watchman. As all the members cast their respective votes and the counting process came to an end, Mr. Shekar was nowhere to be found. The Secretary then announces the election result to be a tie, to Mr. Gupta’s dismay. What happens after that is a vindication of the fact that each and every vote is important and does make a difference! With the sixth phase of elections being held across twelve states today …..all you Indians …..go out there and get inked!!  

The wonderful vacation!

After a two week stay at “Shristi”, his grandparents’ farm at Dharmasthala, Abhay is back and so is Onestoryaday! J  Unlike the last two years, this time around however, Abhay only stayed for a fortnight, as opposed to a month. Well….. we found that two weeks is an ideal timeframe - for a city kid to enjoy a quiet country life, for his slowly aging grandparents, and for his parents whose lives don’t seem the same without the constant chatter of their seven year old! While Abhay did miss his parents at times, he seemed to have had a time of his life being the boss of “Shristi” – his grandfather ever ready to act as per his bidding, including driving him to a nearby town for his daily quota of chocobar ice cream, his grandmother devising fun ways and means to engage him, even in the darkest hours (quite literally as they survived without electricity for over two days owing to torrential rains!), that included an interactive game revolving around naming places from their ending sounds!!  Phew!....keeping kids engaged during holidays is no easy task and making an extraordinarily entertaining game from ordinary things lying around, is truly an art! Thanks to Abhay's Sannaji..... whenever Abhay feels that there is nothing to do, it's  Atlas Anthakshari  to the rescue!!!:-)

 

 

Today as Abhay returned to Bangalore, recalling some of  the memorable  moments of his vacation at Shristi, I read "The Wonderful Vacation" a National Book Trust publication by Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal and illustrated by Hakim Gulam Mohammad. It was winter vacation and the three siblings, Sushil, Sunita and Sagar felt bored sitting at home. Any suggestion of indoor play or outdoor play by their domestic help or their gardener were met with jaded responses. Sagar hits upon an idea as their gardener's further suggestion to make a bouquet out of the garden flowers ... to gift the bouquet to a place where it will be welcomed and loved - an old age home that was located to close to their house. As they visited the old aged home and delighted the inmates with their home made bouquets, the children were surprised to find the inmates content with their bare minimum existence and hardly any entertainment. Touched by the seniors' warmth, the children decide to put up a performance of a play with the assistance of a theatre enthusiast friend and the people of the neighbourhood who also make a charity show out of it, with funds going into buying the old age home a  tape recorder. Suddenly, the children are bursting with ideas and put their heart and soul into creating, experimenting and improvising so as to make the show a grand success.  So it was a turnaround of sorts with what seemed like a dull vacation transformed into a wonderful vacation, with a little bit of imagination, creativity and community spirit. With illustrations inspired from the art of papier machie, this is a touching value based story that seems like a throwback to the times when we were growing up!   So with an open mind and a little imagination....."there's nothing to do" can always turn into "there's so much to do'........isn't it?? .