The Day After…

… the Great BMC Election Circus or Mela, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Or in this case, you could actually get paid for taking part in this Mela. While my office had a working day it was a public and bank holiday, which translated to emptier roads and a shorter drive to my workplace, one of the simple pleasures of living and loving in Asia’s largest slum.

The papers today talk of the disappointing turnout - the floods of 2006 should have translated to more people coming out in their view? Why? Because the people demand accountability. Should we believe that the flood has made the corporators more accountable? Hmmmm, I’m naive but not so gullible, the Bombayite seems to have responded, and so we’ve seen a 46% turnout, a marginal increase since the previous election.

The experience of casting my vote left me bemused, and my left index finger looking like it had been smashed. I wasn’t asked for any identification at all, though I’d carried two different documents along for safety. In and out in about 3-minutes flat. The neighboring booth had a longer queue, perhaps the people from my ward were the not-gullible types.

At the time of this posting, the saffron-combine was celebrating their return to power. The pensive SS rebel is going to have a lot of time on his hands to ponder. And the city continues to ride its super-saturated local trains to nowhere. How about some Bombay spirit anyone? Give me some Bombay duck with a good beer anytime, anything else is way besides the point.