Though the NDA allies have won a sweeping victory in Maharashtra, there’s still a sense of unease all over the state. Hardly any firecrackers went off on the day of the results, and victory celebrations have been low key and with not much publicity.
It’s as if winners feel the cup will soon be taken away from them.
I decided to do my own little bit of investigation, and in my very vivid imagination went into one of the households where a husband was looking at his wife suspiciously. “Did you really vote for the candidate I told you to vote for, or did you vote for somebody else?” he asks dubiously.
“Why do you ask husband?” asks the wife sweetly, “Don’t you trust me?”
“You have a weakness for rich men,” says the husband, “I remember you did have a small liking for our neighbour who used to buy trinkets for you!”
“And do you think, someone bought me cheap trinkets and made me vote for them?” asks the wife even more sweetly, as the husband slams the door and walks out, and as she slowly opens her bank pass book and sees the one thousand five hundred rupees that has steadily been coming in from the just elected government.
“This time my trinkets are coming from your purse itself, dear husband,” she whispers, “From the taxes you pay to the government.” And as she laughs, other women throughout the state laugh with her, as their bank accounts increase, and as the wallets of their husbands shrivel in size.
I move to where the EVM machines are kept. They have finished their work and look exhausted. “It’s been a tough election for us,” one of them tell me, “We are used to a particular routine, but this time, we are a shaken bunch!”
“How’s that?” I ask, again in my imagination.
“Not only are the losers looking at us in surprise, but this time the poll winners are also looking at us with even more astonishment, “One winner has already publicised us as better than Houdini the magician and is calling us, “The great Indian Poll Trick!”
“That must be hurting you all quite a bit!” I said sympathetically.
“Not really,” said the EVM spokes-machine, “I do believe we have magical powers to make winners losers and losers winners, but then we’re doing this for the good of the people!”
“Good of the people?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes, we know the Indian voter is still not mature enough to elect the right person, so we do the needful for him!”
I jerk myself back to reality and shake myself out of my vivid imagination, but even as I come back to earth, I can still hear the sound of women laughing, and the EVM machines guffawing as if sharing a joke.
Like I said, it’s an uneasy Maharashtra..!
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
