The parliamentary election process in India goes on for over a month in different phases across the country.
Last Thursday was ours in Bangalore. Our offices had given us the day off. The booths are crowded in the mornings, so we had a leisurely start to the day, had lunch, then took off to the booth to vote.
My daughter had come with us the last time, for the local elections. She was really kicked by the whole idea, and had dressed up in “important clothes”, her school sports uniform to be precise. However, she wasn’t allowed beyond a point in the booth, nor was she given the little indelible ink mark on her finger. She was also put off by the fact that the whole process, which seemed super important to her, was done and dusted in 10 minutes flat. We had to face down a mini-tantrum then.
This time around, the policeman outside the booth waved her in with a smile. She was excited and anxious to be there, and it showed. The polling office asked her what’s wrong, to which she gave a nervous “nothing” in reply. Finally, as I went in to vote, I asked the lady who inked my finger whether my daughter could get one too, and she happily obliged.
So it was, that at the end of the day, we had a lovely photo where all three of us are posing in a nice “election selfie”. Definitely one for the family album ;)
Image Courtesy Element5 Digital at Pexels