"Dad, give me a short and crisp account of the voting scenario in India, how the trends have been, who's leading and by what margin, who should ideally rule the country.....and please please keep it short" - The 'nonchalance' spoke.
"Why this sudden intrusiveness? I did try to drag you to the voting booth...you never reciprocated...." - It goes without saying that dad was quite startled at this sudden 'burst of breviloquent interrogation'.
"Dad, I JUST want to know why is these hashtags #UPA3, #PMPressMeet, Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi and #AAP trending on twitter today...could you PLEASE throw some light? - The cretinous teen sounded desperate for the first time.
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The Ballot Battle: The Modern Day scenario, the typical laid back (youth) mindset... |
"I am oblivious about the twitter trends, but I certainly know that this country is heading no-where, especially when the youth believes in adopting to shortcuts....." - Dad did manage to hit those right marks with this statement. Shortcut is a momentary redemption.
"Dad!!! Please, not today...I already in a soup seeing such a tweet-centric-comparison-stitched-by @AdvancedMaushi - 'Press Guy: Why is Alok Nath trending on twitter? MMS: It will be disastrous to have Modi as PM' ...I really don't understand the mentality" - The 'in-cognizance' spoke.
"So this is the only tweet that you read? Didn't you shuffle through today's newspaper that depicted quite a sweeping perspective with the headlines - Query for query, AAP crosses the first hurdle...that actually spoke about Kejriwal's 'Common man' centric speech? I bet you didn't"- Dad was right on the money yet again. The Generation X, as the apt coronation reads, is more concerned about the twisted face of reality, than the backbone itself.
"On come on dad, I decided to send in a campy tweet like 'Kya AAP ke toothpaste me namak hai' but then, somebody retweeted the same quoting Gandhi-ji's reference. I mean what is wrong with the democrats?" - There again, the logical disconnect reflected out of his shielding statement.
"Hahaha, hilarious really! You people know how to snatch that bit of 'gravity' out of every discussion...have you read about Jaitley's point of view? What is this scrutiny all about? And of course do you have a crystal clear viewpoint of the concept that revolves around 'People's Democracy'? You did use the word democrat alright...." - It was very evident that every possible word was being analysed.
"Dad!! Come on...I did read out the Indian Express' opinion that said that AAP's achievements in Delhi are remarkable,but not unusual or unprecedented as they are being made out to be...I am not that ignorant and in-fact I have read all those columns which say that there is a looming change in the air....." - The statement was as callow in sync with his 'technical infancy' ...it was pretty much evident that whatever he said was either inveigled or swayed. Such shallow levels of 'expertise' is pernicious, perhaps inadvertence is a better prospect. Make no mistake, the youth, yes my friend... is the harbinger, they are ones to take the legacy forward, they are ones with fresh, undaunted ideas...they are the ones who could raise their voice for a cause to eradicate the last bit of nepotism and venality from the face of the humanity. They cannot, simply cannot, sit back and relax.
"If you are so responsive with respect to this 'balloting exercise', why on Earth didn't you VOTE?" - Yes, dad was right, it's equally important to be a "Doer" and of course, not merely a 'Thinker' or even a "Speaker". Implementation has to follow.
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Voter analysis: Courtesy |
"Well yes, of course...there is a difference between advocacy and audacity...you know what, this is the only reason why there's such low impetus on teen-votes, if I use this term. And considering the fact that your cricket match is of more importance that exercising your own right, I am sure lamenting at a later stage won't be of much use....and BY THE WAY, I thought that you people had 'shortcuts' in this direction as well, these shortcuts should be efficacious, isn't it?" -Pearls of wisdom indeed. He had a bright effulgence in his eyes...yes, it not just a mere denunciation, he had new-flanged ideas....there was 'zing' in his voice.
"Dad, what do you mean? Are you talking about leveraging technology in enhancing the sophistication of the process? Please tell me more about it....it's to help me immensely in the XAT examination, the essay and current affairs to be precise...." - This is, he made more sense though..but again, the outcome driven psyche expressed itself predominantly. The information-seeking tendency is more of a 'need' rather than 'will'. Sigh.
"Haha! There's my boy! But since you brought the XAT examination into the picture, let me tell you, the main reason why they included the general awareness section along-side vocabulary, decision-making and maths is because of a bitter experience back in 2008 I presume....almost 80 percent of the PI qualified candidates didn't have any idea of the socio-economic-and-political scenario of the country...leave aside the 'developing a point-of-view' aspect. Using a voter's id card merely for the purpose of authentication is really ignominious. And yes, since mentioned technology, yes, why not? When the smartphone or the sleek tablet has become such an intrinsic part of your life....why not get a push-and-vote option embedded in there? - The 'techie-essence' was emulating indeed...dad has been an application developer for the last 5 years or so, he is always on the look out, tickling the compass....figuring out complex algorithms to make it 'simpler' for us. He has even devised a self-controlled security system at home garnished with the sophisticated micro-controllers that triggers an alarm right on-to our mobile phones whenever there's alien infiltration; leveraging mobile technology has been the crux of his research as well. In short, a genius!
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The Ballot Battle: The envisaged m-Voting centric view-points...the salient features... |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: That's the WeChat Mobile Application interface |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Connecting like minded people in groups... |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Creating circles to confer & reciprocate... |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Apps are a youth heart-throb, the newness.. |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Loads of effective in-built weapons to utilize |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Shake the World, Inflict a Change.... |
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Social Mobile Apps to facilitate Voting: Explore and do not 'drift' away in the flow... |
"One last question, Sir....don't you think there should be a common platform to connect young voters from across the country? Your views?" - That was an interesting question, I reckon.
"Haha! You mean a certain Votestagram? Votebook? Votesapp? Hey Developers!! Are you listening??" - He chuckled.
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The Ballot Battle: The envisaged vote-centric applications to form a platform of it's own |
"Of course you can"...He calmly replied..."But you have to spread the message...discuss, brain-storm, reciprocate and of course at the end of the day..You HAVE TO VOTE!"
"Of course I will....in-fact, dad, I have already started the process. Wanna see? :D" - The exuberance of youth spoke for itself.
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Interact and express.... |
* The cartoons and illustrations have also been created by me and shouldn't be copied or reproduced without permission...please click on the individual pictures for a better view of the text associated in the speech bubbles.
* All the photographs (except the stats graph, courtesy mentioned) used in this blog have been clicked through my lens and should not be copied / reproduced in any form without my permission. © Sammya Brata Photography
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The Ballot Battle: And make sure that you exercise your vote...it's your right, yes you are RIGHT! |
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