The elections are over. The fate of 20 in Kerala is electronically sealed and imprinted in a piece of paper. The wait is long, but it certainly is worth it – both for the voter and for the voted. The analysis, accusations, forecasts, predictions, expectations and suspense will hang in the air for a few weeks more.
The situation this time in Kerala was rather unique. The time that was made available to the candidates and their respective political parties were relatively short. The coffers also shrank. The misshapen currency carry-bags were seen less often, not that it was unseen. The voters were much better informed and more than everything, Digital India took over the conventional and archaic ones. The change, it seems, is for the better.
Kerala which has always been swaying like a pendulum of an ancient chronometer showed signs of slowing down, the sways become less prominent and a propensity to stop right in the middle is becoming visible! The massive bob is now trying to reach the equilibrium and the pivot carrying the massless rod is wearing off. The oscillation, the people know has to be arrested. To take a step forward, one has to stop, take a breath – a deep and long one – and take a humble, but confident step forward. Kerala is ready.
We need no pendulum clocks. The multifunctional palm-held device which is controlled by microchips and transistors give out more than just the sense of time. The place of those instruments which used to measure time, though inaccurately need to be either stowed in a building where objects of historical, scientific or artistic value is exhibited or in a room where experiment, research or teaching take place.
Enfranchisement was the biggest social transformation that happened since the Sapiens usurped power over other species. The decision to give every man the same right to decide on his destiny is seen as the biggest victory of the present day civilisation. However, the seat of might got transformed too! The physical strength is no longer the touchstone. Hard work was savagely pilloried by smart work. The role was reversed, the persecuted became the persecutors. We will still have to find solace in the maxim, rather circumspectly, coined by Herbert Spencer, more than a century ago – “survival of the fittest”! Maybe, life as always is a game of matching pennies!
This has to change, and change is around the corner. To breach, we need intervention, and it has to be ratiocinative. The use of power is inevitable in every battle. The only question is are we ready? Ready to fight the Leviathan which is detrimental to all but few in the corridors of power? As the last man in the proverbial queue, it is time that we use a lot more of the grey matter that lies unused, encased in the cranium!
Rise and Shine, my fellow citizens, rise above the consciousness of religious identities and embrace the national identity that will make us bond together. We have it in us to breach those man-made barriers of belief systems and unite for the betterment of Bharat, a nation that thrived in its abundance of every resource. Throw that “ism” away from your life, break those shackles, liberate yourself and realisation will follow.
The eternal optimist in me is absolutely sure that the winds of change have started blowing in the God’s Own Country. When the EVMs tallies the digits against each name, the declaration of a new phase in the history of Kerala will happen. From now on there will be slowing down that pendulum which swayed constantly from left to right and from right to left. At last, there is bob suspended on the string will slow and eventually stop its oscillation.
Get ready to welcome a brand new Kerala, a truly nationalist one.
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