Sex, Drive and Voting

“1 vote ki kimat tum kya jaano Ramesh Babu?”

Deepika waving her black marked finger into the air proudly while she says this. Well, that would have roused more voters than the ‘visa’ advert. In these on-going elections, the voting percentage has gone up due to 1 main reason: everyone wants voting selfies. But yes, it’s true that the voter turnout has risen and the main reason has been the increased awareness in people to vote and to exercise their fundamental duty.

The reasons don’t matter, unless it’s for the good of our nation. Seeing the largest democracy working hard to provide all the citizens their rights is a feeling of awesomeness. And even though I crib a lot about what goes on, I must say that I’m proud to be an Indian. (Nothing is perfect, is it?)

Not a dot of sarcasm, or even the build up for a story, or even a rhyming verse. Weird that, coming from me. Well, here I begin.

It’s voting day here in Mumbai, and all my family has gone to vote. And why am I not there with them? Yes, it’s sadly true that I’m not voting. Now there is that confusion in your minds- here I am lecturing you about voting, and I myself am not voting. PS: I can’t vote, and due to the fact that I’m not of age. God no!

But well, laws are laws. I’d say that our constitution has the best laws (this is said with a mixture of sarcasm and true patriotism). So let’s talk about some of the best laws of our constitution, and I guess you’ll get my tone as you read on.

Consent age law. This is going to be one of main laws which I shall talk about. Set at 16, this law is one of the best in our constitution, in the ones regarding a minimum age. When this law had declared there was lot of talk, and one of the best tag lines heard at that time was: “Istamal kare fir vishvas kare”.

Empowering the youth and giving them strength has been in all of the manifestos of the on-going elections. So let me ask you a question, and just use your common sense to answer it. Should kids be allowed to have sex before they can make a difference to the nation? Should kids be allowed to have sex before they are allowed to drive? Should kids be allowed to have sex before marriage? The least important, should kids be allowed to have sex before legal consumption of alcohol?

Statements like rape being mistakes of boys have been heard throughout these elections from parties who talk of secularism and divide the nation on the basis of religion. But, isn’t this a good question to ask?

The age of 16-18 is faced with a dilemma each and every time they move out of the house. Let me make this personal, and let me talk about myself. Every time I go out of the house alone, I need to traipse the asphalt or I need to use rickshaws, which would completely take my monthly budget out of hand (not that my parents don’t allow me that luxury). College and then classes together take away a lot of time, and combining that with traveling time just hikes it further. The hassle of traveling does not cease till 18, till when I can ride any bike illegally. Now, I ask why! Isn’t being allowed to drive a necessity in the current world?

Now let’s get down to voting. With shows like The Newshour and all the news channels openly talking about elections and the newspapers being filled with such news as well, shouldn’t the voting age be down to 16, or at least 17. Giving numerous entrance examinations does require the maturity and also the knowledge, and by 17, that is acquired.

I have ranted enough, and these two laws are the ones I stand against, merely because I have been affected by them. On a more practical note, wouldn’t minute changes in these two laws make life a lot easier, and wouldn’t it help to make the country better as well?

As I read this before I post, even I’m shocked that I’ve managed to do an opinionated piece, without any sarcasm. If you’re shocked as well, but I’ve set you thinking, then do post your thoughts at the bottom.

WeChat, WeVote, WeRise

There was a time when people used to rely on meetings to talk with others, even friends. But then technology took everyone by storm, and the scene changed. Alexander Graham Bell’s invention started becoming widespread, and even the common man could use it without the thought of coming up with high costs. Till then, the ones who had large piles of paper with famous leader’s names printed on them had started getting acquainted with the mobile phone and also the internet. Sites started coming up, and the World Wide Web expanded, giving at the same time a notion to its users that it knew everything (apparently it’s not a notion, it’s the truth).

Connections between people began growing, and bonds matured between people. There walks in MySpace and Orkut. *drumroll*

It is said that there was a time when MySpace got more views than Google! Now that’s something new to learn! Closely in line to get to fame came Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and they are now the most trending sites. But this is the picture from just one side. As these sites pulled in more people, phones evolved into smart gadgets as well, and there came the time when phones had to be ultimately designed for humans. Soon, the web got integrated with the mobile phone, and its use from the minute device was feasible and completely easy. Things began getting smooth between them, and invention began.

Facebook has a messenger service and so does Google; and on the other hand Twitter does not allow its udders to interact without the use of the #hashtag. So then walks in Whatsapp, a unique application to allow conversations and the sharing of media as well. Things did not end here when WeChat entered the market, with its different method of using audio messages along with the usual features of normal messaging by using the internet.

Now that’s enough of acting like a know-it-all when I’ve come across all the information by reading across informative sites; but actually, I haven’t copied the whole thing- I did skip some applications!

When this topic came to me, and I felt low, a bit at least. The social networking part wasn’t the bad one, I seriously use a lot of Facebook, and Whatsapp to be undermined by their presence in a topic. The politics and voting thing was the complicated one. So I decided to let some thoughts gather and simmer in a portion of my brain, and I started racking my brain for the other posts coming my way.

Around 25 days after setting the ideas to collect, I opened the lid, expecting the lovely smell of new ideas to float out and right into my nose, but there came none. Frantically in search of an idea, I realized that it was the right thing to happen, considering the fact that I’ve never voted. To be frank, I’m not even of age to qualify as a voter (I’m not even 18), and the only thing I can vote for now are the good posts on Indivine.

Skipping that, we just entered a new year, and we have experienced a new sunrise. This is true in the real sense as well, as the elections are going to take place this year and there is hope that the government will change. The citizens of Delhi already got their bright sun this Saturday when a new leader emerged as the winner. He managed to take the state by storm, and he won people’s hearts his style and charisma honesty and truthfulness.

Well, we are the change which will affect the future, and will decide it as well. It is in our hands to use our power to shape our future. Our nation, India, has a majority of young people, and it is hoped that they will bring us out of the corruption and the lobbying and the other discrepancies our nation has.  But can the youth just take over the nation by force? Can we just overthrow the filthy lobbyists who are filling their pockets from people’s hard earned money?

No, we cannot. There is just one way by which we can bring about this change, legally, and in the right sense without causing a massive violent uproar of an unstable government- voting.

Yes, the elections are near, and we need to take out the selfish bureaucrats who worry about their own earnings than of the happiness of people. For that, we must exercise our right to vote. In seeing the voter turnouts of India for the past years, it can be clearly seen that the percentage has reduced.

So is there any way by which we can motivate the youth to go and use their rights? I believe there is: to promote voting in the population by the use of social applications, especially the ones which the populace, especially the youth, uses on their mobile phones.

There I was, brainstorming about the topic late in the night when I hit upon this idea. Call it coincidence or a signal from a Supreme Being, my mind wandered back to a time some hours before I decided to finish off this article of mine.

Post-dinner, I was watching a film on the television as my thumbs kept moving silently on the touch pad to type messages to some friends. There in the middle of it, Krishna’s message came through, and I still remember the conversation we had.

 

Krishna: Read this and tell how it is: www.krishnachopra.blogspot.com/2014/01/movie-review-dhoom-3.html

Me: Even I don’t promote my posts via Whatsapp!

Krishna: This works always, understood? It’s the first P of marketing. Now go and read, and tell me how it is.

Me: Give me 5 minutes; I’ll get back with it.

So at the same instant, I opened the link and read through the whole post. I didn’t realize it then, but later, I went on to understand that using such social applications on mobiles to send text messages which had slogans and even links would work very well in reality as no person in the current world ignores the vibration or ring of their mobile phone.

Along with this came back another reel which Anil had pushed into my mind when I had mentioned the topic to him.

So Anil used one of the social mobile applications to influence his friend and compelled him to vote. Well, this worked as at least a part of the youth is socially responsible about such affairs, and that is one area where we must feel proud.

After narrating these incidents, and going through them thoroughly, I have realized that there are various other ways of using these applications to stimulate the youth to vote.

The first method which Krishna used was the usage of links and slogans to create awareness about voting in the population. This will also make them realize their responsibility and the part they play in the social world.

Going on to the next method which Anil used blatantly without being scared of a single thing is to disgrace the person who is nonchalant and negligent of the part he has to play in the voting process.

Along with this, there can be the passage of videos which inspire people and give them more information about the voting process and about the vital part they play in the voting process. Audio can also be used to great length to have the same effect as videos.

There is also a slight stigma in society that there is no point in voting for any of the leaders standing tall in the race. The basic idea of people is that their vote will not hold importance if the leader they wish for does not win the seat. To dispose of this thought from people’s minds, the youth can share stories about how their vote made the difference to the decision. The ability to make groups in these applications would work as one of the best boons and people could easily share stories with a large number of people at the same time rather than telling many people differently.

To add to my growing list, I would also like to talk about the usage of profile pictures and statuses to promote voting. This would ensure that every person who goes past the profile would notice the status and would understand the necessity of voting.

Here ends my list, and to conclude I would like to add that as a blogger, and also as a teenager who widely uses social networking applications on the computer as well as the mobile phone, that as we move into the future, the usage of technology expand and a new way for promotions is born. As we see even now, the social networking sites we use on the computer are being available as applications for mobiles.

The usage of those would work as well, and that could involve a larger percentage of the people as well. The posting of images, creation of groups, and also the social passage of a message can be done very fast in this world, and I’m sure this method can work very well to bring out the responsibility of the youth on the social topic of voting.

So here WeGo, WeChat, WeVote and then WeRise

#VoteForIndia

This is my entry for WeChat's Indian General Elections 2014 with Social Mobile Apps Contest on Indiblogger.com