Spice of Life: Elections, a celebration of democracy to be savoured

My afternoon lethargy and apprehension gave way to instant happiness. I couldn’t believe my ears! The Prime Minister of India had replied to my innocuous letter.

The interest and enthusiasm generated by the poll campaigns in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana took me back to 1989 when I voted for the first time as an eager and opinionated 18-year-old.

What prompted me to write to the Prime Minister? Well, it was the faith that this was “my government” and the belief that the government would listen to one of its voters. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

I am distinctly reminded of a lazy June afternoon when the ‘dakiya (postman)’, near-extinct nowadays, knocked at our door with a rather puzzled look.

“Kaka, tera naam Gulbahar Singh Sidhu hai? (Is your name Gulbahar Singh Sidhu?),” he asked. When I replied in the affirmative, he looked even more surprised. Continuing to stare at my slender frame and thin beard, he said, “Tuhade naam di registry aayee hai Prime Minister Office ton. Sukh taan hai? (There is a registered letter addressed to you from the Prime Minister’s Office. I hope all is well).”

My afternoon lethargy and apprehension gave way to instant happiness. I couldn’t believe my ears! The Prime Minister of India had replied to my innocuous letter.

That year, I was awarded the National Talent Search Scholarship and it was also in 1989 when the opposition alliance stormed to power with Vishwanath Pratap Singh as the Prime Minister. The first vote of my life was for the coalition that formed the government.

I had written to the newly elected Prime Minister that certificates for the National Talent Search Scholarship exam should be handed over at a specially organised event in New Delhi by the PM on the lines of a similar event held every year in the United States. The Prime Minister had thanked me for the suggestion and had promised to look into the matter in the time to come.

Thirty-five years have gone by and now I look at this incident from a different perspective. What prompted me to write to the Prime Minister? Well, it was the faith that this was “my government” and the belief that the government would definitely listen to one of its voters.

Isn’t this an example of democracy living in the heart and soul of our country’s citizens? All of us have read the definition of democracy as “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. My decision to write to the Prime Minister is an apt example of this definition of democracy, which even the quintessential textbooks of civics would not explain in their chapters.

Democracy is a way of life in our country and elections are the celebration of democracy that we should all savour.

The writer is a Jalandhar-based psychiatrist and can be reached at gulbaharsidhu@rediffmail.com.