18 days to go till Phase 1 of the 15th General Elections.

Absolute decadence and the vulture’s cry – "Death!" Death to the living… and all the dreams that come here to die…

Varun Gandhi is culpable, so is Narendra Modi, so is L.K. Advani… The Congress Party has been for decades. Two of the biggest states in the Union live in 2009 not realizing that it isn’t 1909 anymore… And all the Socialists have done so far is perpetuate the myth of the ‘glorious’ poverty, so endemic to their vision of the world.

We are a democracy – one that purports to care for the rights and dignities of the individuals who make us up. Where has the idea gone? Or was it all just a recalcitrant dream? We have a few days of terror unleashed on the rich in the City of Dreams, and the news channels tell us it is time to rise up against those who would dare impinge on our leisure. Thousands of people die each year, from starvation, floods, disease and ignorance – they are forgotten sooner than if they were an aberration in the normal course of things. Thousands more die from apathy, seclusion and a sense of their own expendability. Thousands go to the polls on Voting-Day only to be turned back because their magical alter-egos have already exercised their rights for them. This country is not for you, we seem to be saying - it is not for us either, and it definitely isn’t for them. I hear the same words - 'Please be patient, please... it'll all work out in the end.'