From New York to Goa, executive flies down for every vote

PANAJI: Since Navendu Shirali relocated to the US a decade ago, he has made six trips back home to Goa so that he doesn’t miss out on his right and duty as a citizen of India: Vote.

Navendu, 36, is now based in New York. But while many citizens simply choose to take elections as a holiday and abstain from voting, the management professional has not missed an election since he was eligible to vote in 1999. Since then, he worked for 10 years with Infosys in Bengaluru and then moved base to Belgium and the US, each time making it a point to return home and cast his vote.

The Dona Paula resident will return to New York once he casts his vote at the parliamentary elections on Tuesday.

“In my mind, we cannot crib about the system, if we don’t do our fundamental duty as a citizen. Every citizen has two duties—one is to vote and the other is to ask questions about the ones who we vote for,” Navendu told TOI on Monday.

On Tuesday, when Goa votes to choose its two representatives to the Lok Sabha, Navendu will line-up outside the polling booth in the city first thing in the morning.

More than a formality, it’s a duty that remains sacred to him, although he admits his own cousins don’t care to vote if they are outside the city on election day.

“India is a vibrant democracy but the quality of our politicians lets us down. The type of content that goes out of the country about our politicians is sad. This is in sharp contrast to the talent that we produce in other sectors.

“The problem with Indian politics is that the top talent goes to corporate, the next top become government officers, rest do family business, while the least get into politics. Our supply line in politics is very poor. We need a new batch of politicians, but whoever wants to get into politics is put off by how people choose their representatives,” said Navendu, who was “brainwashed” into voting for a certain party when he was young, but eventually learnt to make his own choice.

Navendu has been a voter of the Panaji assembly constituency and repeatedly asked questions of his legislator, Manohar Parrikar, until 2014 when he took over as Union defence minister. Until his death last month, Parrikar was “open and engaged in conversation”.

Rescheduling meetings and making the long trip home doesn’t come easy.

“For this trip alone, I had to reschedule a lot of my meetings with clients. The voting percentage in the US is low, so many of them find it funny that I go all the way (home in India) to vote. But there are others who respect me,” said Navendu.

Back home, his parents are happy to see him, although they too cannot understand his obsession with something that many take for granted.

“They feel I prioritise voting over other important things. There have been issues in the past when I have not travelled. I need to strike a balance. I am just too passionate about this,” he said.