Voting Season

BENGALURU:  Years ago, in one of the Calvin & Hobbes strips, a regular theme of polls and voting started. It typically starts with Calvin looking all serious with a pen and a notepad, talking to a parent about how the ratings stood and what the polls indicated about the approval ratings of the parent.

In question. Usually, there are specific feedbacks and instructions on how to improve the poll rating should the parent not want to be changed. The parent listens to all that and finally declares that parenthood was not an elected position and it was a parent-for-life kind of deal, leaving Calvin in quite a fix.

On May 10, all of Karnataka will go to the polls to see who will form the next government here. Amidst all the hectic campaigning, whether it is a huge open vehicle procession across the city’s arterial roads or an idli, vadae and coffee shared with delivery partners at one of the iconic open-air restaurants in the heart of the city and then going off on a bike ride with a delivery partner, or just registering as a candidate and having well-wishers campaign silently door to door, it is a moment of reckoning for all the suitors.

For once, the people have a voice and the power to show who matters and who falters.

We rarely get to do that in a relationship unless we make it a habit to bring such a practice of checking back. We can change governments pretty easily every few years, but in matters of the heart, especially when it is a relationship that has been legally recognised and/ or socially acknowledged, we don’t seem to think we have the voice or the vote, not unless it comes to a cliffhanger of sorts where the relationship is itself at stake.

Even if we think like Calvin’s parents in the cartoon strip and assert that the relationship is a forever scenario, it is useful to listen to the feedback. The polls and the votes may have their biases, but the voice matters.

If you are in love and want to keep the relationship going, then why not seek a vote of confidence every now and then? Of course, just like nobody wants a public election every other weekend, perhaps here too, we could look at a polling of the parties involved in the relationship every few months? If our politicians asked for feedback, took it seriously and acted to make our relationship better, then we would be reelecting them all the time, with or without the rigamarole of a campaign, would we not?

Same thing holds true for love and relationships as well. If we take a dip-stick survey of sorts on where we are with each other and what we can do to keep the relationship exciting for everyone, would we not reaffirm our connection over and over?

Relationships are built on performance. The promises we make to each other, and how we keep them, matter. In that respect, we are all constantly seeking reelection.

BENGALURU:  Years ago, in one of the Calvin & Hobbes strips, a regular theme of polls and voting started. It typically starts with Calvin looking all serious with a pen and a notepad, talking to a parent about how the ratings stood and what the polls indicated about the approval ratings of the parent. In question. Usually, there are specific feedbacks and instructions on how to improve the poll rating should the parent not want to be changed. The parent listens to all that and finally declares that parenthood was not an elected position and it was a parent-for-life kind of deal, leaving Calvin in quite a fix. On May 10, all of Karnataka will go to the polls to see who will form the next government here. Amidst all the hectic campaigning, whether it is a huge open vehicle procession across the city’s arterial roads or an idli, vadae and coffee shared with delivery partners at one of the iconic open-air restaurants in the heart of the city and then going off on a bike ride with a delivery partner, or just registering as a candidate and having well-wishers campaign silently door to door, it is a moment of reckoning for all the suitors.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); For once, the people have a voice and the power to show who matters and who falters. We rarely get to do that in a relationship unless we make it a habit to bring such a practice of checking back. We can change governments pretty easily every few years, but in matters of the heart, especially when it is a relationship that has been legally recognised and/ or socially acknowledged, we don’t seem to think we have the voice or the vote, not unless it comes to a cliffhanger of sorts where the relationship is itself at stake. Even if we think like Calvin’s parents in the cartoon strip and assert that the relationship is a forever scenario, it is useful to listen to the feedback. The polls and the votes may have their biases, but the voice matters. If you are in love and want to keep the relationship going, then why not seek a vote of confidence every now and then? Of course, just like nobody wants a public election every other weekend, perhaps here too, we could look at a polling of the parties involved in the relationship every few months? If our politicians asked for feedback, took it seriously and acted to make our relationship better, then we would be reelecting them all the time, with or without the rigamarole of a campaign, would we not? Same thing holds true for love and relationships as well. If we take a dip-stick survey of sorts on where we are with each other and what we can do to keep the relationship exciting for everyone, would we not reaffirm our connection over and over? Relationships are built on performance. The promises we make to each other, and how we keep them, matter. In that respect, we are all constantly seeking reelection.