CONTINUING THOUGHTS ON DEMOCRACY

Shish: So, yo had been thinking for last few months about democracy. Any outcome?

Naradaa: But who said I had been thinking?

(this is one our ThattuKadada Shish conversations)

Sh: you said it yourself. When we discussed it a few months back, you said we have to think and think. What were you thinking?

N: No. this is a misunderstanding on your part. I said we need to think and think. I didn’t say I was thinking.

Sh: But I think now it is time to start thinking and thinking about it.

N: Why suddenly you want democracy? Earlier, any time I talked about it you were making sarcastic comments about it.

Sh: Yes. But I thought after thinking and thinking you also must have started to make sarcastic comments. A few elections happening around the world – don’t they suggest anything to you?

N: Of course, they suggest that the methodology of practicing democracy should change.

Sh: And what would be the new methodology?

N: that is what we have to think about. If any Tom, Dick and Harry or any Amar, Akber and Antony is allowed to participate in the election in a democracy, we are likely to get an unsuitable candidate.

Sh: What do you mean by unsuitable?

N: Well, to start with, the majority thinks he / she unsuitable. Then the majority elects him/her as suitable. Then many say that it is crazy that the result has come this way. We have seen provincial elections, national elections etc., in places considered to be the some of the biggest democracies in the world. So how can we jump into this without thinking?

Sh: I do not know what to keep thinking and thinking. I think you should stop thinking and start going for some action.

N: See, this where inaction also becomes an action. Right now my action would be ‘do nothing’.

Sh: So, you are thinking of scrapping the iidea of democracy in NA?

N: No, no….. First of all, we have to define what democracy is and what kind of democracy we need, no? If the democracy turns into a majority autocracy, what is the use of having it?

Sh: But how can we say majority autocracy. The people choose a party through elections and authorize them to rule us. Naturally they will decide what kind of life people should have. And you know one can’t please everybody.

N: These are all arguments one give to justify what is going on. At NA, Naradaa’s Abode, we should be able to do better than that. We want to first redefine what democracy is. And what is the methodology to practice Thaat is why we have to keep thinking and find a perfect system.

Sh: You think it is something like what they call DRS in cricket? Someone says you should not implement it unless it is perfect. Someone says we should just implement it and let it become perfect by itself.

N: That is also one of the thought. Implement it and allow the decisions to be Trumped by a third umpire or to be Modified as things go along. Anyway let me think and think.