DEMO.... DEMON.... DEMONCRACY...

‘Oh, so you have come back!’ Shish greeted me warmly as I entered TKS (ThattuKada Shish – for the uninitiated).

‘How can I not come back? How long can I stay away from your ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ kind of dosas?’

‘So what is new?’

‘Yeh, this time I have seen democracy and elections at really close quarters! Not only from one place –‘

‘So you learnt something new? What did you learn?'

‘Learn? You ask me, what I have been almost forced to unlearn….. Our mathematics teacher used to teach us that everything in the world works on logic. So, the first thing to unlearn was there is no such thing as logic. At least not in democracy.’

‘How can you say that? It is really not the problem of democracy. It is the politics everywhere that makes the democracy look like demoncracy.’ Shish protested.

‘Yeh, but it is the politics that rule democracy. Not the other way…’

‘You mean….?’

‘Yes, I mean the democracy should rule politics. The politics should be built on democratic principles… But what I have seen is the democracy is being built on political principles - or rather, nonpriciples...’

‘You were talking about logic’

‘Yeh…. Where is the logic these days? One candidate says before the election that he will accept the verdict only if he wins. The opposing candidate and part of public mocked the first candidate. Then for some reason, or for no reason, the first candidate goes and wins. Any logic? Then the second candidate doesn’t accept the result. Where is the logic?’

‘But these things happen in democracy…’

‘They should not, no? Look at another scenario. Arch rivals till yesterday will come together before the election to win. But a few months later, they will split again…’

‘You are presenting a very gloomy picture….’

‘Even within the same party there are always fights. So long as there is a strong man or woman holding them together, they won’t fight. But the moment something happens to him or her, the fight will resurface. With no..o..o… logic!’

‘But why do you want to look at only the dark side of it?’

‘Because I was not able to see any bright side this time. Fist fights, breaking tables, chairs and microphones in the assembly…… do you want to hear more? It is really a demo of demoncracy…’

‘My goodness!’

‘So, forget democracy for the time being… Let us get those divine dosas…..’