The highway on my way to work was so unlike what it usually is on a Monday morning. All it took me to reach the office today was 30 minutes; obviously Mumbaikars have made the most of tomorrow’s holiday declared to enable them to cast their vote, combined it with the weekend, and have fled the city to cooler climes.

 I don’t think I have encountered any election more low-key than this one.

 How many of you know who your local candidate is? I was up and about the city this weekend and didn’t come across one single campaign anywhere. Possibly it was happening in the innards and not on the main road. That could be one reason I missed it.

 But why blame the people for their lack of interest when the politicians themselves are not exactly behaving like a stick of dynamite?

As a confirmed voter myself the reasons for the public’s apathy are not hard to fathom, and they are what I relate to too. Has anything changed in the city for the better in the last five years? In the last 10 years? In the last 15 years? I know one thing has changed for the better, and that is the assets list declared by the various candidates. Mind you, these lists are by no way comprehensive or final. In most cases, the candidates possess wealth over and above what they have declared, so you can understand the mad rush to contest elections.

Contesting elections is the new reality show for the unwashed masses, with a pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow. It is the new career option for our bright young graduates and others. If you are looking for service to the people, forget it. The politicians’ first aim is self-aggrandisement; if anything gets done for you and me as an offshoot, as something incidental, it’s fine.

Why do you think 35 per cent of Indians are still below the poverty line? It is not because India is poor, or that we don’t have enough resources. Trust me, there is plenty of money which, if it went to those it was meant for, would make poverty a thing of the past. But it is constantly being waylaid by vested interests who have spent crores on winning an election and who need to recoup their investment, siphoned off by politicians who have taken favours from various persons on election-eve and their IOUs need to be honoured.

Our elected representatives and those waiting to be elected are not merely dipping their hand into the till; they have run away with it. If poverty, illiteracy, backwardness were abolished in the country, what will our politicians promise in the elections? Why will we vote for them? Our backwardness maybe a millstone around the nation’s neck but for the politician it represents a Kamdhenu.

Just a day after Nobel Laureate spoke to our Suman Guha Mozumder about the lack of resources in India for supporting research, a situation which he is now changing, came reports of a corruption case registered against Jharkhand politico Madhu Koda. How much assets is he believed to possess? To the tune of Rs 400 crores. And remember, Jharkhand maybe rich in natural resources but it is still a backward state.

And we don’t have money for supporting research, abolishing poverty etc?

Our apathy is because we know the truth about the elections and politicians, but also realise that we cannot change anything. An Adolf D’Souza in the municipal corporation or a Hansel D’Souza in the assembly is hardly going to change things drastically. I always look back at the Rajiv Gandhi era, the promise and premise on which he came into office and how little time it took for the vested interests – against who he had mounted an offensive in 1985 in Mumbai – to co-opt him. Call me a cynic, but I don’t see change happening in my lifetime and yours. Make it widespread, positive change.

But I will still go out and cast my vote tomorrow. Not because I am a better citizen than the person who doesn’t vote; not because my vote is going to usher in positive change, or because of any such high-falutin‘ thought.

I will go out and vote, despite all the cynicism, despite the no-hope situation we are in, because this is the only time for the citizen to show that s/he cares for the country, state, city, locality, street, neighbourhood. If you care too, get your vote out.

This piece appeared on http://saisureshsivaswamy.rediffblogs.com