The politics of paper

My deepest sympathies are with all candidates expecting to seek a term in this year's JNUSU elections. Since the time I have returned, there is a knock almost every hour on my door, some girls out to convince me to join a mashaal juloos (I hate this term thanks to my Education and Society Professor) or a talk charting out their party agenda. I was courteous for a while but finally lost my cool and have a 'No campaigns please' notice stuck on my door. That is not the end of it though. Every meal time is flustered with pamphlets and flyers about different candidates. Tonight I sat there munching on my paneer bhurji and it was only a matter of time before a group showed up. I did the usual -- nodded, said 'yes, yes' and promised to have a read of their agenda. Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to be politically educated because if true democracy is to exist then we need to exercise our voting rights. I have already made up my mind on who to vote for on election day. Why I say I have my sympathies with the candidates is because not even fifty percent of what they are trying to say will register with the students. Reason: There is just too much information being crammed back-to-back on a single A4 paper! 

I remember my dad telling me last month that whenever he went for these national level meetings he tried his best to sum up major points in three to four bullet points. Instead of reiterating the age-old issues of no connectivity, neglect etc. that the N.E. states are famously known to rant about, we sat down that day, father and daughter duo, working on a single page and trying to be as concise as possible. At the end of our labour, both of us felt we had done a good job but we were far from it. Turns out, dad had to pass his agenda on to a senior and our neatly typed words were narrated minus punctuations, emphasis or proper pronounciations, leaving no room for the listeners to make something of it. So when I look at these black and whites strewn all over the dining table, corridors and campus I wish they could cut to the chase and lay it out there clean and simple. One, two, three... as precise as that.

Politics is just way beyond my understanding sometimes.