Dance of Democracy

So it is election time once again, and this time around I get to make a difference.
But, before we begin the the usual cliches of 'How true power lies in the hands of the masses', 'How politicians have ruined this nation' and 'How politics is a profession and not social service' lets look at things from a different angle.

Therefore without much further ado we present:
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The 15th General Elections Pop Quiz

Maximum Marks: 100 Passing Marks: 35
Maximum Time: 30 min

Additional Notes: This is a closed notes, closed book and closed internet examination.

1. Do you have a Voter's Card? (2 marks)
2. Have you checked your serial number in the electoral rolls? (5 marks)
3. Where is the polling booth where your name appears? (5 marks)
4. When does your constituency go to polls? (3 marks)
5. Name your Loksabha Constituency? (10 marks)
6. Name your Legislative Assembly Constituency? (5 marks)
7. How many candidates have registered from your constituency?
(10 marks for exact answer, 7 for +-2, 5 for +- 5, 0 otherwise)
8. How many of these are independents?
(5 marks for exact answer, 3 for +-5, 0 otherwise)
9. Can you name 5 political parties contesting your constituency?
(10 marks for 5, 5 for 4, 0 for 3/2, -5 otherwise)
10. Can you name any 5 candidates from your constituency?
(15 marks for 5, 10 for 4, 5 for 3, 0 otherwise)
12. Can you name atleast 1 independent?
(5 marks)
13. How many candidates have convictions or have been accused in criminal cases from your constituency?
(10 marks for exact number, 5 for +- 1, 0 otherwise)
14. Have you read the actual text of any of the election manifestos?
(15 marks for 3 or more, 10 marks for 2, 5 marks for 1, 0 otherwise)

End of Quiz
(Best of Luck)
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I really dont know whether all the contestants from my constituency are qualified to govern, but I do know that I barely managed to pass when asked whether I was fit to vote. So the next time you decide to pass the buck to your neighbourhood errant, apathectic politician do ask yourself am I any different?

Signing off,
Lok Sabha Constituency Number: 30
Legislative Assenbly Constituency Number: 181
Voter List Number: 170
Serial Number: 418

And we're back!

In the last 2 days 8 chats on Gtalk began with "whats new?"
"Nothing much" I meekly replied. Thats when I decided to do something about it.

Unfortunately given that my exams just got over and coupled with the fact that I am exceptionally lazy, there was precious little I was willing to do. As always things have a way of working out and an old friend pointed very politely pointed out I have a blog. So it was posting time.

Thats when it occured to me that I had changed my email id. Yup after 5 years 2.9979245e8@gmail.com (Ya I know its wrong by 8 m/s but what the heck) had lost some of its charm. I had to shift this blog to the more sober chiraag.juvekar@gmail.com. Luckily I had already ruined a nice afternoon typing balderdash into the google accounts password box in a desperate bid to recollect the password my mind refused to remember. So armed with the password that I had recovered after a notable 23 attempts I set out refurbish this dying blog-space.

"So what's new?" you ask, is it?
A new theme for the tasteful lot.
A new name to lift the curse of eternal damnation.
A decent address that I did manage to find. (Well awgn.blogspot.com is being squatted by some random chinese guy)
And a not so well thought out resolution to post atleast once a week.