The Hullabaloo at LBSNAA
If you think civil servants are civil, think again. That certainly was not true in first week at the academy. Along with our hectic first week, we also had our elections, and elections we had.
The thing started with vying for a cream post, that’s called President, Mess Committee (PMC). I do not know if it really is a great post or the candidates were attracted by the promise that PMC may be able to escort all dignitaries who come at LBS; but many people started coming in the forefront.
And the person who tells you that it’s the participation that matters must have lost the game. So the contestants (for all posts, not only PMC) started leaving no stones unturned in ensuring their victory.
No stone unturned is a euphemism for starting all kinds of lobbying. This candidate is from north, this from Maharashtra, that one is Telugu and so on. The only thing they forgot was just a day before they had taken the oath of serving the country without having biases of caste, religion, region etc.
So, first there was order. I mean there were few candidates and they tried to have a consensus who should contest; then more arrived with their aspirations. The order turned into a chaos. And then people started lobbying.
But in this hard game, the poor voter was pulled from various lobbies. When many candidates bugged him with their manifestos and promises, he decided to do what was right. That is to vote on his own, not on being a part of a lobby. I do not claim that the candidates who won were the best. But then I can see that most attempts of lobbying failed, ‘mostly’ for all the posts.
That’s the power of democracy. It can create order out of chaos. It has the power to take care of aberrations. When the voters are pulled by various factions, they decide to do what they think is right. I ‘hope’ what they did here was right.
If our PMC is reading this, ensure that our mess bill comes down, as you are projected as the right candidate :P (Just to tell my readers, we give more than one third of our meagre salary as mess expenses)
PS: Like all my views, this article is colored by my perspective, so I do not claim this to be the truth. And yes, forgot to tell you, I won for a small post too :)
6 comments:
Hi Anurag ,
I would rate this entry as one of the best from u r blog and place this on par with ‘The Male Dance Begins’ ‘The Date’ Etc.
Starting on shaky path after entering into LBSNAA, u have managed to regain u r sense of humour. Democracy has the power to create order out chaos. Really great.
Coming to u r PMC elections, I think the issue of caste, religion, region are intrinsic to the psyche of most Indians. I think one requires a lot of conviction and maturity to get over this. But what is surprising is that young bureaucrats who are supposed to develop an all India character are unable to get over these things. But u r young and by the time u finish u r training hopefully things will change.
And as usual u have left some questions unanswered to keep us guessing. Yes we do want to know to which 'small' post u have got elected. And why u have not contested for PMC. Of course u r at liberty to either answer or keep silent . Are physique and age
extra rational factors which determine ones standing. u seem to be very short and also very young.
But anyhow great going Anurag . Keep up the momentum
this is interesting man,
i believe u need to tell me more..
u r reigniting the passions inside me ..
the placement fever had just blanketed me , i feel i need to throw it off and come out in the open .. this is good!!!!
@Hari: Thanks for the appreciation, it keeps me going :)
I too hope that things will change when we get out, but I feel in desperation people here tried certaion regional cards, but they failed. I pray this turns out to be true for Indian voters too.
The small post I won was Secretary, HAM club. The truth is I had no tough competition. I had no aspirations to enter politics that was required for PMC. Also had I won, it would have become difficult to write blogs :P
Well I am not 'very' short , I am 5' 6" and 24+ so not that young :)
@Rahul: I can say this with conviction that a job as a civil servant is much more satisfying than in private sector, but the thing required is passion. So keep working hard, you will make it.
Hmm Your observation is partly neutral. But i wish u to state that what a poor voter will do if he knows no one other than his state guy who approaches and talk to him often and no other candidates aproaches him. Will it be a case of Regionalism?
@Jawa: You have a point. But then there were those canvassing sessions in the auditorium. An ideal voter should have listened to the manifestos and then decided.
But I agree that real democracy is different from ideal democracy and at LBS this could have been attributed to the short time in which elections were conducted.
Very candidly written Anurag ! Cheers ! So apt you would not be having time to write blog otherwise . As a civil servant start youn to filter religion race & region out of Indian psyche . Ameen !
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