#8 I voted (for the first time in my life)
On February 21st, 2017, 18 years since I turned 18, for the first time in my life, I voted. It felt good, it felt natural, and it was easy. I walked to the polling station with my father and brother, stood in line, showed my election card, got an indelible mark on my left index finger and finally pressed a button to vote. This simple act told me I was home, home where everything is easy, where you are part of it all, where no questions asked about your participation, your existence, where you belong and your belonging is taken for granted. The electric buzzer that went off when I chose my candidate told me yet again, in a language of its own that I was home.
This simple inclusion of being part of a political process was denied to me for thirteen years when I was living as a “resident alien” — official term for immigrants on temporary visa. And before that I lived away from home and too young (immature) to care about voting et al.
And whom did I vote for?
It was hard. It was a battle between my mind and my heart.
I have spent my formative years in the USA, more familiar with its political parties, and it political processes than of India. So I used the 2016 election to decide whom to vote for.
There is Trump, there is Hillary, and finally there is an fictional independent candidate who is your dream candidate but who would never make it — whom would you vote for?
In my case, it was Mumbai’s civic election. There was Shiv Sena, a fascist party (Trump); BJP, an hindu nationalist party — as described by the English media in India (Hillary, whom I hate as well), and finally an independent candidate who is most educated, most qualified, but completely new to politics.
Shiv Sena has ruled Mumbai for 20 years. And my urge for #NeverTrump overruled my heart, overruled my idealistic desire for an candidate untainted by the dirty, communal, and corrupt political system of India.
I voted for Hillary (BJP).
I came out of the polling booth with the indelible purple ink on my right index finger and a heavy heart. Perhaps I made the same mistake as the Democrats who chose Hillary instead of Bernie because they thought pragmatism trumps idealism — they got Trump.
The poll results are coming out as I type out this essay. BJP and Shiv Sena are neck-to-neck in numbers (Shiv Sena is ahead), but neither of them will gain a majority, perhaps they will form an alliance and rule Mumbai, in which case, I am gonna kick myself; but I might also console myself, I will say to myself: it’s my first time, next time I will do better. Perhaps next time we vote, we will all do better.
