The Drawing Room Revolutionary

“Stop honking will you.” Aditya sneered as the driver of the car behind him was hell bent on deafening others with his high decibel car horn. Aditya was caught in yet another traffic jam. He looked around and tried to figure out the problem. The root of this jam was quite obvious. The road width was just enough to accommodate a fluent traffic but then Munna automobile repair and spare, Pyaasa Juice Corner, Akbar Mutton Roll Hut, Bajrangi Chaat stall, Sunny fast food center and a lot of their brethren too had their claims on the road. Too make the things worse, the no. of cars had increased considerably and the poor road built years before, was bound to crumble under the wheels of the ever increasing number of the i10s, Ikons, Scorpios and the ubiquitous Marutis. “Why don’t they do anything about it?” he spewed out along with a few four letter unmentionables.

After a couple of kilometers he took a left turn to leave the busy road and the huge swarm of vehicles with it. He took a sigh of relief, changed the gear and started accelerating. Just before he was about to thank God, he yelled “Holy shit”, as his car had just jumped over a nasty pothole right in the middle of the street. “When are they going to repair this bleeding road?” was all he could spare in the praise of the lovely dimple present on the face of that smiling street.
Finally, he reached his home where his wife was waiting with some guests in the neatly decorated drawing room of his house.
“Welcome, Adi…we all were waiting for you”, his wife, Divya, chuckled.
“Hey, Amit and Shreya…nice to see you, I didn’t know you were here.” He wanted to exclaim with joy but all he could manage was a faint and fatigued smile.
“Yeah Adi, it’s an off for Amit tomorrow, so we thought to see you guys.” Shreya smiled as she replied.
“Doing a lot of work these days, buddy…is next appraisal round the corner?” Amit asked, pointing at the clock.
“Ohh..no..no that is not the case. It’s that creepy traffic jam which eats my day,” Aditya looked at his wrist watch, “almost two hours today.”
“Ya..dude..the traffic of this city is in deep shit. I don’t know why anyone isn’t paying attention to it. Our leaders are too busy with the ‘issues of national importance’.” Amit added as they both placed themselves comfortably on the sofa.
“I’ll prepare some snacks for you”, Divya sensed that the discussion was heading towards politics so she preferred to head towards the kitchen and signaled Shreya to accompany her.
“Don’t call them leaders. They are just politicians who are too involved in politics. They have no time for governance.” Aditya fired.
“Even the bureaucrats! All they care is to please the party in power. No one is doing anything. I sometimes wonder who is responsible for all this.”
“Actually, it’s the illiterate junta of this country which is responsible. They vote these reckless leaders into power and then we all suffer.”
“Yeah…I agree but you can’t help it. This is India and we have a democracy and in democracy it’s the majority which matters.”
“I just pray to God that this time the company sends me to the States. I vow I’ll never come back to this hell” and as soon as Amit finished his sentence, a power cut plunged them into darkness just to insinuate him that hell can be a little more hellish.
“Divya…why isn’t the invertor working?’ Aditya yelled.
“The power cut has been too frequent throughout the day. The battery is not charged. Wait! I’ll bring the candles.” Divya screamed back from the kitchen.
“Look at it…the future superpower has no power for its own capital.” Amit smirked at his pun.
“And no one cares…. Wish I could also leave this place but I have parents to look after and Dad will never leave his motherland. I wonder why he is so fond of this place. The roads are pathetic, government schools don’t have teachers and government hospitals don’t have doctors, terrorists are transforming this country into a mine field, farmers are committing suicide, share markets are stumbling, people are losing their jobs but no one is willing to do anything.” Aditya grew impatient.
“What can anyone do about this country, Aditya? No one can help it”
“No, actually a lot can be done if people start voting seriously and sensibly. It will force our leaders to mend their ways. The bureaucrats are reckless because the leaders sitting on them are insincere. Once the leaders wake up, a lot can be done…believe me…a lot” Aditya spoke with a newly discovered sense of conviction. He wasn’t looking at Amit. His eyes were fixed on the far corner of the drawing room and his face had the solemn expression of seriousness. He felt that the silent revolutionary within him was speaking. This sense of patriotism elevated him.
Amit was a bit startled but even he got excited and added, “Yes, once the legislative and the executive of this country start working honestly everything will change. We will have a better law and order system, better infrastructure, more industries; more MNCs will chip in thereby creating more jobs for us.”
Suddenly, the power got restored and Aditya sighed, “Finally…the power is here”.
“And the cold drinks are here too.” Divya announced.
“Leave it yaar. There is no point in burning our blood. We cannot change this country. No one can change anything as long as the people of this country do not wake up. Let’s have the snacks.” Aditya said and leapt forward to pick up a glass filled with cold drink.
“You are right. By the way we both are going to Manali on this weekend. Why don’t you guys join us?” Amit’s voice was full of excitement.
“Manali ! I would have loved to go there but what’s the point in going there just for two days. It will be too hectic.”
“Why only two days? Tuesday is a holiday. Take a leave on Monday and we can get a four day off. What say?” Amit explained.
“Tuesday…holiday? What for?” Aditya was surprised.
“Start watching some news channels buddy. We have an election on that day. It’s a holiday for everyone in this city.” Amit replied.
“Oh…yes…how could I forget? That’s great…what an opportunity. I’m in…we’ll start on Friday evening.” Aditya exclaimed.
“Hey! This time I was planning to cast my vote. I mean I haven’t exercised my voting right ever. We didn’t go even for the last time because of that silly cricket match of yours.” Divya complained.
“It wasn’t silly…it was India VS Australia…down under. Huh…you will never understand. By the way why are you so keen about it? It’s not so easy especially in this summer. There is a long queue out there. It’s no where close to a picnic. You won’t enjoy over there. Moreover, elections come after every five years. We’ll go next time. Who knows, we might not get another opportunity to have a holiday with Amit and Shreya. Amit will soon go to the US” Aditya snapped back.
“Actually, Sonal voted last time and she was flaunting that mark on her finger nail so snobbishly that I decided that even I’ll vote. Anyways, you are right. We can go next time. We four will have a great time together.” Divya turned to Shreya, “Shreya we’ll shop tomorrow. I need to buy some warm clothes for Manali.”

Suddenly there was a power cut again and amidst the darkness someone grumbled, “No one can change this country… No one can help it.”