NEPAL VOTES (and so do I!)
My thumb on the left hand looks ugly. It has a streak of dark line (close to black) encircling my nail, as though marking a boundary. I try to think hard to see if this is how my mother’s or father’s thumb looked like when they had voted in the 1999 election. It seems to my feeble memory, as though they came home carrying indigo marks on their thumbs. But the mark on my finger seems different. What does it matter?
Every time I look at my finger, I’m reminded of the fact that today, I gave myself, the first ever opportunity to cast a ballot. It’s taken me almost 3 decades to come to this point (I turn 30 next month), just like it took the nation almost two years to come to this juncture. Between predictions and speculations, the D-day has happened to the Nepalis!
Walking down to the polling booth at Chundevi with my parents was a nice feeling. On the way we ran into several people from the locality who had already had their thumbs painted. When we arrived at the centre, the environment was fairly normal (it made me feel quite proud of my neighbours!). The residents of Kathmandu constituency number 5, were gladly queuing up to vote.
My entire family had turned up to cast their ballot. It felt like some great carnival, where people were getting together to express solidarity, albiet in different ways. But it took a while for my voting turn to come ( I had to stand in the sun for over an hour – and I spent that time happily chatting 
For, I ran into some of my neighbours, whom I hadn’t seen for years (who says you have to be in America to be busy 
?!!). It was fun!
I learnt from chatting with my neighbours that the house right next to the polling center (which was huge!), had been captured by the YCL for almost year now. The YCL in fact, were pretty active at the station. They were the ones giving out water to the thirsty. But the stronger contenders from the area were Narhari Acharya, Ishwor Pokharel and Kamal Thapa.
I could see Bhima from my neighbourhood arguing at a distance with some people, about an elderly lady not getting to vote. I found out later that the lady was trying to cast a proxy ballot and the officiers had found out and sent her off. And yet, it was her who was making so much hue and cry about not getting to vote, and saying- tinuharu ko, mero lal purja magne?
When it was my turn to go in, I felt my heart skip a beat. I’m extremly silly about such things! I cry sometimes when I hear Rastirya Geets. Yes, so I handed my mother her identification slip and nagarikta, and followed her into the main booth. There was a woman, about my age or younger, at the booth. She wore stylish jeans jacket and denim, had highlights on her hair and work a stunning pair of glaze. When the officers started to ask her for identification, she started to fumble and say “Maile ta purse nai bokeko chaina. Paisai leyera aako chaina. Kati paisa lagcha?
The polling officer said “Paisa chaindaina. Khoi, nagarikta liyera aunu bha cha?”
“Chaina, maile ta kehi liyera ako chaina. Huncha, ma ghaar gayera liyera aunchu ni ta.”
I couldn’t help wondering about the larger illiterate and remote area population, after seeing an urbanite so low on voter’s education. What I did find interesting was how the women’s line seemed to stretch on.
I continued with what I was meant to do. Today, I was going to be just a voter! I had already abandoned my choices to be a reporter or an observer during the election. I have felt that without even having exercised my own voting right first, I could hardly play a good role as either.
So, I had my thumb marked, signed, collected my ballot paper, stamped it in secret, folded it and dropped it in the ballot box, which I has so far only seen on poster. What an accomplishment! It definitely gave a sense of accomplishment and I was thrilled.
The day is almost getting over. Of course, there have been incidents of violence at several places in the nation. But if we look at the larger picture, it has been quite peaceful. But most importantly, to think that an entire nation went at the same time to do something important today, completely overwhelms me.
April 10, 2008 (When else?)
