Editorial Two

This one was for the Election Issue. It was brought out the week after the previous one. The date was probably around 28-29th of August. This came out the day before the elections. 



"We are going to Basgaon at 1:30. Come to the ANC circle."  

It had been a rather exhausting day at office, with some 5 back-to-back classes. I received the message as I trudged back to my room. Even as I was about to reply, I ran into a certain candidate for the nth time. Ever armed with his manifesto and a toothy smile that would put the Joker to shame, he had already explained the minute details of his Cycle Plan to me thrice. Even as he made his way towards me, I knew the eventuality of a fourth painful explanation.

Basgaon. This village is no remote reality in the midst of some famine-struck Vidharbha district. Walk out from these walls through the small gate behind the Dairy Farm and keep on going, through the arid fields and the sparse vegetation. Walk for some 15 minutes and you reach this village. All those fables that you might have heard about rural India somehow seem to merge into the real world in Basgaon. There are various Mohollas for various castes. A road separates the well-to-do minority from the Below Poverty Line majority. The mud roads are dotted with decrepit houses. The sanitation system is non-existent with water-borne diseases running riot among the villagers. An empty closed dispensary will stare back at your hopes of medical facilities and an empty school building do the same. Most of the villagers are employed at NREGA (National Rural Employment Gurantee Act) sites that dot the desert like horizon. Their major work includes digging large pits, which once completed are deserted and the whole circle is repeated at some other location. Most of the money earned is spent on hooch and goes to the Theka owners (who happen to be some of the few affluent people in the village). The highest ambition in the village is to get a job in BITS.

I suddenly jerked back into reality by a rather sharp voice.

"So, did you think about my Cycle Plan?"

"Do you know about Basgaon?" I asked.

He looked back at me, uncomprehending.

"Buses? No that's not me..."

"Never mind."