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| Tuesday, 20 April 2004 |
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Why I didn't want to contest Second thoughts by Prof.Sunanda Mahendra 'Hello, how nice to see you, please come in, and what brought you here!' Greeted my friend the retired teacher, a political thinker and one time a political activist. But the way he greeted me sounded rather unusual, for I wanted to ask one question. 'I wonder whether it is pertinent to ask this question' I tried to apologize before asking the direct question. 'What's your question? I am sure it is something to do with politics'. 'Not really. But something to do with you' 'Oh that's good, so go on'. 'I just want to know why you did not contest at this election, for you had a very good chance of winning or getting preferential votes?' My friend, the teacher, laughed as if I had blundered somewhere and I felt rather ashamed of myself for being rude and harsh. 'Come on, let's discuss that issue first of all. Would you like to have a drink?' 'No' I responded. 'Not even a good cup of tea'. 'No I just had one'. 'Good. Let's face the first question. You asked me as to why I did contest at the election. The first point is that I am a thinker rather than an activist. Let me explain the point further. I felt that if I tap the right person at the right time I ought to get the nominations, but I did not want to do that, thinking of the forthcoming consequences' 'Sorry, I did not follow you sir'. 'It is simple as this. Say if I had tapped the correct person at the correct time, I would have been selected as a candidate. But I didn't want to do that'. 'Why?' 'I was thinking of the events that would follow. One important factor is the money involved. Who is going to give me money for my campaign?' 'Why your party concerned'. 'No, that's not enough. I should think of some ultra modern campaign, say a digital cybernetic campaign, where electro magnetic waves are involved'. 'That sounds rather mysterious' 'No it's simply the way you communicate with all the people, leaving no stone unturned in your electorate. Mind you, I am a political philosopher, I have to address in the best manner possible, for I don't want to just waste money. I need to think of the right word at the right time and I don't want to hire speech writers, and propagandists. So it takes such a long time to think, for thinking is my hobby'. 'Is that the main reason for not contesting?' 'No there are some more just another point is that I don't want to tire myself over an election, for I have tired myself enough in the past, and I am an environmentalist to the last letter'. 'What do you mean?' 'I don't want to stick any bills on walls and pollute them. I don't want to see that banners and cut-outs appear with a great big face of mine grinning at all those who pass by and I don't want to go from house to house begging votes from all the householders' 'You don't have to do that, for they know you'. 'But if I don't go they will think that I am resting on my laurels, as such don't want a gang of henchmen to accompany me on these long routes'. 'What more?' 'There are several other reasons as well'. 'What are they?' 'You must not misunderstand me for what I am going to say, for I must tell you that I was a 'political animal' in the past, but now I realize that I am an 'apolitical animal'. 'Apolitical you mean, what's that?' 'You go through the dictionary and find this, a person who does not care very much for politics, but remains in political thinking'. Then he went in to his study and brought out a dictionary, wherein we found the following explanation. 'apo-lit-i-cal i. having no interest or involvement in political affairs ii. having no political significance' A grave silence ensued. My friend the teacher finally said. 'There is one more point that I want to tell you. One of the reasons why I did not want to contest is that, if I win I will not have time to read some of the books I left unfinished or left unread. So now I have time to read them. |
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