Of prayers, poems and failed promises

Funny thing about politicians and us is, we believe them even when we know they’re lying. There’s a married woman who complained about her husband and said, ‘When he was courting me he promised me the stars. Now he won’t even buy me a washing machine!’ Well, doesn’t that sound like our politicians?

Not to talk of the moon, they find it so hard to give us daily necessities like electricity and drinking water. Once elections are over, they tend to forget us, the now dispensable electorate. One feels like singing the old love song ‘Am I that easy to forget?’ to the faces of these forgetful representatives. But not to worry, they’ll turn to us again when their terms of glory are over.

But it’s so hard not to fall for their charms when they woo us with beautiful music. When Vanlalsailova croons Hmeltha, (Beautiful girl), though we know he isn’t singing about us, we feel flattered never the less. And when he sings Zoram tang fan fan (Mizoram, stand firm), we feel the blood of nationalism boiling within us. And so, how can we help casting our votes for the candidates who treat us to such lovely melodies? But then other parties, not to be outdone, entertain us with gospel music, swaying our hearts too.

And most candidates are so very convincing in the debates that start with prayers, not slogans. In the villages, while cultivators are busy with harvesting and staying the nights in their fields, the vote-seekers diligently conduct their thlam to thlam (farmshed to farmshed) campaign.

Their zeal is admirable. Making a choice from the candidates is difficult. A pity we can’t vote for all of them.

If only candidates would keep their promises…

(MALSAWMI JACOB Mizo poet and writer. her recent collection of poems ‘tinkim dawn’ was widely acclaimed)