“There is only one teacher here...”
Then I asked her, which subject? She said computer...
These children from whom I was asking questions were studying in 8th class, which means that this time, they have their board exams, and they have not even read the chapters of any subject, such as Hindi, English, and Maths.
These children were 'volunteers', who were given by the ‘administration’ to help me so that I could perform the responsibility of 'presiding officer' in a proper manner and complete the election at my booth peacefully and successfully.
After joining Coal India, I had the opportunity to participate in the election process thrice in Jharkhand. Whatever duty I had, like Sector Magistrate in Panchayat Election 2022, Micro Observer in Parliamentary Elections 2024, and Presiding Officer in this year's State Assembly Elections, I performed very well.
I got to learn a lot and see a lot. In Panchayat Elections, four such booths, which were in the middle of dense forests and which were affected by Naxals till 8-10 years ago, I successfully conducted elections, and while conducting them, I was just remembering Rajkumar Rao's ‘Newton’ movie.
After having these experiences, one thing I was felt that elections keep happening in our country, there is so much ‘extreme politics’ and electioneering in every nook and corner of our streets, and people are politically so ‘overactive’, yet as soon as you go from your fast-moving, big, rich, well-built cities to the slow-moving small and poorly infrastructured villages, you will come to know that there are no proper very basic healthcare facilities for 100-100 kilometers, in emergency cases, everything is at the mercy of God and in case of an accident death is certain.
There are schools, but there are no teachers, and if there are teachers, then they do not have that dedication, that is why those 'volunteer' small boys and girls students started crying while telling their story that their 8th board syllabus has not even started yet, and probably, because of this, they will fail.
Living in big cities, roaming around in malls and restaurants, and staying close to the best multi-super specialty hospitals, it is easy to say that we are the fifth largest economy of the world and our country is renowned all over the world, but it is difficult to accept that there are still many shortcomings in the 'real India' on the ground and we still have to do a lot.
Governments keep coming and going, and leaders win and lose, in this sensational and sensitive environment of social media and an excessive political climate, only 'Raaj' has remained, and 'Neeti' which is Ethics has been left behind somewhere.
We have to scroll the ‘Real’ India more than the 'Reels' of YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, see and accept that we still have a lot of work to do, we have to drink this ‘Poison’ as Lord Shiva Ji did, that we are still a poor and under-developed country, though it may not found in the maze of statistics, there is a lot of poverty in our rural India, near-zero administrative connect and reach, there is huge caste-based discrimination, basic facilities like education and health seem to be just a blurred sketch on papers.
This is not just the case with Jharkhand, this is the condition of villages in most states of the country.
If we don't accept this, then I feel that we are not true nationalists at all because a great poet has written in one of his lines, "Koi Bhi Desh Bas Ek Kagaz Par Bana Tukda Nahi Hota."