Elections and Dogs: the birth of BONDA

Elections and dogs

Veeresh Malik
19 April 2014, 03:19 PM IST

The morning that we voted in Delhi also saw the formation of a brand new association named BONDA. It was like any other peaceful Delhi morning. In most ways. Except for this brand new association in a city going through hoops and loops of political intrigue and suspense. One more association?

Yes! BONDA had arrived!! BONDA stood for Bowwows On Nullah Demand Access. Or alternate name if first choice not available, Bowwows Original Natives of DefCol Association,

But hey, how did this come about, what happened?

It started like any other morning.

The sun was out there doing its thing, climate change was showing its true colours as a cool breeze swept past the clock-tower-now-heritage building, metro trains were clacking along on schedule, and below the 4-level traffic junction, life continued co-existing as it has for decades.

Same place in time and history, but all going their way at different speeds and in different directions, in perfect synchronisation - better than any symphony. Metro train, bus, car, two-wheeler, rickshaw, human being, dog, everything.

As they have been doing for centuries, co-existing, since life began, though it is humans who try to make rules otherwise.

But in every world reaching perfection, there will soon some-day be a fly in the ointment, even though both flies and ointment also have their roles in life. So, some inhabitants of this earth wake up one morning and decide that other inhabitants do not have a right to be in the same place and time as them.

Suddenly, without any due democratic process, one morning there was this signboard. Growling away.

On election day?

Gosh, what brought this about, especially since this was not much more than a covering over a storm-water drain, in and around which dogs had been playing and living and doing their stuff certainly much before human beings came along?

The dogs were astounded, upset, and to put it in simple words, unable to believe what they were reading.

Some dogs chose to protest and defy.

Other dogs decided to hold a meeting.

Eventually, they decided to appoint a leader, who took a stand.

However, they also needed a spokesperson, on which they could not achieve unity, so they sub-contracted to an external vendor, who promptly organised the rest of his friends in the communications industry. They could soon be heard all over the place.

To cut a long story short, with the excellent co-operation of all members of this new association BONDA, and the skillsets of the communication specialist and spokesman, the other side, humans, soon capitulated and the boards vanished in due course of time.

Even before the election results were declared!

So that, ladies and gentlemen and fine as well as polite readers, is how perception beats fact and victories emerge from strategy. BONDA, having outlived its usefulness, was soon disbanded, and all of God's and India's creatures were free to use the Earth as had been decided long ago when Nature was still a little boy. Or girl.

And that is how elections should be. Once the people's will has been placed in position, and systems there to run it, the elected members should withdraw into the background and enjoy themselves.