Couple of weeks back municipal elections were held in this hill town. There was huge excitement as the usual and some unusual people registered themselves as candidates. The local cablewallah also stood and gave free connections to over two hundred families with a promise of more free connections if he won. Unfortunately he could manage less than two hundred votes so promptly cut all free connections. Clearly gratitude is seriously lacking. Political parties had cars driving up and down streets with loud speakers blaring out the name of their candidates and urging people to vote for them. Three days before election day all liquor stores were shut down presumably to reduce the possibility of fights breaking out. So political parties were distributing quarter bottles of country liquor free to anyone who wanted any. Our cleaner collected around fifteen such bottles and seemed very pleased. All shops were closed on the day of the election as parties set out tables outside various polling booths. Results were announced a couple of days later and the victors paraded around their constituencies in open topped jeeps with chamchas dancing all the way. One would expect that the elected people would be nervous about the huge responsibility thrust on their shoulders and the weighed down by promises made. Not a bit of it. All victors seemed ecstatic probably foreseeing huge gains to be made. So much for the aam aadmi.