A coincidence of its own kind. 18th August 2015 , I completed my 8th work anniversary and along with it, I also completed my 8th election - peacefully and smoothly! In many ways, my career has always been defined by elections. In fact, my very first post on this blog was on elections. That post was focused on my team and our time spent together, without elaborating on election work per se. But the fact is that during those initial days, I hated the work. It was a lot of paper work that I didn't understand (language being new to me) and extremely high pressure and controversy prone and painstaking. But having done so many of them, I see how much I have changed and "grown up".Today, if anyone were to ask me, carrying out elections is the best part of my job. Its still tough, high pressure, lots of paper work,etc. But, its clear cut.
If there is one thing I have learnt in the past 8 years of living IN this job, it is that life is a grey coloured sky. There are times when it will pour down upon you and times when the clouds will part to let through beautiful golden ray of sunshine, but most of the time, it is just grey. It used to confuse me a lot in the early days, because I have grown up in an environment of black and white.. but now I've learnt to accept it, if not like it.. Election time is the one exception to this. Its a clear blue sky with not a wisp of cloud in the vicinity. There are clear cut rules and they simply have to be followed. That's it. Of course, not everyone understands that and people try their own little tricks all the time. But then, election time is the one time it doesn't matter whether others always understand or agree or not. Life during elections is something else altogether.
If there is one thing I have learnt in the past 8 years of living IN this job, it is that life is a grey coloured sky. There are times when it will pour down upon you and times when the clouds will part to let through beautiful golden ray of sunshine, but most of the time, it is just grey. It used to confuse me a lot in the early days, because I have grown up in an environment of black and white.. but now I've learnt to accept it, if not like it.. Election time is the one exception to this. Its a clear blue sky with not a wisp of cloud in the vicinity. There are clear cut rules and they simply have to be followed. That's it. Of course, not everyone understands that and people try their own little tricks all the time. But then, election time is the one time it doesn't matter whether others always understand or agree or not. Life during elections is something else altogether.
I don't know if there will be another election in my career - I would most probably be in a different profile by the time the next one comes along. So, here's toasting, one last time, to our democracy!
