Elections are not (just) about Candidates and voters

What are elections about if not candidates and voters, someone might ask rhetorically, leaving the answer ‘nothing else!’ hanging in the air.  That’s so wrong.  What do politicians do apart from asking for a vote in a thousand different ways, using all media available and spending all resources at hand?  And what do voters do apart from taking the trouble to get to the relevant polling station, standing in line, getting ballot paper, having the pinky colored purple, marking a cross and stuffing a folded piece of paper into a ballot box? 

We are not trying to make light of all this of course.  Politicians have to sweat.  Voters have to deliberate.  Calories are burnt by both parties.  And yet, politicians and voters are just individuals on one side of the overall election story.  Well, there are the backers, campaign managers, ‘troops’ on the ground and so on of course.  They all play a part and are no doubt important but we are not talking about such people here. 

This is about those who work to make it possible.  Let’s raise a cheer therefore for those who don’t get mentioned. 

First and foremost there is the Man of the Moment, Commissioner of Elections, MahindaDeshapriya.  Whoever holds his post is ‘legitimate’ target for the losing side.  He can do nothing right.  Every error is seen as complicity in some devious plot to cheat the voter and subvert democracy.  Few, if any, know the limits of his powers or the resource-limitations he has to work within.  The man can only do his best.  He went out of his way.  He has employed all available resources efficiently.  Effectively too, one must add.  He stood tall and this is something the saner sections of both camps will acknowledge.  Thank you sir.

He doesn’t work alone.  The voter knows of a single polling station.  The voter sees a handful of officials.  There were 12,314 polling stations located in the 22 administrative districts.  Approximately 300,000 Government Servants were deployed to ensure that things are done right and your franchise protected.  They’ve been trained.  That training they put to use.  They’ve done a thankless job.  Just think.  Of those who voted, on this occasion and previously, how many have talked about the person who answered questions about where exactly you had to go to vote, the person who asked your name and checked your ID, the person who marked your finger, the person who handed you the ballot paper, the person who stood at a respectful distance from the place you marked an ‘X’ and from the ballot box into which you thrust the ballot paper? Think about them.  Say ‘Thank you’ or 

පිං සිද්ද වෙච්චාවේ  (may you acquire merit) or anything else that expresses gratitude.  They deserve it.

And how about those who have to do the counting; the officer in charge and all those under him/her?  Have you wondered if they were tired, say?  There were 303 centers to count postal votes.  There were 1,109 main counting centers in a total of 44 locations.  There were people in these places and they were all part of the aforementioned 300,000.  They too deserve our salute.  Thank you!

Is that all? No.  There’s the Police.  In this election, without the strength that came from the 17th Amendment, the Police Department covered itself with glory.  We had the most peaceful presidential election since the first one, held in 1982 and they helped make this possible.  If anything they showed, that with or without constitutional provision, professionalism and decency and get the job done.  Let us say ‘Thank you!’ to the 71,000 police officers who were on duty.

Pics by Chandana Wejesinghe and Ravindra Dharmathilake.

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A tribute to Nirmali Wickramasinghe

SHE EMBRACED THEM ALL

 

Pic by Ravindra Dharmatilleka

School children yearn for end of term.  Year-end is made for extra joy because there is always something new to look forward to: new class teacher, new books, new classroom and maybe new friends as well.  Then there’s also the illusion that all that was bad, weak and forgettable of the year that is drawing to a close will not spill over to the next. Fresh start, that’s something to look forward to.

This December, as is the case for all schools, Ladies’ College also looks to year-end and term-end.  There’s a slight difference though.  There are two terms that are ending, the third term of the academic year and a term of ten years, that of Mrs. Nirmali Wickramasinghe’s tenure as Principal. 

I remember the first day I met her; admission interview for my older daughter.  The (then) little one was not excited by school or occasion.  My sister, an old girl, who accompanied us, was trying to get her in the ‘right’ spirits before the interview, showing her the magnificent trees, the neatly maintained garden, the school hall and whatever else caught her eye.  The little girl, just 3 plus then, was not impressed. She said that the desks and chairs in her Montessori were prettier. 

It didn’t matter.  There was no ‘right’ spirits.  She just crawled under the principal’s desk, exploring whatever it was that caught her fancy (I cannot remember).  Nirmali was there, with her then deputy, Mrs Manisha Peiris.  My late mother was then teaching at the school and Nirmali made me understand that this counted in my daughter’s favor. She good humoredly engaged in banter with regard to my work.  Two years later, when we went to the admission interview for our second daughter, it was the same kind of conversation. 

Ten years have passed since that meeting.  Both girls would die for their school now and take strong objection to any teasing on my part.  For school children, regardless of school, their school, whatever its real name, has another name:  Best School of All.  But ten years later, at this double term-end, I went to see Nirmali in her office, possibly for the last time.  I remembered those two interviews and a couple of other meetings. 

I remembered the two or three PTA meetings I attended. I remembered her (always) short post-event speeches, i.e. after a sports meet, a swimming meet, a school play or concert.  She always spoke to the point, kept it brief, encouraged student and relieved parent. 

‘Those who were at Ladies’ this year are lucky,’ she said.  She is correct.  There were so many out-of-class activities that happened to be out of the ordinary as well.  There have been many ‘farewell’ events on top of all that.  A lot of love, clearly. 

Looking back at the time that’s passed, one image will remain for a long, long time to come.  It happened during the annual sports meet.  Just after a dance performance by the ‘special needs children,’ beautifully executed and with amazing enthusiasm too by the way, they came up to receive certificates (or was it gifts?) from their principal.  She hugged them all. There was this wonderful capture (see pic).  It is rare that one gets to see love and caring of this kind of transparency.

We often hear the neat payoff line of policy documents on education: ‘no one should be left behind’.  Mrs. Nirmali Wickramasinghe didn’t say it.  She lives it and by doing so teaches her students the most profound lessons they can learn in a school.  That counts for so much ‘giving’ and so much ‘leaving behind’ as she ends term, year and tenure, that she’s guaranteed a special kind of staying.  And that’s something enduring which adds something soft to all that is eagerly anticipated as the year and an era draws to a close. 

msenevira@gmail.com

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