I'm still not voting.

Personally, I've always belonged to the George Carlin school of thought. He had very wisely stated the argument that those who vote are responsible for the mess they created. While those who sat at home and jerked off were left with an easier mess to clean up. That being said, this year is the first time I have actually wanted to cast a ballot. Not because I think the country will improve by my doing so, but because I will at least have tried to prevent a totalitarian state being born here. I know it seems a bit extreme to say, but what other colour would the saffron brigade paint this nation if not their own?

The country is up for grabs and no one seems to be interested right now. We are in the middle of probably the most entertaining and in-your-face political fights of our history. With the cyber age finally arriving in India on the sanskaari shoulders of Alok Nath, every famous face should be more wary of the netizenry. Especially if they are vying to win the Seat of Power.

As a whole we are more informed than ever with everyone and their paternal-uncles-twice-removed-from-Lucknow trying to beat numbers and statistics down on our eardrums. But the fact remains that we are mighty limited on options today. Between a megalomaniac, an immature adult and, a chocolate boy; we are painfully short of putting a rational head on this country's shoulders. Two of these (and their gangs of followers) are thrusting advertising from every pixel that can be bought, rented or borrowed. These have been met, fittingly, with armies of fellow geeks who are quick on both Adobe and wit.

One party has started a string of limericks so ridiculous that only the internet could have birthed the meme. While the other is using a masturbation metaphor as their call-sign. The third has become a mockery of itself with the advent of Mango People. But what's common is, for once, all of them have been noticed by people who would rather not give two shits. This kind of situational sarcastic response was usually reserved for the likes of R.K. Laxman and Khushwant Singh. Their ability to point at the truth and laugh made the original caricatures of Indian politics. But, where they used the protection of visual metaphors, the internet has no qualms of making a face the butt of their jokes.

But about a fortnight from now, these meme's will reach the end of their age. They will catapult a few pictures into the 'made-me-laugh' section of our brains and then be forgotten my almost everyone. The lasting impact will be made by the ones who rise from the dust of this fray. And that is the thing that worries me.

We are all pretending to know so much about the situation of this country. Most of us are confidently misinformed about the political scene and the parties are pulling the obvious trick - ignore it and it will go away. The sick part is, that's actually going to work. We are all gravely mistaken about the power of the internet to change the country. Like sharing a post about feeding an African child doesn't really feed the kid, posting your opinion on the internet doesn't really affect the polls. It's high time we realised that change is sparked on the internet but the fire needs to spread offline. There is a very real world that we are the part of and the future only belongs to us if we take it.

I can't shake the feeling that 5 years from now, I'll look back and wonder if a blot of ink on my finger in Summer '14 would have made a difference. Because I do not know what route this country will take under either of the three personas being presented to us. On one hand, I worry about the victory of Our All Powerful And Hopefully Benevolent Dictator Narendra Modi. On the other, I fear we will continue in the line of backseat-driver politics with a child on the steering wheel. On my third imaginary hand, I lie to myself that the underdog deserves to win and will magically know how to lead.

In either case, I think I'd still rather submit to greatest angry old man in the world. Until next time, when I am able to get a voter ID card without paying or being asked for a bribe. Because some part of me still believes George was right. Shovelling shit every 5 years isn't going to change anything. It's the same shit from a different asshole. So maybe, just maybe, none of this matters after all and come election day I should just sit at home like the rest of the ignoramuses and take the more 'productive' action.