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Accidental Activist

How I Started A Riot

by Venita Coelho

I did. Really. This is a true story.

It sneaked up on me. All I was doing was keeping my appointment with the Mamlatdar. Having applied for my Voters Identity Card I had been issued a receipt and an appointment for 10 a.m. on Monday 4th at the Mamlatdars office, Mapusa. I arrived to discover that not only me, but, by a mistake, the entire district of Bardez had been given exactly the same time. There were people jammed in the corridor, on the steps, breathing in each others armpits, jostling, shoving and wondering what the hell was going on. There was no information to be had at all. We didnât know if we were in the right place, how long we would have to wait, where exactly we were supposed to goâ¦nothing.

How to get a Voter's ID and keep your Sanity

by Venita Coelho

July 24, 2008: A year ago I was a Hindi film writer and my biggest battles were fought with producers in trying to keep item numbers out of my scripts. One year of GBA later â my battles are with the Panchayat, the Block Development Officer, the Town and Country Planning Department â¦ all entities that in my earlier life I was hazily aware existed, but what were they for beat me. Ah me! The innocence of my youth.

This blog is the story of an accidental activist. Who wandered all unaware, an innocent wet behind the ears, into the Goa Bachao Abhiyaan. A year later the ears are grimy from lack of washing.
Where's the time?! There's amendment 16 and 16A to the TCP Act to be understood... there's the Panchayati Raj Act 1994 to be readâ¦ there's the awareness campaign for the villages there's the interim report of the Task Forceâ¦there's the irate letter to the Editor over mega projectsâ¦ phew!

From Bollywood to Bachao, from item songs to activism - it's been a tumultuous journey. And a perilous one. The most innocent step can plunge you into a host of bewildering complications.

Take the other morning. It started all so innocently with a notice in the papers. The Govt. of Goa were pleased to inform all lazy bums like myself who have never bothered to register to vote that we could now go forth and get a voters I.D. from beside the Fisheries office. My friend Tanya phoned me a few minutes later with the latest update on the warfront we have opened with the Panchayat. The Gram Sabha is coming up and it's no holds barred right now. The Panchayat has decided that she and I would not be allowed to speak at the Gram Sabha. According to Regulation X, Subsection Y, Amendment Z â those who do not have a voters ID are not allowed to air their opinions in the Sabha. And we had aired ours loud and long in the last one to the great embarrassment of the Panchas. 'We have to get a voters ID right now!' cried Tanya, and a few moments later we were seated in my jeep driving through pouring rain, wondering where on earth the Fisheries office was. With impeccable logic Tanya pointed out it had to do with fish, so it should be on the river front. And she was right. We spotted it long before we expected to, thanks to the enormous line, three deep that snaked around the Caravela office and reached all the way to Quarter Deck. Our hearts sank. Fat ones, thin ones, soggy ones, dry ones, ones with umbrellas, ones with fellasâ¦ they were all clutching little bits of paper and standing patiently in the pouring rain.

We got off to enquire. One question and we had a dozen different replies. One ponderous and informed looking fellow insisted we were in the wrong place. We could only join this line to have ourselves photographed for our Voters I.D. after we had been verified at the Mamlatdars office. And we could only do that after we had applied and appeared in the revised voters list. And we could only do that after we had applied in triplicate with everything including the nickname that our mothers called us on the form. Vibrating with information overload, we fought our way to the top of the line and the font of knowledge. Inside was a scrum. Several fisherwomen looked highly militant at our line barging and we pleaded we just wanted some information. We found it after a fifteen minute search in a small notice tacked to the door. Mr. Information was right. We had to go to the Mamlatdars office first. Determined to win this battle â we went forth.

The Mamlatdar's office looked innocuous enough from the pavement. But entering it was like descending into Dante's hell. The power was off.
We found ourselves stepping into a pitch black cavern that was packed with sweaty jostling people all waving forms. They were milling around three desks behind which helpless ladies in dresses were vainly commanding 'Back! Back! Please get in line!' It was too dark to see any notices. What people lacked in clarity of vision they made up for by volume â yelling inquiries at the hapless clerks at the tops of their voices. We took deep breaths and plunged into the perspiring mass. Several hard fought minutes later, battered and bruised, it was my turn to reach the desk and yell at the clerk demanding to know what the heck first time applicants were supposed to do? The clerk snapped impatiently at us. They weren't even accepting first time voter forms for another ten days. 'Only between 26th July and 9th August'. And not even here. At the mamlatdar that was closest to us. Mapusa in this case.

Tanya and I emerged from the Inferno heated to combustion point. Why couldn't the Government put that on the notice? God knows how many first time voters were literally groping in the dark right now.

Tanya proved to be of stronger mettle than me. I was all set to retire to a nearby pub and recover over a beer. She refused. 'I'm getting this licked today' she said 'We're going to the Mapusa Mamlatdar now!'
I meekly changed gears and headed out.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the Mamlatdars office so Tanya hopped off to make enquiries while I parked. Then I discovered the reason for the traffic jam. A government vehicle was parked athwart the road, regardless of all rules and regulations. It had caused a merry pile up. I was the second of about twenty cars that had come in through the 'IN' gate and found there was no way to get to the 'OUT'
gate unless the car was moved. After five minutes of futile honking I hopped out and inspected the car. It said 'Additonal Director of Panchayats'. Enquiries revealed his office was upstairs, so up I went.
I accosted the first clerk I saw and explained the problem and asked him to have the car moved. 'I will send the man. Do not worry' he said. Twenty futile minutes later, up I went again. The clerk said 'We cannot move the car'. By this time I was starting to simmer. Where was that damn Additional Director to whom this car belonged? I spotted his office and walked in, excusing myself and explaining the problem. I could hardly make myself heard thanks to the chorus of frustrated drivers honking madly downstairs. The Additional Director took his time finishing his paperwork, then looked at me and said smugly 'if you request me, I might to do it.' Might??! Might? Might as well wave a red flag at a bull. Through gritted teeth I explained that it was a public road, that he had no right to block traffic, all we were asking him to do was move his car two feet to the left. His driver arrived and said flatly 'I'm not moving the car.' And why was this? 'when we came this morning somebody else had parked crooked so we had to park crooked. Now we will not move the car.' I told him he had held up twenty drivers. He refused. I told him to give me the keys I would move the car. He refused. I told him what he was doing was wrong. 'Do what you want' he said with the arrogance of those in long term government jobs.

At which point I am sorry to admit I had a total melt down. When I came to my senses five minutes later I had been standing in the middle of the office yelling at the top of my voice that they had no right to do this! They were government servants here to help us, not obstruct us! That they were arrogant asses who inconvenienced the public! Was all their self respect wrapped around moving one stupid car two feet to the left?!!

Everybody was gaping at me. There were amused smiles on their faces.
How lovely. They'd succeeded in their primary mission which is to obstruct the public and drive them to utter frustration. Did they move the car? No.

Twenty frustrated and tired drivers finally reversed out of the IN gate into the face of the oncoming traffic because one arrogant government official refused to move his car two feet. How's that as a metaphor for the way government interacts with citizens?

Sometimes I wonder why I'm an activist. But when I find myself standing in the middle of a government office, reduced to yelling at the top of my voice in sheer frustration â I know I've done the right thing.

For those of you who still want to get a voters ID after reading this account here is how to do so in several not-so-easy stages. On a less flippant note, let me urge you to get registered to vote. We are the reason we have the rotten governance we do. If enough of us middle class voters got around to voting â there would be a sea change in election patterns. So go on â get up you lazy bum and head out!

1. Go to your nearest Mamlatdars office and collect the form.
2. Fill it in. Most important is the column that says 'Relatives who have a voters ID'. If you have none, get the nearest neighbours with a voters ID to give you their names and the numbers of their ID's.
3. Get proof of residence ( Form 1/14, Electricity Bill, Telephone Bill, Sale Deed etc)
4. Get to your Mamlatdar between 26th July and 9th August. Get them to verify your form and accept it.
5. Take the receipt and head to the Election Commissioners office in Panaji. Right next to the Fisheries Department which is right next to where the Caravela docks.
6. Get your photograph taken.
7. Pray to God you did it all right. Enquire from ponderous and well informed looking man what you should have done in the first place.

Ha! There's a footnote. Two days later there was an item in the Herald which I read with the hair rising on my forearms. The Govt. wished to inform the public that there had been a problem with their data base.
All voters who had made their voters ID card before 2000 A.D. would have to do it all over again! I sat there gasping. The phone rang. It was Tanya sounding smug and righteous. 'See? We're not lazy bums who didn't get our Voters ID's done. We were instinctively waiting for the right time. If we done it when we had to â we'd have had to do it all over again!!!'

What can you say but â whew!

Accidental Activist

How I Started A Riot

How to get a Voter's ID and keep your Sanity

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