Call of duty: People postpone vacations to vote

Chennai: P Suresh was all set to fly to France on May 15 when the Tamil Nadu election date was announced. Though it was a business trip, the MD of Sangeetha Restaurants, Chennai, promptly changed his tickets to the night of May 19.
"I was scheduled to visit our restaurant in Paris but we get a chance to exercise our franchise only once in five years and I wasn't going to give up on that ," says Suresh, who decided to leave only after the results are announced."I am very eager to know which party wins," he says.
Though the month of May is vacation time for families, many have decided to set off on their travels, for business or leisure, only after they cast their vote. As a result, buses, flights and trains are running full in the days following the election and travel agents are struggling to ensure their clients get to cram in a two-week break before school reopens.
Basheer Ahmed, MD, Chennai Metro Travels Pvt Ltd, says there are families and traders who travel in groups usually in May have postponed their trips to the days after the election. "Many families have planned their holidays after May 16 but they want to return by May 30 as schools will reopen in June," he says, adding that Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Malaysia, Europe, and Hong Kong are popular destinations. "The latter half of May is busier for us as we also have a lot of bookings for families wanting to holiday in Kerala, Bengaluru, and Mumbai."
The railways is also looking at the reservation pattern of trains to assess requirement for special trains, and have introduced a Chennai-Ahmedabad express for May 17. "There will be people travelling to southern cities and nearby cities. Special trains will be introduced if reservation is high on routes. We expect more demand for berths to Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli," railway official said.
And it is not just holiday-goers who are postponing their trips. Though her 10-year-old son Aditya has a football match in Ooty on May 17, homemaker Sujatha Kumar, along with other parents, have decided to leave for Ooty only on May 16 night.
"The Mahogany Football Club is conducting a football tournament, and about 20 of us are taking our children," she says. "Usually we would go earlier but since all of us want cast our vote, we will now be landing up only on the day of the match."