Never too old to enjoy the right to vote

KOLKATA: Salil Sanyal is thrilled that polling day is finally upon him. His is not the enthusiasm of a first-time voter all ready to feel 'grown-up' with the beep of an EVM button. Sanyal is 84, and it's just that he hasn't grown tired of exercising his franchise, again and again.
"But for the one in 1999, I have voted in every elections since the country's first one in 1952," says the octogenarian, who has cut short a visit to his son in Delhi to be in time to cast his vote here."My wife and I had stood in the queue in 1999 with our voter's cards and gone all the way to the booth only to discover that our names were not on the list," he adds with a smile.
The booth is now closer to his home in the BE Block of Salt Lake but his wife won't be accompanying him. "She passed away nine years ago," Sanyal tells you. He is, of course, likely to bump into a few more 80-year-olds who he has for company at that very venue every evening. And there's one who has just turned 90. "Just like me, they too are gripped by this sense of anticipation," he says, reminding that almost all of them have been voting since 1952.
The Community Centre at the BE Park, where Sanyal and the others gather regularly for bridge, is now the polling booth. "I came back from Delhi to find the building all done up with costly paint, and I wondered where they got the money," he chuckles. "It's been designated by the election commission as a 'model booth' and looks like we're going to benefit the most. I also feel quite proud about it," he explains the transformation.
Ninety-year-old Haridas Sarkar declares that he is "the oldest in the group" and that he has "cast his vote in every election so far". "There should be 100% turnout everywhere, and the climate of free and fair elections should be preserved and protected by us," he says. Sanyal is aware of the growing cynicism towards politics but reminds everyone should be grateful that they have a chance to participate in democracy.
The group of elders is united in their dislike for NOTA option. "Why should I go all the way in this heat to select no one?" Sanyal asks. "It's important to use the opportunity to choose someone," adds Sarkar, who was the principal of Katwa College for 34 years. Sudeb Roy, an 85-year-old retired IAS officer and another of Sanyal's bridge partners, nods in agreement.
An alumnus of the BE College (now BESU), Sanyal has several from his alma mater as neighbours. "We all chose the BE Block, so you can see why," he chuckles, but a whiff of sadness creeps into the conversation as he tells you that some have passed away and some have slipped away from the gatherings following health issues.
Amidst the cynicism and despondency, how do 80-year-olds retain so much enthusiasm? "Maybe because most of us saw India becoming independent," says Sanyal, who joins Sarkar in describing the "magical night of August 14, 1947".
"I was then a 17-year-old student of Scottish Church and we used to live in Shyambazar. Two of my cousins and I went to the five-point crossing around midnight. Everyone was out in the streets. We rounded off the celebrations with mutton and parathas from the famous Gol Bari," he gushed. "At home a flag was made from a huge piece of silk bought from the Khadi Gramudyog, the saffron and green being 'painted' with coloured swadeshi soaps and the Ashok Chakra embroidered by my sisters." Sarkar, who had plunged into politics in 1942, remembers going round the city in a jeep. "Buses and trams were plying through the night," he remembers.
Sanyal is happy that his grandson Ayush was able to cast his first vote. "He's a computer engineer in Bangalore and registered online to get his voter number this time. He then went and voted," says the proud grandpa. "And he didn't use the NOTA," he added to make the point.
It may be Wednesday evening before Sanyal, Sarkar, Roy and the others in the group like octogenarians Biswanath Sarkar and Bibhutibhushan Bhowmick get back their favourite haunt at the BE Park but it'll be worth the wait. Maybe they'll skip bridge for an evening to discuss the joy of democracy. They might tell you that you're never too old for that.