Watching television on election day is unnerving for senior citizens, because of the cacophony of shrieking voices and the maniacal jumping...
Watching television on election day is unnerving for senior citizens, because of the cacophony of shrieking voices and the maniacal jumping around on screen of all sorts of numbers and images. Therefore, for some years now, I have preferred to use Twitter to update myself on counting day. It is quieter, less offensive to the eye, and – so long as one is not “live-tweeting” oneself – calmer for the nerves as well.
So, on Sunday, May 2, when votes for polls held in four major states and one tiny Union territory were being counted, it was mostly via Twitter that I chose to follow the news. When I went to the site on Sunday morning, the first tweet that caught my eye was not about votes or leads or candidates or parties, but about the body that had – supposedly – impartially and constitutionally supervised these polls. This was the handiwork of the writer, Sidin Vadukut, whose tweets are notable both for their lack of rancour and their sardonic wit.
Here, Vadukut had posted a news item reading: “BREAKING NEWS: Election Commission goes to Supreme Court against ‘should be booked for murder’ comments of Madras High Court”, with this comment of his own: “Supreme...
