Awaken India! Sirf Ek Ungli desh ko badalne ke liye

We Indians are #1 at ranting about the general state of things. Bribery, red tape, corruption. When it is time for elections, though, where are we? Enjoying a blissful public holiday instead of casting our crucial vote to elect for a better government. Why blame the system when we ourselves encourage it? We don't vote, we willingly pay bribes, we just resign ourselves to waiting for weeks & months to get something official done. Apathy, apathy, apathy. Next year once again the elections will be on. What are YOU going to do? Are you going to continue being apathetic or are you going to use that one important finger?

Aakhri Aachaar ka maza lene ke liye,

Darvaje ki ghanti bajane ke liye,

Telephone call khatam karne ke liye,

Disha dikhane ke liye,

Hava mein ishara karne ke liye,

Aankh mein kachara nikalne ke liye,

Garam cake naram hai dekhne ke liye,

Jab kaam se bore ho to pencil balance karne ke liye...

Itne saare kaam, kahin mazedaarwale, kahin mahatvapurnwale aur kahin aise time pass ke liye...sirf ek ungli sabke ke liye

To kyon na hum wahi ungli istamaal kare India ko badalne aur sabko jagane ke liye! 

Sirf ek ungli – message bhejo vote karne ke liye

Sirf Ek Ungli. Just one finger. What do you use one finger for? To scoop off & lick that last smudge of yummy pickle off the plate. To ring a door bell. To depress the phone's button to end a call. To point out a direction. To jab the air to emphasize a point. To clean out grit caught in the corner of your eye. To poke tentatively at a hot freshly baked cake to check its softness. To try & balance a pencil to allay boredom at your work desk. 

Essential activities, fun activities, pointless activities...all

done with just one finger. To be precise, the first finger of your right hand or left hand (let's not forget the left-handed people of this country). Above all, that finger has got a VVIT (very very important task): to exercise your vote. Who cares? You might well say. Why bother to vote when anyway all politicians are corrupt? is the permanent rant. Time to wake up India! Just as Sharukh Khan said in Chennai Express, "Don't underestimate the power of the common man", I would say "Don't underestimate the power of a vote". It is that power which gets people into power, either at the local municipal level or the higher State level or the highest echelons of the Central Government of India. 

Let's not waste the use of that all-important finger. Let's get together to fight apathy. Instead of ranting about corrupt people in power, use the finger to vote and make changes for a better governance.

You can also use just one thumb to get others to vote for the right people. How? Let’s find out...

Using Social Apps Constructively

Admit it – don't you often use social apps for pointless conversations (c u tm, when you have already confirmed you will meet the next day) and inane updates? Don't you love broadcasting to all and sundry your likes and dislikes, where you went, what you ate? Then there are the times when you use a social app for the latest hot trending activity, namely organizing a group of people for a flash mob.  All this done with rapid typing using the 2 thumbs or jabbing at the keys of your smartphone with one finger. Then why not make better & more constructive use of social apps to shake out the apathy of the citizens of India? Even if you are not good at speed typing on your smart phone, you can use just one finger too & contact your friends, chachaaas & chaachis, maamas & maamis through a mobile social app to exercise their vote. In fact, I have seen the deft use of a single thumb by commuters in buses and trains. One hand is used to precariously cling on to some kind of hand-hold, the other being used to hold on to a smart phone, the thumb rapidly punching keys to send an SMS!

Popularity of Social Apps

Why are mobile social apps so popular? The reason is not hard to find: it is a money-saver and we Indians are #1 in eagerly wishing for things that are (a) free or (b) really, really cheap. Then, of course, there is the immense craze to use emoticons which practically all social apps allow for. 

So which app to use to spread the good word? 

Popular Social Apps

One of the most popular current mobile social app is WeChat, especially among the teens. It is fun and has a convenient connection to Facebook, not to mention some cool features,such as Shaking your phone to connect with others who are shaking their phones too. Use the Drift Bottle feature to throw your vote message.

Talking about Facebook, the Facebook Messenger app is naturally a huge bonus for today’s people since practically everybody uses Facebook anyway. With all your contacts existing there, what couldn’t be easier than getting in touch with them via Facebook Messenger? 

Then there is WhatsApp, its popularity soaring by the second due to its easy availability for just about any type of smart phone from the most basic Nokia to the most sophisticated iPhone.

Heard of Skype? Thought it is only for audio-visual chats? You’ll be surprised to know that Skype is also a useful smart phone app for messaging.

There are so many other social mobile apps out there. Whichever you use, use it well to spread the good word: Vote.

What YOU can do to awaken India
Here's an idea:

Smear a purplish blob (with ink/sketch pen/paint) on the first

finger of your hand. Snap it with your smart phone’s camera. Paste an inspiring message across it. You can use SnapChat to take the photo, draw or type a message on top of it, such as "Sirf ek ungli istamaal karo, India ko badlo!", and send it off. Another option is to use Phonto Text-on image app. In the case of SnapChat, though, note that the recipient can see the message just for a couple of seconds, after which it vanishes – even you can’t see it again!

Share it with a whole bunch of people using any social mobile app.

Ek angootha ya ek ungli kafi hai – desh ko jagaane ke liye!

This blog post is an entry for the Indiblogger contest: Indian General Elections 2014 with Social Mobile Apps