Polling punches in a Southern state of mind
South during election time and things seem to be a little different here in Chennai from other parts of the country. Unlike in the East-West-North, I don't have any language to speak to people on the street, and my narrow sampling is from the educated, English-speaking class with which I come into contact.
But even here, people are calmer, their disagreements articulate. Various kinds of psephological nerdiness are on full display, but without the accompanying rancour one is used to when arguing with say Bengalis, Punjabis or Hindi-belt folks. There's an almost destabilising absence of kinship and/or genitalic cuss words. People down here argue. But they also let the other person actually speak. Like totally weird, da.
Everyone agrees that in the behemoth state of Tamil Nadu, things are going to go just as they have in the past. 'They can come and do as many rallies as they want. People will go to see also, because they are crudely entertaining. But as for votes, forget it. Their nonsense has never worked in these parts.'
Neither is anyone expecting surprises in the adjacent, narrow-shaped state of Kerala. 'As usual it's between the two traditional rivals, the other guys don't have much traction. People are having too much education, you see.'
The third big-bruiser state of Karnataka, though, is harder to call. Education? Yes. But not like its neighbours. Different language? Yes. But they're also shading into the speech-system prevalent immediately north. Also, dum-dum-diga-diga, different castes and ethnicities
