Voting and voters

We did vote, my husband and I. Some things that stuck me about the event was:

• Our poor cops, they are standing the whole time while the citizens' voted. It seems a bit unfair. Perhaps they should be seated?
• That the voting booths were all on the first floor -- which means, effectively anybody who has a problem -- spinal cord-injured, those in wheel chair, those with crutches, those who may be sick, the very elderly who may not be able to negotiate the steps -- are all denied their voting right!
  
• Heartening: that the elderly citizens are allowed first right to vote, meaning they don't have to stand in queue. Same of any of the disabled who could make it to the first floor. They were also treated cordially and directed well..I saw the cop on duty at our booth was particularly sweet that way.
  
• That though most people had their voter's Id Cards, both my husband and I have not recd ours.
  
• And despite having entered name corrections -- for instance, I have retained my maiden name, the list still calls me Shameem Akthar Sheriff Saisuresh -- very complicated. Mercifully I had my passport for identification, which means they at least know that the strange Hindu name -- appended by some concerned lackey who does not like the idea of a woman holding on to her maiden name (belongs to the Sunjay Dutt gang I suppose:) -- was part of the portfolio, even if not accorded official status in my name game... Well, my husband went several times to the school where the Id cards were supposed to be given, but was turned away because of this or that. Mostly that. Any case, interesting aside, the lady who was ticking off our names said that the ID cards have been issued!! Where are they, now??
  

Despite all, Indian democracy rocks... And we must all vote, to make sure that it continues that way...

A dog's life: stray dogs in Mumbai

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I noticed a peculiar thing and I have been noticing it for long: there are less stray dogs in South Mumbai than in the suburbs. When I went on that Sunday after the terrible terror attack, just spotted one in Colaba Causeway. In my part of town, there are is one for every ten persons living here. And I am not joking. I have allowed my cycle to rust than risk their barking run after me...

Mornings when I go out, I see packs run after school kids, snapping... I have been snapped at, by dogs in the parks... And in IC Colony, even seven years back, the packs used to terrorise scooter and autos, running manically after them. I have often spotted dogs mauled -- huge chunks of flesh off their nape -- by other dogs. It seems a constant shift in dog population, as new ones come from other suburbs, creates a vicious struggle for survival...

They -- the south-Mumbaikars who own the city -- will say that is because of overflowing garbage bins in the suburbs. Maybe.

Or could it be that the Sterilisation programme is not happening this part of town? I would really like to know.

I remember being intrigued when the freshly sprung NGOs offering to do the sterilisations charged Rs 750 to sterilise a dog..That was three-four years back. It is free for a man, why was so much being needed for an animal .. I wonder what these NGOs are charging now, for each dog?

Despite this humungous amount being offered, the NGOs would have some hassle or the other about doing the programme satisfactorily -- last I remember they wanted allotment of space where they could do the sterilisations...

Questions I would ask authorities that are meant to look after the stray problem :

• How much funds have been allotted to Stray dog sterilisation?
  
• How much utilised?
  
• Give us the break-up areawise: allotments areawise -- each suburb for instance. More people vote from the suburbs than from the privileged South Mumbai. Yet we suburbanites get stick end of all such funding...
• What is the cost for each dog sterilisation? Break-up of the cost..
• Have u blacklisted non-performing NGOs...
  
• How are allotments made to these so-called NGOs? What is the special skill they bring to this task?
  

Of course, the most important question is, sort of unrelated to this and yet related to all this: is there enough anti-rabies injections to save those who get bitten.
How many in Mumbai annually? 50,000 of which 25 or so are fatal..
I remember reading of a political type once running from pillar to post to get a rabies vaccine for his kin bitten by a stray: he could not. Then what of us simple mortals?