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Dear Readers,

                     India is in the middle of its greatest national festival, the General Elections and boy oh boy! what a roller-coaster ride it has been so far for all of us, the electorate, the candidates, the netas, the bade babus and the ocean of people on the move both physically and in terms of their opinions. They are saying that this time over, the elections will be the toughest ones fought ever and judging by the grisly comment-hurling that the politicians have indulged into, this speculation does seem true in all earnest.

                     The day for voting in all most two-thirds of the constituencies in Rajasthan was declared to be April 17th. On the eve of that epochal event, most of the parts of western Rajasthan (including Jaipur and its environs) witnessed a strong dust storm. For me, the timing of the storm could not have been better. After dinner, when I was trying to settle down in my study, I heard strong winds blasting into the face of concrete buildings. Dust laden winds swooshed into our home's interiors through the edges of the sills after playing havoc in our tiny pedicured gardens. 

                    Thunder and lightening cracked forcefully while window panes smashed against their frames making alarming noises. I interpreted this effect as a divine message sent from the heavens. Someone somewhere up above is also watching this game closely. This storm was in a way their way of expressing their own predilections, or prophecies or warnings. While I sat in vapid vacuum waiting for this tempest to subside, my timid mind could not but think about what May 17th holds in its dawn for our nation......