A simple but important exercise

This weekend is perhaps, for many families a great temptation.
You are going to be asking yourself - since Monday has been declared a holiday, perhaps this is the time to go off on a long weekend.
It is a temptation most of us may not be able to resist.
But then there is a responsibility to be accomplished on Monday.
May 8 is the day on which the state goes to the polls. A day on which we are called to exercise our franchise. To cast the ballot.
Perhaps, this is not the most exciting thing to do, you may tell yourself.
Perhaps you want to go off on a holiday and escape from the humdrum of elections.
Is the holiday more important than casting your vote?
The poll campaign is over. The candidates of our constituencies have presented themseves and it is our turn to decide who we want to represent us and our neighbourhood.
More and more people among the educated and the well-off have abstained from voting.
Mylapore registered one of the lowest polling percentages ever in the last election to the Lok Sabha.
People prefer to sit at home, watch TV, sleep tight or go off on a holiday.
They have their reasons for keeping away from the polling booth.
One of the positive developments that I have noticed in the run up to the May 8 elections, has been the efforts that many people have taken to encourage people to vote.
In the Ashok Nagar-K K Nagar areas, we found members of community organisations visiting houses and talking to the residents.
In Mylapore-Adyar, some of the candidates themselves have been goading people to vote on May 8.
If you do not approve of the men and women who are the local candidates, you now have the option to express that opinion at the booth.
Remember, it is this simple exercise - of voting - that we are called upon to execute once in a while that makes us what we are today.