Twenty five kilometres down the highway that connects Muzaffarnagar to Panipat via Shamli, on the fringe of western Uttar Pradesh, we slow down, stop at a small crossroad and roll down the window of our car.
A young child shows interest and we ask for directions to the village where a local election meeting is to be held shortly.
“Rally hai kya?” he asks, instead of giving us the direction. He doesn’t appear to be of the age to understand politics but nonetheless is excited at the prospect of an election meeting close by. He appears keen to guide us provided he gets a ‘lift’.
Eventually, our contact calls and after ascertaining where we were, asks us to stay put as he will go past where we were and lead the way to the venue of the meeting to be addressed by the Samajwadi Party candidate, Sudhir Panwar, a genteel professor of zoology and member of the UP Planning Commission.
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