It’s still dark at five o’ clock in the morning, and the streets of Purnia are deserted. I have to get to Kadwa block, a mere 26 kilometres away in neighbouring Katihar district.
It is the last day of campaigning and my only chance to get a hold of Shakeel Ahmed Khan, the Congress candidate from Kadwa. It was the only Congress story on my #BiharMobile2015 plan, and without it the election coverage would be incomplete.
Our driver, Raju, knows nearly as little as we do of the route. He is the one that suggests Google maps. Has Google mapped this corner of Bihar? Even the staff at our hotel wasn’t sure about the route to Kadwa.
But Google did. Google knows everything. The voice giving me directions even had an Indian accent.
But Google was wrong.
And by the time we realised it, we were already about 30 km off route. By seven, there seemed no point in even trying. All we could do was abuse the internet giant and have a cup of chai.
In spite of the exhausted and exasperated expression, or perhaps because of it, Bhola Poddar and Dhirendra Kumar Pathak came up to me and asked if I was a journalist. With barely an acknowledgement from me, they began telling us why and how the BJP was going to win the Kadwa seat and the Mahagathbandhan had no chance.
Every election is about a different issue. Some are about caste, some are about religion. This one is about vikas. And vikas purush Narendra Modi will save Bihar.Bhola Poddar, Farmer and BJP supporter, Kadwa District
But won’t the significant Muslim population impede the BJP’s chances? Not according to Bhola’s neighbour and political fellow traveller Dhirendra Kumar Pathak.
There is no united Muslim vote here. The NCP will divide the vote and we [BJP] will win. It was because of the BJP that Bihar developed. With Lalu, Nitish will bring back jungle raj.Dhirendra Kumar Pathak
Before I could return to my tea and process what Bhola and Dhirendra had told me, an overwhelming smell of stale country liquor took over. Nain Das, who I later found out was a share cropper on Dhirendra Kumar’s land, approached us with élan. “Nitish ne kuch nahin kiya? Kaise bol sakte ho!”, he slurred and shouted. The presence of new faces and a little snifter in the morning had clearly given him the courage to speak his mind in front of his ‘boss’.
Nitish is the neta of the poor, the rich people of our village [pointing to Dhirendra] don’t like him. But there are always more poor than rich. Nitish has given our children cycles, girls education, and everyone pensions. We are with him.Nain Das, Farmer
As Nain Das’ friends tried to calm him down, Dhirendra’s wife Lalita Devi rushed to her husband’s defence.
Development is not Nitish’s agenda, power is. He has gone with Lalu and the Congress for his own gain. If he wins, we will never be safe. We voted against Lalu, we will vote against Nitish.Lalita Devi Pathak
This was the first overt criticism of Nitish I had heard and perhaps a sign of the polarisation in the Seemanchal region. But polarisation is an easy word that leads us away from complexity. It was a little snippet of a conversation, but it was an example of how elections are about so much more than they are reduced to. It’s caste vs development, but it’s also rich and poor, gender and equality, and family loyalties. And by the way, Lalita told me where Shakeel Ahmed, the Congress candidate was campaigning. We got the interview.
So despite Google’s best efforts, a chai saved the day.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)