I am continuing my exploration of my surroundings after 22 years of absence.

One thing I used to do when I was young was to attend political meetings. Since one of my uncles was a Communist and the other from Congress, it was very legitimate to me to attend meetings of both parties. And I did.

Political meetings fascinated me then. There will be huge crowds and some of the leaders spoke well. Some of them spoke well and were convincing. R Balakrishna Pillai is one such person. He was so brutal when he attacked the communists that you literally clapped.

In those days, leaders were few but audience was large. We waited for hours for the leaders to show up and we walked kilometers back home at night after the speech. Yet it was fun.

Coming back I notice that there is a fundamental difference in political meetings now. Basically there is no audience anywhere, but there is a proliferation of leaders.

I noticed it first time in Perumbavoor town. UTUC or some such organisation was explianing why globalisation is going to impact all of us. He had a travelling stage and few people were on the stage.

But there were no audience. None,

I saw that in front of the Municipal office in Aluva. I think it was something about explaining something on new school syllabus to the general public. There were over 30 people in the dias.

But there was no audience

I saw it in ernakulam bypass. This time the meeting was organised by congress party, judging by the whiteness of the stage. There was a big stage, over 20 speakers.

There was one police jeep parked right in front to keep law and order, just in case,

Both the speaker and the police should not have bothered,

There was no audience.

Yet these leaders spoke as if they are addressing a crowd. There speeches are eloquent as ever, They are very convincing, If only people would care to listen,

I dont think keralittes have become enlightened enough to ditch politics. We are one of the most politicized state.

It is just that with economic boom, everybody has something to do

They don"t waste time listening to political speeches.

I do..