This isn’t an election! Where are the posters? Where are the songs? Where are the massive rallies and rath yatras? Where are the music videos and film stars at the rallies? Where are the scandals and tears? Where are the election commission diktats? Seriously, we can teach a thing or two about elections to the Americans.

I attended an Obama rally in Virginia, and couldn’t help but compare the difference in covering an election rally in two countries. There were no crowds ferried in by truckloads by the local politician. Nobody had been paid to come. People had actually driven up in their own cars, parked in the lots and then walked to the open grounds where President Obama was addressing the rally. People queued and waited patiently to get in. Security was tight but nobody complained. There were porta-toilets, and drinking water available.