This column may or may not be published in a Maharashtra that has a new Chief Minister. In an ideal world, there should be one, because so many men — it does seem as if India has reconciled itself to being a country driven by the male of the species alone — applied for the position and there were rumours of some party or another winning the election.

I don't take elections as seriously as I once did, and suspect millions of my fellow Bombayites share that sentiment if voter apathy is to be believed. No one bothers to ask why we feel this way though, even though the answer plays itself out in public after every major election. I struggle to keep track of who these politicians are and what they represent because they start the year with one party and often end up in a completelydifferent one.