City voters make full use of holiday

After all the hustle and bustle of voting, some Bengalureans spent the rest of election day to get a well-deserved break.

Bharath Chowdhary, co-founder and CFO, Apozem Naturals Pvt Ltd, took this day to reflect on the current political scenario with friends and spend time with family.

He says, “After I cast my vote on Saturday, I met up with a couple of my friends at a cafe and discussed our thoughts about the future government. Sharing our political views was important as it was the hot topic for the day.”

The rest of his day was spent with his family for a pre-Mother’s Day celebration.

“It was a small family gathering at midnight to celebrate the day with my mother and my sister-in-law who became a mother recently. It was a well-spent day and even in the midst of IPL, it was great to see people coming out of their homes for what I call the Karnataka Political League (KPL),” he adds.

Food blogger Caroline Radhakrishnan spent her time in a resort after she voted.

“I woke up pretty early so I could plan my day. After voting at 7 am, I headed out to a resort on the outskirts of the city with some other food bloggers. The place had a mango orchard and other fruit trees. Though the day was sunny, our long walk in the orchard made it quite relaxing. This day was definitely very fruitful. I cast my vote and also took the much-needed break from my mundane routine,” says Caroline.

Nothing can be as meditative as cooking. And when you are sharing the kitchen with one of the greatest cooks — your mother — it is total bliss.

After Ivy Emmanuel and her family cast their vote, they came home and prepared a hearty lunch. Ivy says, “My mother and I cooked a nice meal for everyone at home and my husband helped us by arranging the dining table. It was a day well spent since we are always busy and hardly get time together. During lunch, we had a 45-minute detailed conversation about the elections and what the future would be like.”

Ivy says that there are only two things that the family follows religiously — Christmas mass and going to vote.

“We don’t do a lot of things together as a family. Thus, Saturday was one of the days when we all were very excited,” she says.

Alex Sebastian, an account manager at an ad agency, played a friendly match of frisbee with his friends to see who would win the elections.

“We are a team called ‘Air Traffic Control’. We played a fun game to decide our own exit poll in the evening — where Congress came through. Since it was also my birthday, I took my family out for lunch,” he says.

It seems like Bengalureans are certainly smart at striking a balance when it comes to mixing work and play.