Lock kiya jaye

In the end,India has taken it in its stride. In the midst of what was in many parts the hottest summer for decades,the election machinery whirred into action,and Indias much-maligned political class sweated across the country asking for wages,as Nitish Kumar puts it. Terror threats or no,the voters came out. A campaign that was already old by the time the first ballot was cast lasted for five more gruelling give-and-take weeks. For those who have been immersed in this election,in the call and counter-call of political back-biting and speculation,in the cut-and-thrust of theorising,in the layers of he-said-she-said reportage,it might be difficult to imagine that that is over. But it is.

From Saturday onwards,the discussions will no longer be between politicians inflating their prospects,between ideas-people unsure of their conclusions; it will be between leaders sure of their strength. For many observers,that will come as something of a relief. But it points to something else,something deeper. Elections,particularly our elections,are mammoth exercises,true. They are immersive experiences,yes. They change the fate of millions,certainly. But once the hurly-burlys done,once the battles lost and won,India will have a government. And it will know largely what it has to do; it isnt as if there is a startlingly wide range of options,with fiscal space so constrained,and with an externally-driven crisis at hand. The one greatest lesson to take home from this incredible effort of an election,as from all the ones that came before? That sensible thinking about policy and politics has ever-deepening roots in our democratic system.

Soon enough,real results not the fevered dreams of exit pollsters or the fervent hopes of tame partisan analysts or the fervid inventiveness of tired journalists will need to be gone over to understand how Indias thinking. But already some things can be understood about the process. First: those that attack electoral observers and officials,such as left-wing extremists in Indias interior,know precisely what they are doing. They recognise that,for so many in

India,elections are an empowering process,something that connects them to the wider world like roads. So they will attack road-makers and they will attack elections. For they wish no empowerment unless on their own terms. Second: that regardless of chattering-class venom for politics and politicians,India overall still expects great things from the political process. As the horse-trading begins,lets remember that.