One of the great advantages of being 74 years old is that you have a bag full of memories of campaigns, votes and results stretching back over an entire historical period. Some are good, some not so, a few amusing and a few puzzling one too.

There are also those that pass before your eyes and you don't even know that they were here. Like hearing a knock on the door and opening it and finding none making you wonder if there really was a knock or not. I guess it takes all kinds.

My life has been a travel filled one too with work in many lands and oddly I have seen both elections and non-elections too elsewhere. In a way one can sense the difference just by being there. I remember Obama's election in the US in 2008 which mattered to all and enthusiasm of all those around as evidence.

On the other hand, I was present in Nigeria too when a provincial election was being be held and the entire scenario was surreal because quire frankly none knew what the election was all about and few cared at all. Life didn't change much after the voting and the people -voters and non-voters seem to know it well beforehand.

BD 1970

The 1970 election in (East) Pakistan was the most momentous election of them all because the surrounding events led to the final stage of the birth of Bangladesh. The historical process may have begun long back but the final phase was ushered in by this event. Pakistan military refused to hand over power to the electoral victor Awami League and chose violence instead. It wasn't a smart move as it ended up with a much bigger loss for Pakistan and its guardian army.

What I remember was the enthusiasm of the voters and the very festive mood. People saw it as reward for the very successful 1969 movement which toppled long term ruler Ayub Khan. He began his journey as a ruler in 1958 through a military coup, switched to civilian rule in 1962 and held the 1965 elections based on Indirect voting through the electoral college system called "basic democracy".

He was elected as the President in that polls, even ran a "Decade of Development" campaign in 1968 but people by then had enough and taken to the streets and soon he was out and in came Yahya. He was the then Pak army chief who too soon marched out after Pakistan army lost to India in 1971 as Bangladesh was born as a state.

The 1970 elections were therefore very historic indeed but then none enjoyed the fruits of that electoral labour as it ended in the war of 1971 not victory. So post 1971 is another set of reality, linked to but not produced by the elections. It's a war baby not an electoral child to put it succinctly.

Everyone had expected the AL to win but not that massively. We sat through the night as the election results were announced which was an incredible landslide in favour of the AL. As always everyone hoped for a brighter day but instead had a war which is never a pleasant even to experience. Instead of provincial autonomy we ended up with a state war.

2008 USA

A more pleasant memory of an election was the 2008 victory of Barack Obama which changed so much the notions many held about the US and race relations. In some ways, it indicated a major shift in the way race was viewed in the US for Obama was the first black person to become the US President.

In 2008, I had just been appointed as the Oak Fellow on International Human Rights at Colby College located in Maine. As I travelled from Canada via air to the US and first touched down in NYC, I sensed the change. Suddenly, the environment was different from the polite Canadian world and both electoral stakes and emotions were high.

For the black population it was their biggest defining moment in their US history, not about electing a leader but becoming mainstream and equal with the rest of the US population. The intensity was very high. It was their election so to speak.

Colby College was located in Maine, a much calmer part of the US but the college itself was full of very enthusiastic Obama supporters including the students, almost all Whites. It was a typical liberal institution and they all wanted Obama to win. The students were all supported by the faculty members and it was quite a collaborative campaign.

The students did the door- to-door campaigns too and everything was very nice and polite. On the night of the counting, the college provided free pizza for all who stayed awake to watch the counting. I remembered the same night feasting in 1970 but the ending was so different. Obama won, my students cheered and life went on. For us, it was so different.

But let there be elections. It's fun too as many respondents said during a research, we did on why people want elections. Plus, hopefully much more.