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 (This article was written in January 2010)

I’ve lived in Domlur Layout for the past 18 years without knowing who my next door neighbour is - until I signed up to become an Area Voter Mitra. The month-long voter registration drive that my team and I ran in Ward No. 112, polling booth No. 94 ended today when I handed over my bounty - 190 registration forms for inclusion, correction, deletion, and transposition - to the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Ms N Sudha of Ward 112. But these numbers make only one side of the story.

The real story of this registration drive is one of self-discovery and the spirit of community participation that I always believed was non-existent in urban India (maybe it was just me who was missing!)

I signed up to be an AVM not knowing why I got myself into it. Like I said, I've lived here for 18 years in complete anonymity. I've reveled in it. How, I wondered, would I worm my way into the community now? How would I build a team, that too with strangers? I've never led a team in my life let alone create one. But since I had already committed to the cause, there was no testing the waters.

I had to jump in and swim.

My team materialized almost out of thin air. Help came in unbelievable ways - and sometimes in small packages. I learnt my greatest lesson in volunteering from 10-year-old Shyamala who simply walked up to me as I stood there talking to one of the RWA Presidents wondering where to begin and said, "Let me carry that yellow bag for you. Tell me what form you need and I'll hand it out."

Suddenly, I realized it was really that simple.

She might as well have said, "Just do it!" Over the next few weeks, Shyamala did much more than "carry that yellow bag." She showed up every evening at my doorstep after a long day at school eager to hit the streets and hand out the forms.

She spoke to people in the language of their choice - Kannada, Tamil, or English - and walked right into their hearts. Her enthusiasm was infectious. I found three wonderful girls - Saroji Sam-a 17-year-old pre-university student, Rashmi B-a 22-year -old BCA student from Vijaya College, and Sheela- a BPO employee, who showed incredible spirit. They warmed to the campaign very quickly and worked tirelessly to make it happen. Our modus operandi was simple. During the week, we knocked on doors and handed over the required forms.

Over the weekend, we collected them back. Amazingly, we hardly needed to use the flyers or posters to announce our collection points. The girls not only handed out the forms but went back to each of the houses to remind people to hand them back in. (Who can resist a 10-year-old who comes to your doorstep in the form of a walking-talking reminder?)

They became experts at scrutinizing documents. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) Quarters RWA President Mr. Manoharan let us use the Association Office premises for our first registration drive (the two subsequent drives were done out of my garage!) The Vice President Mr. Satyanarayan and one of the residents Mr. Gowda canvassed tirelessly among the residents urging them to "fill it up and turn it in." (Mr. Manoharan and Mr. Satyanarayan subsequently signed up as AVMs themselves.)

Ms. H. Vedavathi and Ms. N. Sudha, the ERO and AERO of Ward 112 respectively were very patient, accommodating, and willing in all my interactions with them. They were excited about the AVM concept themselves and delivered their promises of co-operation and support every time we approached them. They were extremely appreciative of and grateful for Janaagraha's assistance in cleaning up the electoral rolls.

As we went from door to door, we realized that not all urban citizens are apathetic - it is the opaquely convoluted process of voter registration that keeps them from exercising their franchise. Word spread like wildfire in the community about the registration drive and people from neighbouring wards began calling us and pestering us to get them on the rolls. They turned up day and night at our doorsteps wanting to get registered or have their details corrected. They wanted to know when the elections were going to be held, who the candidates were. This was a community that just needed to be heard.

We also faced public fury in some instances (which is still a lot better than apathy) - from people who have been living in the same house for 15 years and voted all their lives in the same polling station but found out on voting day (during the General Elections) that their names had been deleted (Tempers cooled as soon as we said "we're not from the government"). But overwhelmingly, people responded positively. When they didn't have the right documents and we turned them back to bring us what we needed, they came back 100% of the time. We took one step to reach out and the community took ten steps to meet us.

If I learnt one thing from the AVM experience it is this - we can all do little things in our community for the community; it harnesses the power of the collective which is really what democracy is about. We cannot do everything but we're not completely helpless either. We can choose to shake our fist at the system or we can open our fists and pick up one little thing and ask ourselves what we can do to change what we don’t like about it. Each one of us can do this and each time we will find others within the community waiting for a chance to do more than complain who in turn can find others. Change can happen when you simply pay it forward.