This note is for holders of 'politics is so dirty ya. So not voting...' kind of an opinion. Please read on...

Was passing by the mustering centre this morning dropping someone for the election duty. Have done this for the last couple of years now. The delegated staff have a list of activities to be performed.

► Be present early in the morning the previous day at the mustering centres.

► Collect EVMs and related materials

► Travel to the assigned booths today in the bus or vehicle given by the govt.

► Stay overnight at the booth with or without basic facilities such as water or bathroom and even a bedroll to sleep. Share the space with insects, mosquitoes and rodents/snakes in worse conditions.

► Wake up, shit and bathe before 5 is there is a bathroom plus water. Else just change into something else.

► Run a mock poll to check the EVMs functioning early in the morning by 6. Report accordingly.

► Start polling. Stay put. Eat if possible. Else just stay.

► Return EVMs for demustering. Return late night tomorrow or day after tomorrow morning.

The manpower for this:

► Cops.

► Men across professions. They cannot shun the duty else they'd have an FIR on them under PRA.

► Women, mothers, ladies all ages. Respect.

► Support staff.

Numbers are HUGE. Operation is respectable and massive.

Do us a favor. Even if you hate your local candidate, just go and cast your vote by sparing a few mins in the line assuming it's some shopping you are doing. Attach pleasure to the end result and motivate yourself.

Everyone is out there braving it to save democracy. Don't be mere WhatsApp and fb warriors. Go. Vote.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.

The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.

"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.

"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.

Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.

As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.

Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.

Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.

He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.

Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".