When the world changed

Once again, the import of the moment sank in only at home. The world had changed. And how! The true benefits of the economic reforms initiated by Manmohan Singh as the finance minister in 1991 began to be felt by the burgeoning middle class. For once, one felt proud to be an Indian - forget the fact that the global economic slowdown began just four years later in 2008.

Now, come to May 16, 2014. For close to two years, it had been widely believed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had little chance of being returned in the 16th general elections. Would the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance return? The answer was extremely iffy and the general feeling was that the verdict would be fractured. In fact, there was even talk that Pranab Mukherjee, then the government's principal trouble-shooter and the effective No.2 in the cabinet, was elevated to the presidency as the services of an astute politician, acceptable across the spectrum, would be required after the election verdict.

Then came the December 4, 2013, elections to the Delhi assembly and the Aam Aadmi Party, whom no one gave a chance, emerged with 28 seats in the 70-member house, just eight short of a majority. Not surprisingly, its government lasted a mere 49 days, but not before it declared its intention of contesting over 300 Lok Sabha seats.

This seemingly upset the apple cart - but for just about a month. Till polling began April 7 in the 10-phased general election, the situation remained unclear - remember the talk of a Third Front or a Federral Front - though it was widely believed that the BJP could somehow pull it off.

Thus, the exit polls on the evening of May 12, when balloting ended, did little to remove the suspense as the numbers differed widely. Only one got it right.