That reminds me of a change that has happened for the worse. In the old days, there was an election season and then it would end and governments got on with the job of governance. Today, we seem to be permanently in an election season, which leaves political parties with little time to build up their organisational structure and governments with little time to govern.

We need to think seriously about a fixed date on which elections should take place simultaneously for Parliament and all the state assemblies. If the Election Commission wants to draw this exercise out over six months, so be it, but let us have a single election season every five years instead of several every year. We have barely finished with Punjab and Uttarakhand when elections in Uttar Pradesh loom, and when those are done, political parties will turn their attention to Gujarat, which is the next major state where polls are due.

Surely, this cannot be good for either politics or governance. On that happy note, I end these reflections with the hope that none of you confuse the word veteran with dotage. Columnists do not retire; they go on and on and on. Just like politicians.