India, April 25 -- 'Kya lagta hai, kaun aayega iss baar?' (What do you think, who will come to power this time?) A journalist who has freshly landed in an election-bound state asks her local driver. This question is the surest icebreaker in India during elections.

The experienced driver is likely expecting this. He looks at his overhead rear-view mirror, searching for giveaways of political persuasions, if any, from the journalist's appearance - to calibrate his response. He represents the voice of the people of the state. He is the ground report. He is the mandate and will be duly quoted at 8:30 am on the results day, when the trends of the first 15 postal ballots appear on-screen. Who cares? It is too hot outdoors to go around asking p...