Every election season, RWA uncles start their chorus: 'It's your duty to vote!' The phrase is delivered with the solemnity of an officer handing out a gun. Except, instead of being sent off to the front, you're told to become election fodder. But hang on. If you don't feel like voting - whether because your shoelace broke, your dog looks lonely, or you simply prefer binge-watching reruns of Succession - you don't have to. Democracy is not mandatory attendance at a family wedding reception. It's more like the gym, where it's up to you to avail of - or not - your membership.

Guilt-trippers will try their emosanal attyachaar - invoking what democracy really means, kartavya paths that need to be taken, how people in authoritarian societies dream of having the right to vote, yada yada. Ignore them. Your great-grandfather didn't jump colonial barricades so you could be bullied into standing in line behind a man glued to his phone listening to an off-key jagran. Voting is a right, not a hostage situation. The EVM's not your saas demanding you eat more pedas. It's an option, like karaoke night. If you want to sing, sing. If you don't, stay home and spare the world your rendition of 'Pyar Karne Wale' from Shaan. So, next time someone 'vote- shames' you, tell him (and it's almost always a him) to go and press his own EVM button, while you act on your mandate.