Being a Fly on the Wall...can we afford it?

I was watching some Indian TV channels yesterday and was surprised to see so many ad campaigns by the political parties and realized.. elections were round the corner. It made me think how unaware and un-interested we are.. especially this generation (the 20s, 30s and 40s). I know my grandparents were somewhat involved, they had seen the Freedom Fight and participated or contributed to it one way or the other, our parents were busy building their lives in the Free India and saw the formative years of India as a free nation and then just learned their way to live and let live in India as it grew from being just a dot on the world map to a 3rd world country to one of the leading economies of the world (twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and fourth largest in purchasing power according to Wikipedia) Our generation had the advantage of being exposed to good education, lot of us were fortunate enough to come to the west and be exposed to even wider range of cultures and be able to build our careers in the first and second world countries. Having seen this and exposed to the 'world', I think we are in general more aware and have the potential to do lot more but, when it comes to putting it to some good use in our own home country, we are so far away. We can talk in our parties and pubs for hours together about how India is so backward and how much we like the western way of life and how corruption is rampant in India, why there is no value for merit and what we crave about the western way of life, etc. Yet, when it comes to atleast paying attention and being aware of whats happening and doing our bit, we are mostly just flies on the wall of whichever community we reside in. I think as a generation we have lot more potential to make a difference and 'Be the change we want to see in the society'.
To start with, lets all become more aware and put in more effort to
1) Register to vote ,
2) Find out more about the candidates in your constituency and lastly
3) Take the time to vote on the day and more importantly you can even cast your protest vote if you don't like any of the candidates.
I know the election process is plagued with a lot of cheap tactics to attract the masses and a valuable vote that decides the future (atleast for 4-5 yrs) can be bought for as little as Rs. 100 and one bottle of cheap liquor. If we can come together to spread awareness about why this is not how we build our country's future, that will also go a long way. I know we cannot change the entire system in one election but, there is a lot can be done in one election and by not doing anything you are not helping the situation at all... so, at least do your bit and pass on the word.. a change can be made one step at a time.