Dehradun, Nov. 15 -- Turn left or turn right. Whichever way you turn, you can feel the throb in the air. If it's not blue, it's red. Election fever hit a friend of mine, when he was asked to join the campaign. Reports have it that it went off quite well - well almost. Included in the package was a night halt in a hut. 'It's the done thing these days!' He was assured. Arrived as darkness set in, after the usual song and dance and dinner, he called it a day.

'That was that!' Or so he thought, slipping into a cot, wrapped in mosquito webbing.

'After a hard day of campaigning, I nodded off. Suddenly I felt a tingling on my head!' he remembers, adding: I thought someone was tucking me into bed.' Then it crawled on to his face. He jumped up w...