for the chinese community in kolkata elections are as routine as rolling up dumplings every morning they vote because they have to not because they hope something good will come out of it ignored by politicians the dwindling chinese population is getting desperate to be seen heard and belongthey have been in india for generations indeed many are indian citizens yet six decades after india turned a democracy they are ignorant of what it means they vote but only out of a sense of duty theres no pride in participating in the worlds largest democratic process and no interest in knowing what happens before or after the ballot is castliving a cocooned existence in tangra and teriti bazar the chinese community in kolkata has little or no interest in the great indian elections the posture is not one of defiance it is simply because they dont understand what it means most of us are culturally alien to the concept of democracy some of our forefathers came to kolkata when china was under imperial rule so the tales weve heard and passed on are of an oriental mystical land freedom or its absence does not figure in the story because no one has experienced life under the present communist regime in china explained septuagenarian chang wei hsing relaxing with other senior members of the community at the pai may chinese school grounds in tangrachang is a chinese citizen who does not have the right to vote despite being born in kolkata and never having stepped out others like him acquired chinese passport after being denied indian citizenship because they were born prior to 1950 chinese born in india after the year india became a republic are naturalized citizens indifference both ways i dont vote because i am not an indian citizen my children are indians and will vote it is a duty they will perform as citizens beyond that theres no interest in elections it doesnt matter to us we dont understand and political parties have not tried to explain it to us said hsieh ying hsing a seventh generation resident of kolkata and boss of popular chinese joint big boss preelection campaign is rather lacklustre in tangra with parties going through the motions of rallies and streetcorner meetings to woo the nonchinese living in the locality theres no attempt to address hseihs children or other indians of chinese origin huan bao tannery owners council honorary director ajit kumar sen who has been associated with the chinese for years felt political parties did not try enough to engage with the community perhaps they parties feel there arent enough votes to warrant the effort hence they dont bend backwards to woo the chinese like they do to win over other minorities he said the area that the chinese community lives in lays claim to not one but two mps while teriti bazar falls in the kolkata north constituency 75 of tangra is in kolkata south and the rest in kolkata north but