Lincoln’s voice came directly from the heart. So he continued: "Let us resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom. And that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." It was at that juncture that Lincoln cleared his throat not because something was stuck in it but because he felt he had said something overwhelming. And before the camera clicked, his speech was over.

Same was the case with Gandhi. He, too, never delivered a throaty speech. Sometimes he spoke in monosyllables. His silence was as eloquent as his speech. People learnt as much from his silence as from his speech. But some of his followers had to clear their throats as often as they had to clear their conscience. I am referring to those guilty men who forced Partition down the throats of unwillingly people.

In poetry, clearing the throat is a poet’s birthright. Balwant Singh Nabhvi, a Punjabi poet of no mean quality used to say that a poet cannot hide three things: ishq (love), mushq (fragrance) and khang (cough). Balwant Singh died coughing, like Manto, Majaaz, Meera Saab and Mukhtar.

Balwant Singh always kept with him a bottle. He called it cough mixture but nobody knew what exactly it was: rum, Old Tom or plain vodka. That gave him a kick and people liked his poetry which was a mixture of muse and medicine.

With singers and musicians, clearing the throat is more than their birthright. It is their fundamental right. From bade to chhote ustad all have cleared their throats before riaz as well as recital. A classical musician of fame used to gargle before beginning his raga, gargle not in the green or the back room but on the mike right before his audience. People heard dulcet notes even in the sound of the gargle.

Come to a clergyman and you find that his throat is always sore. And so is the case with a politician, particularly a defeated one. "Why is his throat so bad?" asked a voter after the poll results were declared.

"You know he has lost his deposit", replied the other.

And he will keep it like that till the next elections.

Now when the elections are approaching these sore throats will re-appear. Like monsoon frogs they will dominate the election scene making life noisy and unbearable.