Trevelling through different parts of this rather special and extraordinary country with its amazing geographical diversity, its many styles of architecture and rich heritage of history through the centuries, its unmatched skills that lie embedded in the vast mass of people, is an experience spoiled by the failure of the administration to keep the environment clean and ensure that the infrastructure functions. It is truly distressing to see this lack of commitment that has become synonymous with the government babu and his boss, the politician.
India is 60 this year and will be celebrating her birthday with much pomp and show?but alas, with nothing substantive that will revive the public space, the responsibility of those who govern us. Maybe the Prime Minister, his cabinet, the disparate set of allies and all the chief ministers across the country should stand up and pledge, promise and take an oath by placing their hands on the heads of their sons and daughters, that they will ensure the daily collection of garbage, its delivery to large compost pits, and its transformation into fertiliser that it can then sell. This one act alone will restore dignity to life and living for all castes, classes, faiths and genders!
Imagine driving through any prosperous city that has clean sidewalks, street corners, all without the plastic bags, the other malba, the endless varieties of refuse that symbolise India. The stink will vanish, the avenues will look broader, people will smile, and maybe a bit of pride will awaken. Imagine an India with clean and covered drains, with neem, jamun, gulmohar, champa, kachhnar and jacaranda trees, sweet smelling bushes, raat ki ranis, marigolds and jasmine adorning the open spaces. Some of that untouched beauty still lives in some areas, far away in the unspoiled hinterland. We have just not learned how to incorporate these true strengths into the rapid process of change and ?development?.
Literature is replete with fine descriptions of the magic of India, the wonderful natural environment, the grand cities and forts, the varied vernacular building styles and techniques, tried and tested over centuries to deal with weather, climate and societal needs. Why have we killed that strength and reduced ourselves into an urban cesspit? Why have we discarded the best in building techniques, desperate to ape western cultures? Why did we fall in love with RCC and concrete, materials that do not breathe, that are unpleasant to live in and under, which are alien to us and our cultural patterns and traditions? Why did our PWD create the worst slums over the last six decades in the name of ?urban housing?? Those dreadful water tanks that tower above every town are the worst eyesores that are the symbols of post-independent India?s diluted and degraded aesthetic sensibility, one that the babu, who hijacked the ?right-to-design? for modern India, has to bear responsibility for. Centuries later, when this period of Indian culture is excavated and unearthed, it will be amongst the worst representations of the time.
Why have we reduced ourselves into an urban cesspit? Why have we discarded the best in building techniques, desperate to ape western cultures? |
If we went back to our roots, reinforced our traditional skills and practices, kept and enhanced the many elements that made us unique, we would be the favoured showcase for a world that has today begun to reject, rather emphatically, all that we, for some incomprehensible reason, are starting to ?copy?!
Why are we ridden with complexes and so transparently insecure about the indigenous strengths of our land? From ayurveda and homeopathy to organic farming and traditional water harvesting, the list of skills is unending. The finest repository for ?alternatives? lies within India, all tested and tried over centuries. Why are we letting ourselves down because of the insensitivity and lack of knowledge that our policymakers, leaders and administrators display with shameful abandon?
Wherever you look in the world, governments have been able build a civil society and give some basic dignity to the bulk of their people. Old, failed and predictable ideas, methodologies of implementation, systemic structures that affect society at all levels, have and continue to be radically revised. When will we join that international ?club??