It was extraordinary to see the number of people from across the world who thronged to have a darshan of Amma. Her response to all those who had come to see her on her 50th birthday was a big hug and if you asked some of the overseas devotees what they got from Amma, they said, love. Obviously, love seems to be in short measure in the advanced world that seems to have become sterile with over-consumerism and with being slotted into whatever they have chosen to be slotted into!
Our babas and ammas seem to have understood that unhappy, unfulfilled, I-have-everything market and have pitched themselves successfully into a world that does not even understand the language they speak. Feel is enough. The United States, despite its great bravado of being the strongest power on earth, seems to have a growing number of rather fragile and bruised people who are reaching out to people of the poor and struggling, exploited world, for love, compassion and solace.
Heavyweight businessmen and women were there with Amma presenting their vision for the future! The jamboree made a far greater impact than the CII ones that dot our calendars through the year. And Amma on her part reaches out to the poor and underprivileged. Hospitals, learning institutions et al have been her contribution to India. She seems to be doing what governments in this country have failed to do. And, it is not her alone.
There are many such groups and organisations that give ? and give with genuine belief and effort. Their operations are clean and competent in comparison to anything the babus have created and bequeathed to this country over 50 years. Filth and a lack of maintenance with lazy and incompetent careless staff is what the government, manned by the babu, has given the Indian people. Private initiative has been far superior. Most of what affects the lives of ordinary people should be removed from the octopus-like grip of the babus!
There used to be a work ethic in this country which we have, alas, lost. It was called shramdaan. Communities joined hands to do for the community and that was their contribution to the land that sustained them. Forgotten in this cold and indifferent age, the people who once did for themselves knowing what they required, have today become victims of unthinking administrators who thrust substandard works on them. The deterioration in India is because the people and administrators have been polarised completely. There is no respect for each other.
One way of restoring a semblance of dignity into the changing landscape is by making sure that the babu works in conjunction with those in his jurisdiction, involving them in the betterment of their environment and needs. The business of lording it over those who in fact know better, is not acceptable to the people anymore.
Conserving our cities is another area that has not been understood. In Delhi, for instance, the ancient and the new live side by side. The ancient sites are neglected and those who live in the vicinity of such areas have no civic amenities. Open drains breed all manner of disease, lanes are not connecting walkways but instead a pattern of potholes, there is no municipal presence at all. Wherever the government wants to isolate a monument, it sticks a blue board in front and believes it has done its duty.
They have forgotten that cities, both old and new, live because they are peopled and the people need the municipalities to provide the basics. If this becomes the criteria for conserving cities and towns with huge historical wealth, we would have succeeded in our task of drawing a fine balance between modernity and tradition. Why have we not learned some lessons from Rome and Athens?
If, in every city of India where there is a great ancient site or monument, we could create a fine prototype, those experiments could be replicated by government agencies alongwith local groups of citizens, to ensure the success of such projects. These places would, overnight, become wonderful areas for tourism, for both Indian and overseas visitors. It would generate a sense of pride, and conservation would gradually become a way of life.