CREATOR AT THE MERCY OF HIS CREATION. (28/03/2015)

Adjacent to the Kanhaiyanagar metro station is an astrologer’s office. It is housed in one half of a Shiva temple. What draws one’s attention is that the first floor of the temple has very intelligently been converted as his residence by the astrologer and since a Brahman cannot have toilet attach to his residence, the toilets and the bath is constructed at the other end on first floor directly above the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on the ground floor. It is saddening to find God at mercy of his creation. The whole structure is built on public space encroaching upon the pavement and the service lane. While God’s authority has been misused to construct a residence for self, faith has been put to question by constructing a toilet on the first floor. This is just one example. There are thousands of such illegal structures throughout Delhi and it isn’t surprising is that nearly each one of the structures encroaches upon public space. In fact, in a small stretch of just 20-25 kilometer to my office in Central Delhi, there are over hundred such structures that encroach upon public space to the consternation of the common commuter. And these belong to every religion that is professed in India. The priests and religious gurus have taken their religious rights granted under Article 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution much more liberally in absence of any administrative control while God fearing populaces remain mute spectators to such misuse. Some of these religious places are quite famous- the temple at Jhandewalan or the mosque at the Connaught. It is interesting to note that many of these religious structures have come up only recently; nonetheless they claim to have an ancient past. This is a clever ploy to capture public space and imagination- much alike the notorious deals of the land mafias. It is painful to see that even God remains a mute spectator to the wicked craftiness of His creation.

Gods also appear to have developed camaraderie with the residents of the numerous illegal colonies of Delhi. How else do we justify the fact that all places of religious congregation stand on illegal land much alike these colonies? A temple or a mosque is constructed illegally and then a whole colony is constructed around it illegally. Thus God is drawn unwittingly into the crime of His creation. It is indeed saddening that in Kaliyug, God finds Himself at the mercy of His creation.

Moving around Delhi, one comes across small temple built at the main gate of nearly every society, just opposite to the sentry gate. God thus finds a place parallel to the sentry of the Society. If this is the respect a society or a race bestows upon its God, their respect for elders can well be adjudged.   

Delhi has plenty of trees and it is common practice to dump old images and idols of Gods at the trunk of trees by the religious minded pupil, who replaces these with newer ones every year. However, while discarding the old ones, not adequate care is taken for their proper disposal. These images/idols etc are just dumped at the roots of the nearby trees (Pipal, Banyan, Neem etc) leaving them at the mercy of stray dogs. Is it morally, ethically or religiously right?

In this week of Navratra, we need to ponder upon the morality of our acts. Religion is a matter of faith. If we play such dirty tricks with God who we have never met, one can well imagine the level of our hypocrisy and deceitful behaviour with fellow human beings. How do we square up these un-religious activities and still claim to be real follower of God? Time for God's intervention to deliver divine justice.

FARMERS IN SEARCH OF ONE SQUARE MEAL: TRAGEDY OF 21ST CENTURY INDIA ( 21/03/2015)

The Budget session of Parliament was prorogued on 20^th instant. So was the People’s Parliament (Jan Sansad) on the Parliament Street. For one whole week, our chartered bus detoured from its chartered route as the Parliament Street, Jantar Mantar and the adjoining areas remained out of bound for common commuters. Even last week this stretch was cordoned off due to a two day dharna (sit in) called by Anna Hazare- an event attended by the present CM more to display his ‘respect’ to his former guru, than in support to the cause of the farmers. Delhi anyway doesn’t have any farmer. This week it was venue to a Jan-Sansad (People’s Parliament), organized by leaders of opposition parties, as if the Parliament, just at a stone’s throw away, was no more representative of the aspirations of common farmers. Thousands of farmers donning green cap descended here this week, demanding for withdrawal of the proposed Land Acquisition Bill. Agreed, these farmers were paid and ferried to the nation’s capital, but that does not reduce the importance of the issue at stake. And the issue is, ever since independence even though agriculture remains the primary agenda of every successive Government, the lot of farmers’ remains far from improved. Their life has not changed from the pen picture of the Indian farmer drawn by noted Hindi writer Munshi Premchand in his many stories a hundred years ago- even today they take birth in debt, live in debt and die, rather nowadays commit suicide, in debt. A single suicide by a farmer had stirred the nation in the sixties to such an extent that it had led noted film producer Mehboob to produce a Mother India. Today we have lost even such sensitivities. The numbers of suicides by farmers have increased in recent times, which put governments’ policies towards farm and farmers in the dock. It is high time for a serious introspection as to who actually gets benefitted out of Government’s policies ostensibly meant for the welfare of farmers. One may take sides on the proposed Land Acquisition Bill but one cannot deny that land remains the only capital of a farmer. Asking a farmer to part with his land and remain a farmer is like advising an entrepreneur to part with his capital and run a business. Isn’t it cruel? Isn’t it a fact that the lot of farmers remains pathetic and suicides committed by them have increased manifold in recent times? The rich have become richer while the poor poorer. This is indicative of the skewed policies of the Government, forwarded by economists for whom Peter Drucker had once viewed that “in all recorded history there has not been one such economist who has to worry about where the next meal would come from”. Isn’t it surprising that today the Indian farmer is worried at being unable to arrange one square meal for himself and his family? He is the same Indian farmer who, in the eye of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, “was the only grower and creator- the rest of the society was just a creeper”. Every political dispensation claim to be working for the welfare of farmers but it seldom translates into reality. This is the real apprehension of farmers leading them to oppose the proposed legislation on Land Acquisition. The Government needs to address this apprehension with all its sincerity and not bulldoze with its decision. This is the real challenge to ‘governance’ as successive ‘governments’ have failed in tackling such issues. If that doesn’t happen, it will only aggravate the situation and the nation may stand witness to more suicides by farmers which will indeed be tragic for the 21^st century ‘digital’ India.    

HUMBLE LIFE, HUMBLER LIVING (15/03/2015)

I made myself comfortable at the junction of two coaches in the metro. I looked around at fellow commuters. As usual I found people busy with themselves. With the advent of smart-phones, this has become the favourite pastime of commuters in Delhi. People prefer to spend time on their phones- either playing games, messaging, listening to music or simply surfing the net. Old and not so old gentlemen and ladies, young college going youths and children- they have become a slave of this gadget. They no longer admire the beauty of nature- the blue skyline from the elevated metro, so fresh and clear after a spell of rains in the second week of March. They even ignore the beauty of the setting sun behind a piece of cloud at a distance. The orange and red colour of sky merges with the blue sky and green trees below; making it a riot of colours as if its nature celebrating the festival of Holi. They do not find any joy in the chirping of birds outside or the in chuckle of a small child inside the coach, who chuckles with all his innocence when he finds himself at the same height as the birds flying across. They fail to note and appreciate the innocent and refreshing smile on the face of a child that is capable of reducing all stress and strain to a naught. These daily commuters appear totally exhausted and bereft of any enthusiasm to appreciate such small pleasures of life. Rather they prefer to unwind themselves using their smart-phones. I was therefore quite surprised to find a couple, in their twenties, engaged in animated discussion, as they appeared from a distance. Their hand movement and facial expression raised my curiosity as these appeared more spirited than usual. This couple stood out from the crowd that had got down to the normal practice of getting busy with their smart-phone. On careful observation I realized that they were deaf and dumb couple who were actually conversing in sign language. They appeared quite happy in spite of the fact that the Lord God had deprived them of the precious gifts of hearing and speech. I than realized the importance of these invaluable gifts in our life that Lord God has bestowed upon us. I closed my eyes to get a feel of such shortcoming- as if a blind man commuting on a metro. It was a painful experience- even if it meant for a couple of minutes. I opened my eyes and lo and behold! - The beauty of nature unfolded before my eyes. I considered myself fortunate that Lord God was kind to me and to millions like me who enjoy the precious gift of senses- speech, sight, smell, taste and hear. It is indeed unfortunate that we do not make the best of their use. We often tend to speak impolitely when we could be more polished and polite in our speech; we tend to look the other way when we could help a person in distress; our ears are receptive to listening ill of others when we could very well control what we intend to listen. Life is a beautiful gift from God. I am reminded of Osho who had philosophized: “respect life, revere life. There is nothing more holy than life, nothing more divine than life.  And life does not consist of big things. Life consists of very small things.” I believe we must learn to enjoy these small things of life and enjoy life to its fullest rather than becoming a tool in the hands of a mechanized gadget. As I stood there, thinking over these issues, my attention was broken by the announcement. It was Rohini (West) Metro station. I got down and proceeded towards my home.

THE ‘SMART’ CITY OF SMART ENCROACHERS (08/03/2015)

Two ambitious projects seem to have lost steam in the last nine months: the decision to develop 100 smart cities in India and to introduce bullet trains in India. At least the 2015-2016 general budgets did not make any commitment to substantiate the resolve. It must have come as a sigh of relief for Delhi. The city, I believe, is not yet prepared for such a switchover. If fact no city in India is qualified to become a smart city. However, I restrict myself to Delhi since the city is India’s window to the world. If the government takes a decision to go ahead with the ‘smart city’ project in the present situation, the move would ruffle the peaceful life of the city. Key 'smart' sectors for a ‘smart city’ include health care, transport, energy, water and waste disposal mechanism, not necessarily in that order. While commuting to and fro, I find that Delhi fare badly on each front. Delhi appears to be the hot-bed of diseases and pestilence. Like festivals we have a disease for every season. Dengue after monsoon, Swine Flu in retreating winter, water borne diseases in monsoon, Ebola anytime, heat-stroke in summer and deaths due to extreme cold in winter. Delhi leads any other capital city, among the developing and developed nations the world over, in outbreak of diseases.

Talking of civic amenities, the city is bursting at its seams with the inflow of immigrants  reducing every effort to a naught. Illegal colonies outnumber legal colonies. Such illegalities are not restricted to the poor. Even the well off are adept in such skills of encroachments. While poor encroach the roads and pavements, the elite encroach the available government land with the connivance of authorities. With pavements becoming the dwellings for poor, the pedestrians move over to encroach the adjoining parking space off the roads. Finally vehicles encroach the main road resulting in congestion and traffic jams regularly. Nearly every colony encroaches the adjacent vacant land and nearly every resident in a colony extends his construction and encroaches the common space. Invariably every shopkeeper encroaches any available vacant space near his shop and whatever space is left, are encroached upon by small time shopkeepers who sell their goods moving from place to place. Delhi without encroachment would appear un-smart .Life in Delhi moves on with all such encroachment that has become a way of life. Delhi encroaches upon smartly as it needs lot of guts to do so and the city does it quite smartly. In a place like Delhi where every inch is invaluable, the cost of the space that is encroached upon will run into billion of rupees. That such encroachment happen without any hurdle points to a very corrupt system.   

The public transport sans the metro needs a revamping. Even today the DTC runs decrepit buses, fit to be condemned. These buses are high on maintenance but they still ply as it suits the authorities, even if these buses are high on pollution, as well. The e-rickshaws, the Gramin Sewa (bigger autos) and the mini-buses - all put a huge question mark on the state of public transport in Delhi. 

Talking of pollution, Delhi outsmarts all other city the world over in terms of pollution. Newspapers reports have raised serious concern on the level of air pollution in Delhi. Environmental pollution as well people inhabiting the city with a polluted mind is issue of grave concern. The spurt in crimes against woman is a strong pointer in this regard. Even here they relish to encroach upon the privacy of women and become a self-styled keeper of society’s morality.

It is good the Government shelved its decision to make Delhi a Smart City. We need to learn lessons in civility before we can really embark on any ambitious project to make Delhi a Smart City.