Happy Birthday Bapu! [276/365]

More than a year ago, when we celebrated Anna's vision of an India without corruption, we cheered him along and our rulers trembled. The strength of our cheering only grew. The ground shook under our feet and we all thought we were witnessing history in the making. We hung onto every word that he spoke. We paid his rejuvenation bills and hospital stays. It was a small gesture for a short man in khadi who'd captured our imagination, again.

Circa October 2nd, 2012, the magic has long gone. In a sad turn of events that lacks any inspiration or direction, the Team is now fighting amongst each other. The man has become a mere shadow of his former self. I won't say why the team broke up but I can say how they could have stayed together.

Decades ago, when Gandhi fought for our independence he faced a lot of setbacks too. The Empire didn't take him seriously and when they did, they either punished him severely to make him an example, or didn't punish him at all so that he does not become a martyr. They paraded him as the small man who dared to take on the might of the Empire. And when the Empire wasn't trying to break our morals, we fought amongst ourselves and behaved in a manner completely unfitting and kept straying from our path of nonviolence and noncooperation. We showed how violent we were. Gandhi came dangerously close to abandoning his movement several times during the struggle and eventually we killed him. 

Predictably I watched the movie 'Gandhi' again today. One of the most endearing quotes that he makes is 'An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind'. As I let that quote sink in, I thought of the many leaders and beauty pageant winners who quote Gandhi as their role model. While I won't deny how Gandhi is a wonderful person and probably one of the finest human beings to have walked this earth, I question how despotic politicians and tyrants can claim to follow a man who propagated nonviolence and won.
Case in point- Obama. He is a eloquent orator and a charming leader. However, as a man who proudly presided over the execution of another man he does not deserve to quote Gandhi.
Anna does not deserve to claim Gandhi to be his role model either for the way he has given up his movement only because he didn't get the footfall he expected. Gandhi fasted unto death to mourn the fact that he fought for the independence of a country where her people were killing each-other in vengeance. Anna fasted to arm-twist the government to agree to his terms. Gandhi could have fasted to arm-twist Jinnah and the Empire into not dividing India, but he didn't. He could have fasted to get justice for the killers of innocent civilians in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He could have fasted for vengeance but didn't.

Gandhi could have been the small man but he wasn't the simple fool that the British thought him to be.
Our mistake was that we put Anna into Gandhi's sandals and expected him to run a marathon. Anna is a simpleton. Surely, his intentions are good but he is no Gandhi.

Advice to Anna: Watch the movie 'Gandhi' pronto.
And oh yeah. Happy Birthday, Bapu

Cut the crap [275/365]

Today is the 1st of October.
About two months since Bangalore became the Stink City, its rulers decreed that we would start segregating our trash from today.
The intentions are certainly good, but there is just a few untied ends.

Our rulers forgot to educate their underlings.
I live in an apartment block of 20 families. Our street has about half a dozen apartment blocks and about 300 families. That's about 500 people on one street. Everyone's heard the noise, but no one knows what to do or how to go about it. We have not seen any awareness campaigns on our street or even in our block.

The pournakarmikas (trash collector) are unaware of what to do either. Our trash-collector has not picked up trash for the past 3 days. One of the families had a birthday party yesterday and dumped a ton of plastic cups and plates in and around the blue garbage bin. It was quite a party because I saw a lot of pastry boxes strewn all around.
Our civic sense is appalling. I have very dear relatives abroad and they tell us envious accounts of how streamlined the trash segregation and collection system is in New York and other parts of the civilized world. It is a surprise that we as a country haven't started segregating our trash yet. C'mon folks! 

Bangalore Circa 2012: This could be our past

Couple of years ago, when I was in Cochin, they had a similar dilemma. The government took a stand that they would not sanction apartment blocks without recycling units within their premises. Existing ones had to build one. Ofcourse, you know how that goes- People immediately retaliate when they are told to do something. The trash collectors there were instructed to accept only trash which has already been segregated.
Gradually the voices of dissent faded and the city is a lot cleaner, and the trash is being processed in a more scientific way than just dumping them in a landfill. Today, the city is a wonderful example of what happens when the government educates its people.

Back in Bangalore, we treat our garbage the same way we treat our exes. Out of sight is out of mind. We have been dumping all our shit into some village for decades without bothering to understand the way we have been stinking up their lives. And when they revolted, I was secretly happy. What took them so long?

And today, as I woke up, I spoke to my pournakarmika and though she's heard about the segregation, she has no clue what she or we are supposed to do. The situation isn't any better with the 500 of us on our street. I hear voices of dissent and complaints of how this is going to add to their daily chore of things to remember and do. I hear animated conversations of how the government is so inefficient and corrupt. I wont write how this conversation digresses into a list of all the things that is wrong with India.

I wait to see how many Bangaloreans will spare the time to segregate their trash.
Fines are the way to go, make them higher. Use the money that is collected as fines to build and maintain infrastructure and support recycling efforts.
Don't dilute the message and eventually everyone will fall in place.
What I find most surprising is how we have an aversion to the waste we create. 

Holy cows and stray dogs will find their picnic is over and move to other States where there is plenty to eat.


Ready Reckoner