Yeah, this is about my home land. The people, their problems, them being the problem..
Transport:
Ohh yeah. We don't have any government buses. All we have is buses running on contract, the owners of which consider people equivalent to pigs ready for slaughter. Here is a personal example, Khandwa to Indore is a 130 kms distance, with a private bus every 15 mins. Yet, if you want to go to Barwaha or Sanawad, which are exactly halfway, you are refused. After an hour or so of patience and hatred for these people, all you get is "Samaan upar patko aur khade ho jaao, Indore ki sawaari baithegi" (Throw your luggage on the roof, and get up. Seats are for people to Indore). And they don't give a damn whether you are old or sick or whatever. You can get lost for another hour in a gruelling 45 deg C. I just wonder every time I go back home, is there any way, this guys can learn to be human?
And its not that the economics benefit them in any way by this behaviour. They get an even higher number of passengers mid way, and their buses won't be empty for a single second, but there is just this plain obnoxiousness filled in those smelly breathes of liquor and tobacco. No wonder, every 6 months or so, a bus driver gets beaten, glasses of the bus shattered by the public. And pity, we think, we are gonna be back to the golden days! Trust me, if you are planning to visit MP, do so by your own vehicle. You will love the heart of India if you don't get to see the malice.
Electricity:
OOOOoooooooooooooooooohh.. Electricity. Yeah, we get that some times. Usually, in patches of 1 or 2 hours. And mind you, for most places, this patches come once or twice a week. Every home has inverters and generators (and these generators run on kerosene purchased from a control shop -- have huge 'gifts' for the environment).
I agree that bigger cities have industries, which demand power. But why is it that even in the distribution of home consumption electricity, small cities are treated as inferiors? Don't we have a right to live? Or is it the case that "Kyunki saans bhi kabhi bahu thi" for bigger cities is more important than drinking water of villages.
Every year, newspapers write, "Students from small places crack this, that". I felt it, I really did, when a maa says, "Son! Don't study now. Lights are gone! We need to save some battery for the fan in the night..". This is just plane wrong. Standing in the middle of three power producing dams, we produce a huge amount of electricity. And all we ask for is equality. Lights in our lamps, nothing more. Lights for our students, nothing more. Fan for our worn outs, nothing more.
Change:
Madhya Pradesh is one state, where you will find the highest rate for change -- the 1Re, 2Rs and 5Rs coins. I think, this shortage is created artificially. Every two years, we have an over abundance of change, so much that you get 110 Rs worth coins for a 100 bucks note. And it some how vanishes and again, people are quarreling over a 1Re coin paying 100 bucks for 80 coins. I've vitnessed this cycle myself twice in the past 5 yrs. Yet, no banks try to regulate the liquidity, rather they refuse to collect and circulate change. (Shortage of time is the most common excuse by bankers). It is such a bad bad bad scene, to see people negotiating over lack of currency, and probably one of the best news for those 1Re candy manufacturers. They've kinda become the defacto currency in Madhya Pradesh. Is this how, we dream of becoming the golden sparrow again? Quarreling over change?
Business:
Ahh, my favourite. Its all together a different form of economics -- the economics of ego. If you think, Microsoft believes in monopoly, come to our place. The richer businesses would do anything to crush out the not-so-rich ones. The problem being, where competitors of Microsoft still make a good amount and get lost in little time, people there won't. They will persevere for years and years before giving up. No one makes profits for all these while. Someone's got to teach people, you do business for profits, not for ego. You can just bargain till death, if you say to Mr X "Mr Y is costing me 5 Rs less", then he would reduce the price, go to Mr Y, he would reduce the price again, till the time you spent one hour oscillating between the two shops, saving 20 odd bucks, and no one making any profit. Wake up Guys!! Lost productivity all round. Why don't we teach them how to handle businesses before they quit schools, instead of, complaining that people don't study long enough.
The list would just go on and on and on..
Its not that everything over there is wrong. There is good too. Plenty of good. People still smile despite 'n' troubles, help is forever available. But I do feel like, if this is what is the cost I have to pay for being with my motherland, I better not pay it. The look of filth in buses, that shortage of power for anything, that uselessness of business, so much grief, so many complaints. Yeah, I don't want to live at the place I love the most..
(The views and emotions expressed here are all mine and mine only. This is what I saw, observed, felt.. Feel free to post constructive comments if you feel otherwise..)
Written awesomely!!!! Good work!
ReplyDeleteby the way, am Abhilasha
ReplyDeletePratyush, I hope...I just hope u do not feel surprised by my words...I'm not the person u chatted with a few chats ago...
ReplyDeleteI had exact same feelings for my hometown Nanded (though its neither my birthplace, neither my father's place, neither my mother's place nor my karmbhoomi henceforth)...but Nanded's still my hometown...because that's whr I grew up...
The only prob we dont hav is of the buses..though they r as bad as urs...bt we do hav govt buses...
I cant say I'm not an idealistic, but being pragmatic only alienates us frm these probs...we learn to ignore these probs if we jus start being practical...
I take inspiration frm films...not because I'm a gud-for-nthng film-buff...bt bcoz films too r man-made...inspired by life and made by ppl in flesh n bones...But yes, u hav to use ur discretionary powers abt wich films to be inspired frm...
All these probs wil b solved only then, when 'we, the people' who suffer these very probs, get into positions of authority, into solving these probs frm their very roots...
We can, yes, I repeat, we 'can' solve all these probs...bcoz they r mere probs of efficient resources management..of time management..of the resolve, the grit to stay committed to stop not till the goal of solving these probs, once n for all, is reached.
We 'can' giv up our lucrative careers like Mohan Bhargav of Swades...if we r really stirred by the vicious circle of probs...
We 'can' fast and still fight, yes we too can do what Bhagat Singh, Veer Savarkar and all the great freedom fighters did...
We 'can' also take up responsibility like DJ n others in RDB...
We 'can' persevere harsh adversity like Christopher in 'The pursuit of Happyness'...
We 'can' take up and lead politics like the Mike and youth of 'Yuva' and like Shivaji of Nayak...
We 'can' fight for our nation's sovereignty like Karan Shergill of 'Lakshya'...
We 'can' punish bad-doers like the 'Aparachit'...
We 'can' terrorize terrorists like the elder of 'A Wednesday'...
We 'can' preserve culture like Bharat of 'Purab aur Pashchim'...
We 'can' fight for Dharma like 'Arjun'...
We 'can' cultivate land and flourish like Sunil Dutt, Rajender Kumar and Nargis of 'Mother India'...
We 'can' be what we want to be and still contribute to 'India'...
So, all we need is a 'strong will'...Not that I have a strong will myself to advocate..but I too want to cultivate it...
All the best in all ur endeavors for India!
Jai Hind!!!