@DeepInThought4U

26th January 2018. 

It is that day of the year when we gather to witness the Nation's military and cultural razzmatazz.  The only time of the year when we get to see some discipline on display!

When I am asked what I would be doing on the 26th, I nonchalantly say 'watch the parade.'  Others generally laugh at the answer, as though I am being facetious. 

They probably expect me to say that I would be doing something worthier instead, like visiting overcrowded malls.  No people, I mean it.  I do watch the parade.  If that's odd, so be it. 

This year's observations:

1. Touching moment when the President shed tears after presenting the Ashoka Chakra posthumously to the deceased soldier's wife and mother.  Never seen this happen before.

2. The same President in high spirits; laughing and cheering towards the end of the parade when the BSF women's contingent did the acrobatics on motorbikes.  Extremes of emotions!

3. The best tableaux (IMHO): Maharashtra with Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, followed by Assam with its depiction of masks - Ravana and other characters of Ramayana. 

4. Unique tableau by Karnataka: only animated animal models; no people on it (P.S.: the baboons rocked!).

5. Not one, not two, but TEN chief guests!  The Singapore PM was right next to PM Modi, and was probably taken aback by the discipline on display!  

6. Mesmerizing effect when the overhead camera showed the cadets marching away with robotic precision.

7. But the highlight this year had to be the BSF women's daredevilry on motorbikes; another first this year!

All these are fine.  But I do not want the discipline, decorum and bonhomie to be confined to the annual jamboree.  I want good things to happen in our Nation 365 days of the year. 

So here's a wishlist of things that I would like to see happen for the collective good of the country and humanity in general:

1. Population level to come down.  There are one too many of us!  This, IMHO is the most urgent need of the country, because every other civic problem, arguably, is related to this one factor.

2. Poverty eradicated!  Poverty, quite simply, is unacceptable.  Economic prosperity to reach all individuals, even the poorest of the poor; no more rich/poor divide.  There should not be a single homeless person on the streets, or for that matter, any stray animal on the roads.  And I don't just mean cows; all animals to have shelters in all towns and cities of India.

3. Everybody obeys traffic rules.  No wheelies, no jumping red signals, no driving on the wrong side of the road, no jaywalking!  Discipline on the roads, people!

4. No reservations!  Only merit based admission or employment; not based on caste/religion.

5. No dynastic politics or nepotism of any kind.  No place for such phenomena in any public service institutions of a democracy.

6. Terrorism rooted out!  No safe havens; no closing the door after the horse has bolted.  Constant vigilance and prevention of attacks rather than chasing terrorists after the attacks.

7. Speedier justice for all - because justice delayed is justice denied.  No influence by the rich and famous; more errant politicians/celebrities brought to justice.   

8. Common education curriculum for the whole country across all levels: primary & secondary schools; and professional colleges, including engineering and medicine.  No divisions such as state, ICSE, CBSE, etc.  Career guidance counselling and aptitude test for all students before they embark on professional courses.  Dharma/ethics/culture to be the basis for formative education; not blind western fact based bookish education.  And yes, no capitation fees!  Parents not to be reduced to beggars to admit their children to schools.  RTE to be fully implemented.  Government schools upgraded to match city schools.

9. Health for all.  And health coverage and/or insurance for all.  Custodians of healthcare delivery to have better life.

10. More care, concern and efforts to upkeep all natural habitats and national monuments; such as our rivers, pilgrimage centres, historic buildings, architecture, arts & crafts, scriptures, forests, flora & fauna, tribes, and indigenous cultures.

11. No conversions!  No place for bigoted, narrow-minded interpretations of religious scriptures that lead to enticement/coercion to lead the gullible away from their culture/heritage/faith.  Likewise foreign residents/illegal immigrants overstaying their welcome and/or creating law & order problems to be deported back to their countries.

12. India, primarily, is a spiritual place.  Sanatana Dharma to show the way for spiritual oneness; full realization of the potential that is inherent in sanatanic statements such as: vasudhaiva kutumbakam; ekam sat vipra bahu vadanti, and sarve janaha sukhinobhavantu.  Divisionists and secessionists to be rooted out!

Wishful thinking, do I hear you say?  Maybe. 

I am well aware that these are complex, complicated and multifarious issues subject to the vagaries of multiple variables. 

But wishing, thinking and doing are the only things that are under my willful control.  And the wise say that there is a lot of power in thoughts and words.  So I will wish away!  

The above list is by no means complete, but I feel these are the most pressing needs of the Nation if it has to progress and really achieve its immense potential.  

Here's hoping that the governments and we the people work towards realising this potential.

Image source: 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0czMJIfLWvInl4uldd26KHX1kjXTYz-jQ4ffMfx1JparGxlP_9vDitxmN_JaVM3O9iCX14d9Vza0ZwWOA-TewJg6G9bJClial0YLRS14S_thIveROrzNx01cGocugB5tbOaQOCJnaNMC/s640/26+January+Republic+Day+2018+Hindi+Speech+Anchoring+Script+Wishes+SMS+Quotes+Message+%2526+HD+Images.jpg

If I were to tell you that somebody bought a Tata Nano car... you are likely to react by saying, 

Why!! Of all the things...

If I were to add that that somebody went on a round-trip of India in the Nano... 

Whaaaat!! No way...!

And if I were to add that that somebody happens to be a woman... 

Gettouttaa here...!

And... this gets better... that somebody is a British woman; a foreigner who has no driving experience in India... 

Aaaaargh!!! [while jumping up and down in disbelief and banging your head against the wall...]

That's just what this is about: a single white woman on a trek around India in a Tata Nano car, and somehow completing the journey to tell her tale. 

In this engaging account, Vanessa Able combines statistics, politics, culture, lack of road etiquette/discipline/decorum/courtesy that is all too familiar an Indian trait, and of course, the experience of driving a Nano which is symbolic of India's economic rise. 

Or at least it was, when it was first launched. It has since lost its place in the arch-lights in the wake of other brand innovations.  

To be fair to Nano, this review is four years too late.  In this period, the leading car maker, Maruti has come up with its own technological marvel that is holding sway currently: Maruti Celerio - the gearless wonder, which I happen to drive currently.  And I can vouch for the ease of driving experience of the Celerio (but not the lofty fuel efficiency that the company claimed at the time of its launch). 

The AMT gear technology of Celerio has caught on so well that Maruti has forced other companies to include this in their own models.  Tata Nano recently has followed suit recently.  Also, Nano is no longer available as the Rs-one-lakh car; all of its variants are now priced above two lakhs. 

[Update 2022: Celerio too has bitten the dust; the AMT system in my car simply stopped in the middle of traffic, and I had to sell it :(]

This book is also about driving, and the exasperating experience that driving is in India. In a reverse of Able's experience, I have driven for eight years in various parts of the UK during my days in the NHS - sometimes up to 100 miles in a day - and I can fully empathise with her predicament.  

The difference in driving experience in between the two countries is the same that exists between chalk and cheese.  Don't even try to understand the absence of any road-virtue in our culture, although I did make an attempt to address this issue in Angst.

Able's love for the Nano is evident throughout the book, whom she personifies by naming 'her'.  This is essentially a road-book, akin to a road-movie; if that's the genre that appeals to you, then this is right up your street...!

I hate driving on our roads... but it is really awe-inspiring that somebody 'enterprising in a good way' such as Able has taken the bull by its horn and survived - if you leave out a few bumps and scratches. 

Therefore, it gives me immense pleasure in saying that Vanessa was Able to fulfil her Abhilasha before saying Tata to India...  Sorry, couldn't resist that one...!




Image source: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51VPtVJer4L._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

There was an eye-opening article in The Hindu Magazine of 1st February 2015 by Malathi Ramachandran.  Titled 'Unholy mess', it highlighted the deterioration of discipline and cleanliness in our so-called holy places.  She lists scenarios from temples such as Ramanathalingam at Rameshwaram, Jagannath at Puri, Kamakhya at Guwahati, and Mahakaleshwar at Ujjain, which are but a few examples of utter disdain shown towards maintaining decorum and bhakti - both by the keepers of these places, as well as the throngs of people visiting them.

I am reminded of my own trip to Tirupati, the richest temple in the world.  We were allotted time slots to wait in the queue, which went well to begin with.  After the entry slots, given in the form of wristbands, were checked by the authorities, there was a complete breakdown of the queue.  People starting jostling and shoving each other.  Every one rushed, as though afraid that the Lord inside would be leaving the place shortly.  Some broke the barrier and created short-cuts for themselves.

When I was about to enter the sanctum sanctorum, a man and a woman who were standing behind me, started verbally abusing each other loudly.  By the time I looked behind and turned around, I was already in front of the Deity, and was being shoved towards the exit by the volunteer sevaks.  In about two seconds, the darshan - something that we had waited for hours for - was over, and that too in a less than divine atmosphere.

Cut to Pandharpur - the place where the greatest of great saints of Maharashtra frequented, to make it the prime centre of the bhakti movement.  The Chandrabhaga, the holy river coursing through Pandharpur, was littered with discarded pooja items, plastic covers and filth.  Reluctant to 'purify' ourselves in its waters, we dipped our toes in the water tentatively and made for the temple.  After fighting for a place in the queue, and after much shoving and squeezing through narrow entry points, we were fortunate enough to be allowed to touch the feet of the Lord when we got to the sanctum.

The priests and authorities were shouting out instructions that only the feet of the Lord were to be touched, and not the upper torso.  A woman - a villager by the looks of her - made the mistake of touching the upper part of the Lord.  The security man who was in the sanctum, gave a resounding thwack on her back, which startled the woman so much that she retreated, roundly castigated.  I couldn't help wondering what the Lord thought of the whole incident.  What a change in human behaviour He would have witnessed from the days of Namdev and Chokhamela to now!  

How is one to maintain bhakti in such environments?  What is the point in scrubbing yourself clean from head to toe, if you only end up dirtying the premises of holy places?  Why is it that we pray inside the temple, and spit outside it?  Why do some people find it appropriate to relieve themselves on temple compound walls?  What is the point in designating these temple towns as holy, if stench, cesspools, beggars, stray animals fill their streets?  What is the solution?

Ramachandran offers the example of the Vaishno Devi temple, which has made the whole process of visiting the shrine a divine experience.  Apparently, even beggars are employed here in the development works of the temple.  There is also the example of langars and gurudwaras, where the pilgrims themselves are involved in the upkeep of the shrine.  In addition to contributing to the cleanliness and decorum of the place, this practice can also instil a sense of service, duty and humility in the pilgrim.

It is high time that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is extended to cover Swachh Teerthsthal Abhiyan as well.  I wish the Prime Minister, in addition to cleaning the Ganga, also considers uplifting our pilgrimage places as well.  

It is also up to us, as devotees visiting these places, to maintain discipline and civic sense, and if possible, to volunteer for the cause.