My Canvas

After a long time yesterday, I was just a passenger in my car (in simple language I was not driving) and for the whole distance of 24 kms kept looking out of the window and realized that the window of my car is a series of great canvas of life. I saw from high sky-scrapers of Gurgaon to the wide spread farmhouses of MG road to maddening traffic at ring road to children begging on the signals to GK’s huge and high end bungalows etc.

Starting from the mad city called Gurgaon who can be really proud of its sky scrapers and the glass buildings but must be really ashamed of the back up infrastructure it has possessed. Its like a body without spinal code, mouth and urinary organs. If you go to histories or around the globe I don’t think you will come across a city where there are no road infrastructure, no electricity, scant space for parking, inefficient and almost non-existing sewerage system and scathingly bad traffic management by traffic police. Witnessing all this from my car not only angry you but also you feel so help-less. Its as if Govt after letting these builders making these huge townships, plush offices forgot to create the most important thing that to support a population. Life here is compelled to work and live here and to my judgment running out of excuses to face the deprivation of the basic needs. 

Once you cross the borders of Gurgaon there comes to land of rich and famous though they choose to remain in clandestineness. The farm houses are green but hidden by huge walls which refrain the outsider’s eyes to peek in. The farms are the get-away and nature for these rich guys or its the place to party, weddings etc. They are great place to unwind but also these are the only places after Govt kothis where you find really open spaces in Delhi. These farms also are one of the major investment opportunities of black money for these rich yet non responsible citizens. Life here is cool, relaxed and certainly irresponsibly rich.

The next canvas is historical and spiritual five-storeyed, 72.5 m high Qutab Minar built in 1192 CE, by Ghazni to mark their victory over Delhi and Mahavir’s idol. The two co-existing with each other across the road is a scene that aptly epitomizes the secularism and to the Indian belief that diverse religion, diverse culture can peacefully co-exist and grow together. Life here is proud on being an Indian where all religion, culture and believes stay together.

Delhi with its wide and well-lit roads, architectural marvels –flyovers but its citizens who are doing their bit to pollute it (air, noise, roads, litter). Although I have always thought of Delhi as the most advanced, one of the greatest cities in the world to live and have been always ready to take on anybody on Delhi vs any other city of the world. The only point where I have not been able to amply defend Delhi is its citizen. We are no where near as evolved as our infrastructure in terms of mannerism, cleanliness, respect to other human beings and taking responsibility. It shows in the way we drive only. We don’t care about other people, we park anywhere, we drive in the wrong lane to save a km to U turn, red lights and traffic rules are respected only if there’s a policewala on sight and for some even then rules are for breaking. In case they are caught a 50 or 100 rupees are good enough to bribe the policewala and get away. Metro the new jewel of Delhi’s already swank infrastructure gets no where the kind of respect Kolkata one gets. Life in this metro is comfortable then anyother city in India but needs to be more responsible to its duties towards the city it lives in.

When Slumdog millionaire showed the world India’s poverty, we took it to our heart and made a big issue out of it. Similarly when a foreign tourist watches children begging on the crossings they start clicking pictures which we feel offended to. What we fail to understand there is that this is something totally alien to them to see that human lives are so salve and the living condition in which these children. So instead of blaming them for showcasing it we must do something and by “we” I don’t mean Govt, I mean all of us citizens who still give these guys money when they beg and let those guys let them make money out of it and making it a lucrative business. It just gives us a spiritual satisfaction that we are donating something but actually we are just partners in ruining their lives. If we really want to donate we need to give them education and books and not money. Life should be more thoughtful and not blindly follow.