The first time I visited Benaras, in 2002, I was aghast at the noise outside the station. But as we went outside the city, into Kaithi, I could see the charm of the city. And I clung on to that vision, or mirage, or whatever you want to call it, quite tightly. I could close my eyes to the dirt and garbage and say, Oh but Benaras is Benaras. If it was clean and neat and tidy it would no longer be Benaras, would it be? Okay, that was the romanticizing the city.
This time the rose-colored glasses came off. Alas.
It has been raining incessantly in and around Benaras for the past 11/2 months. The roads built of water-soluble tar and non-sticking grit (and you thought there was only non-sticking pan?)have completely caved in. Water has accumulated in places- dirty and grimy. Alongside the road, where there should have been pavements but aren't, swampy mud where you walk at your own peril. The buildings are wreathed in moss and look as though they have been around forever and that no one has had time and energy to renovate them even with a fresh coat of paint.
It bothers me- this apathy. It is as if people have grown accustomed to living in garbage and filth. As long as their houses are clean, what does the rest matter? But it matters terribly. If I had to live in such a place I would go into deep depression. How can they live like this? How can they stomp through the muddy swamp, drive through the potholes, and bear the stench of the rotting garbage? Doesn't it ever get to them? Don't they ever want to rise up and say okay, listen enough is enough, let us get it clean?
And what do the road construction people think? Oh, I know there is plenty of money involved. Okay, you take bribe. Fine. But can't you at least provide good quality material? Why take bribe and then provide the worst possible material? Is there no pride left in getting a job well done?
Benaras attracts tourists. At least get the city cleaned for them if not for yourselves?
On this note, here is an article from The Times Of India. Apparently, an initiative has been started to clean up Vrindavan.
4 comments:
But there are a few good things in Benares too.
Did you visit Rajghat school of krishnamurti.
An oasis of beauty in benares.
www.varanasi-ganges.com
Munish, I am not saying that there not lovely things in Benaras. It is just the garbage that bothers me. It is also not unique to Benaras. Almost all cities in UP and Bihar are this bad. The other cities in our country, including Delhi, too are dirty though not to the same extent as cities and towns in UP/Bihar. And what I have said for Benaras holds true for rest of us too. Somehow we are so apathic to the conditions surrounding us. It is almost as if it is not my problem. Whereas it is very much our problem. I can pontificate but truthfully, I do not have a solution.
I don't think apathy is an explanation. If nothing else, the number of NGOs in India (even discounting for the fake ones) should tell us that Indians are not apathetic -- certainly, no more so than any other ethnic group. However, the shabby state of our public spaces does merit some explanation.
One possibility is that even when there is public action, it often comes to nothing because it is stymied by our bureaucracy and/or government. There is a telling anecdote at the beginning of Madhu Kishwar's article on corruption in India. It is somewhat long, so I'll give a link here:
http://www.indiatogether.org/manushi/issue100/naukri.htm
I don't think this anecdote is unusual - unfortunately - and it illustrates why too often, public action comes to nothing.
Other than that, there may be cultural aspects too. For one, our caste system may have played a role in our inability to develop suitable institutions to take care of our public spaces. In general, I don't like using the caste explanation because it is often invoked as an easy explanation for everything wrong in India. But, in this case, it might be relevant.
Related, I think the very notions of "private space" and "public space" - as you and I understand them - are Western ideas. It is not that these ideas are not present in (traditional) India, just that what constitutes "private" and "public" are different. [Btw, what are the Hindi/Sanskrit/Tamil equivalents of "public" and "private"?] A long time back, I remember reading an article about the differences between the western ideas of public/private and the corresponding Indian (Hindu?) ideas. Sorry, I don't remember where.
Anyway, just some thoughts. To be honest, I tend to be suspicious of "apathy" as an explanation because, to me, it suggests that this trait is genetically "hard-wired" into us and I find that hard to accept.
Lastly, I did some simple google search looking for information on the history of public health in India while typing up this comment. My thinking was that even in the west, policies to maintain clean public spaces must have come from public health concerns. While there is a lot for the West and even China, I couldn't find anything about India. May be one of your colleagues can help?
I remember having read the article. I think it also appeared in Manushi once.
As for Public Health Policy, the only person I knew working in this area was Alpana. But...I guess I should touch base with the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health.
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