I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN
Go to the post office. You find a line and you think
that people wait for their turns. But what do you see? One person will be
transacting with the counter clerk and four hands (or may be more) will be
stretched towards him/her asking for her transaction to be put through! So you
realise that it is futile to be orderly and start stretching your hand too.
When will we learn?
Result - traffic jam in addition to the one created by
our ‘development oriented’ public authorities’ construction, digging, road
laying, railway line laying and what have you. These seem to be endless
projects – probably because we believe in the eternity of the soul and have
extended the concept to our projects too!
The contractors engaged for these projects, I am fairly certain have been paid as and when they raised bills for the works completed (or not completed - as the Press would have us believe!).
I travel every day to my work place in a vehicle (courtesy - the company I work for) and there is a
small stretch of about 200 metres of road (I am sorry I am insulting the word ‘road’
by using it for this stretch) that has not been asphalted/macadamised for the
last two years – I find the building materials heaped on either side and some
of the stones have been scattered by the occasional showers (we did not have a
good monsoon last year and the perennial Cauvery dispute is on because of that). If only we had had heavy rains, I am certain all the stones would
have been washed away. Why this indifference? One of my friends who is
worldly-wise (yours truly is not) tells me that this stretch is no man’s land –
neither belongs to the city corporation nor the Panchayat and hence the delay.
How can this be - it beats me – particularly when the materials for laying the
road have been stored at the spot. Just
plain indifference to the comforts and convenience of the tax paying public!
Another classic instance is the CNR Rao under-pass. This
has been going on and on and there seems to be no particular time line to
complete this project. Prof. Rao must be flinching that his name has been used
for this. Poor Professor – he would have wished that some scientific theory had
been named after him and not this. Dear professor, I am aware that this was not
at your request. The authorities thought that they are honouring you by this!
All good things have to come to an end and I am reasonable certain that this
phase shall pass (or should I say under-pass!) and the project will be completed
sooner or later (definitely later!)
With all this, I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN
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