Just in the morning when i woke up to a cold breeze with my dose of morning coffee in hand checking my social network account i came across an interesting poem written by a fren. Criticizing the pathetic condition of the roads in my city Mysore and how its making all the orthopedicians in the city richer by few more thousands or may be even lakhs. Fun read i must say though the end in which he blamed the politicians for it kind of intrigued me and compelled me to think about my attitude and the general public's towards bad roads.
I'm basically from Mysore and reside in this amazingly beautiful city where one finds history and royalty romance modern developments. Not that it matches a London or Paris but sure has its uniqueness. The uniqueness anyone who hails from this city, or for that matter anyone who has visited this city, appreciates. And it doesn't end with appreciation only but one falls in love with the place. And when i talk about my city it cant be complete without reminding of The very famous Dasara, Mysooru Dasara and how people across the society, across religions and across the world are awed by the splendour and grandeur of it.
Coming back to the point of my reservations for blaming the politicos for pathetic roads.. Now. Now. Do not go ballistic against me thinking i'm taking their side. I'm definitely not doing that and may i add i despise those creeps more than anyone one else does. But my point is aren't we all to be blamed for that?? When i say we i mean the people of this city. The engineers who built it, the officials who order the digging of the roads and don't bother to make sure it reaches its pre-digging state, the politicians who are busy decorating their official residences and beautifying the roads in front of their houses or the the commuters who, despite the pitiful condition of the roads turn a blind eye to it and do nothing about it and just safely take an alternate road and forget about this one till the new found road is also dustified and dirtfied in no time or the people hailing from this city working somewhere else and when they come back home just see Palace and brush up their memories???
As i belong to the group of ordinary citizens who GET USED to this pathetic roads and behave as though "aal izz well" i should be putting in my views. Well i have few friends who, like me, hail from this very city. And it wont be exaggeration if said they belong to the flag bearer group of this city (may be self proclaimed, i'm not so sure) who write and post amazing things about how great Mysore is, how much it dazzles during Dasara, how it feels to be enjoying monsoon in Mysore. To them i wish to say thumbs up guys, doing a great job keep up the good work. Reading your amazing writings and seeing your well shot photos, a great fan of which i am, makes me proud of my city. And like me there are plenty more people who are fans of your writings and photos and approve their LIKEs on popular networking sites and wherever else they sight your work. I'm really happy for my good friends. At the same time i have few questions to ask them. Do u guys not travel on roads here? Do u guys not feel the pain that runs through our back when our vehicle stutters along the roads? Have your noses stopped working that u don't seem to notice the stench? Do u not belong to this city and intend to do something worthwhile to make this city much better? Do u guys think just portraying the niceties and stirring up memories of people living elsewhere and earning fans is more important than making this a better place?
Now u might ask why am i not doing anything and just pointing fingers at someone else? Thats exactly why i'm writing this. After waiting so long someone with writing and portraying capacities as they have would write and after getting disappointed i thought i should try with my limited abilities and hence this. And i waited also cos the number of people who would be interested to notice their work are plenty more than the number who notice mine. And another reason (bear with me the last one) they have stayed in this city longer than i have. Enough reasons i presume.
I'm not here to try criticize my city and see the negative side of it or to criticize my friends' efforts. Like i've stated very clearly before itself i'm their huge fan and all i'm trying to do is to see the other side of the coin too. Yes i like my city as much as anyone else does and am proud of its beauty and charm as anyone else is but just liking it and blowing a trumpet of how much i love it wont make it a better place to live.
We Mysoreans are a bit too accommodating for our own good. Here the roads are patched up, dust bins cleaned up and the city is made to look good only during Dasara. And we really do not care how bad it was a week before these measures were taken. We get lost in the whole lot of lighting and beautification thats conjured overnight and forget about the sore backs we had thanks to the holed out roads. Not that we shouldn't enjoy it but we also have to make sure these efforts are carried out during non-Dasara times too. Is our city only for Dasara festivities? Should my city be decorated and cleaned up only for tourists and guests? Do we, the people, who dwell here, move around here everyday not deserve to see our city clean and neat? I'm not saying its wrong to beautify the city but how many of us keep our houses like rat holes everyday and tidy it up only when a guest comes and let it go back to its rat hole state as soon as they are gone??? If there aren't many why do we let that happen to our city? While we have the time and patience to wait hours in the morning sun to enjoy the jumboo savari in the afternoon or revel in the joys of its rains and letting people staying far away land follow u and drown them in the pool of nostalgia about Mysore why do we not have time to ask the people at helm why works are done only during Dasara and the city is left to wait till next year for every small pot hole to be closed? Why not do something worthwhile that is more useful to make sure Mysore isn't only about Dasara and its much more than that. Lets do something to remind those morons (read officials and politicians) who think they can mess with our roads, our parks other landmarks and drill into their air filled heads Mysore isn't because of Dasara but Dasara is because of Mysore.
And to my good friends who write well and present well, in particular and to all those friends who undertook the arduous task of reading this, in general lets do something to better our city. Lets do something to make sure Mysore doesn't become to be called Maisore (read body sore, mai in Kannada is body). Lets try to make sure the roads are actually like roads, the city is as beautiful as it can be. this is a royal city built by kings lets try to make sure it always remain a city worthy of a king to choose to stay here.
parting shots:
-the rate at which the roads in Mysore are dug up i cant stop myself from wondering if the geology and mineral resource dept has found some rare mineral just underneath our roads.
-as i write this a bus carrying 33 people moving on a pathetic road just off Mysore filled with really deep potholes fell into a water body killing 27 people out of which one was a 11 month old baby and our shameless CM ordered one lakh rupees compensation. Commendable job sir but may i suggest if only u spent those 27 lakhs with few more lakhs or crores those innocent lives will have been spared.
-gosh i'm sure u are more tired reading this than i was writing this!!
With regards,
Dr. Harsha
Even though i have read the entire article (though not arduous,it was quite a task because of all the emotions that your words stirred up), i cannot disagree with you on any point you have made.
ReplyDeleteWe indians (not just mysoreans) have a habit of ADJUSTING to everything, be it impossibly narrow footpaths, open manholes, freely flowing sewers, corruption...just everything. This is exactly what is goin to be our downfall (if it hasn't been already).
Instead of blaming the politicians for what they are not doing,why not look at ourselves,and introspect as to what WE are doing to make a difference? Does our responsibility stop at just electing our representatives? Shouldnt we be doing more than just play the blame game, in the process absolving ourselves of any responsibility whatsoever?
Though some people (and i do applaud them for their effort) have chosen to show us the beauty in mysore during dussehra and other festivities, what we need is more people who would show the reality that is seen everyday- the filth that is really starting to eat away at the city's core. The beauty of mysore cannot be missed but sadly the ugliness that is slowly starting to take over is being ignored.
I am a resident of bangalore and through the years, i have seen its beauty being destroyed. It was once truly a "garden city" but it now no more has much greenery or the cool climate it used to boast of. Why? Not because of politicians entirely, but also because of us, the citizens who let the filth and the pollution take over, being satisfied with our houses being kept clean. Alas,sometimes it seems too late to do anything about it, but "its better late than never"
Mysore on the other hand still has that old world charm to it, "aging well" is a phrase which i believe suits mysore to a 'T'..but i do hope the people who live in and visit mysore realise the importance of preserving that beauty so that the future generations can also enjoy it, like we do.
So,keeping bangalore as an example of how NOT to do things, its about time we act to keep mysore as MYsore.
....Netra