Thought for
the day
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone
else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
-
Oscar
Wilde (Irish, 1854-1900)
Word of the
day
Serotinal (adj)
Pertaining to or occurring in late summer.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Shri Nārada Uvāca
Could the “vegetable loot” incident of West Bengal become a
trend?
Can we?
Hum ko maloom hai jannat
ki haqeeqat lekin, Dil ke khush rakhane ko Ghalib ye khayal achha hai (I am
aware heaven is an illusion; but I do not mind striving for it) – Mirza Ghalib
Since long Taj Mahal has been used to symbolize the India’s
history, tradition and culture. In recent time, Yamuna Expressway, a highway connecting
the National Capital Region (NCR) to Agra, the city of Taj Mahal, has become a
popular metaphor for economic development and growth of India.
In our recent trip of some north Indian states we took this less
traveled road to assess the state of India’s glorious past and promising
future. What we observed though not surprising but was certainly disconcerting.
We found the administration and people in general are (a)
unaware and unproud of our history, culture & tradition and (b) mostly
unprepared for faster economic growth. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore would have
been a sad person today to see that after 66years of political independence -
neither the minds are without fear nor the heads are held high.
On the much acclaimed world class Yamuna express way, we
observed that it is almost impossible to drive fearlessly as-
·
villagers freely cross the expressway with fuel
wood, animal feed etc. on their head;
·
youth on motorcycles are frequently seen driving
in wrong direction that too without helmet;
·
some revelers were seen doing beer party with
their vehicles parked dangerously on the road;
·
even state transport busses were stopping
illegally to pick and drop passengers;
·
almost every motor vehicle was seen speeding
over the permissible limit.
After exiting the
expressway, the next 10kms to Taj Mahal is a torturous journey, passing through
some narrow lanes and bridges that might take upto 75-100mins on a bad day. On
reaching Taj you are welcomed by a strong stench of horse and camel dung as
over two hundred camel carts and horse carts are used to ferry visitors from
the parking lot to main entrance of the monument. You find serpentine queues at
ticket window and security checkpoints. It usually takes more than 1hour to
enter this modern wonder.
The visitors are
chased by a mob of tourist guides who promise to save you from this 1hour wait
period for a fee of Rs300-500. All these touts work closely with the security
personnel posted at the monument entrance.
Inside this symbol
of Indian spirit shoes and shoe covers were indulgently littered all around.
Overall, the sight appeared a classical example of complete condescension for
history and culture.
Given the contempt
for history, culture & tradition, civic disobedience and obstructions to
speed the faster and stronger economic growth that FM and planning commission
deputy chairman are frequently talking about appears not only infeasible but
undesirable too.
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