We’ve never
been as unlucky as Orissa or Uttaranchal with cyclones and floods, to some
extent because the west coast (exception: Gujarat) has never borne the brunt of
Nature’s fury as much as the east. Another reason is that the Brits in Mumbai
and the Portuguese in Goa did something called ‘planning’ for towns and
villages, a concept our ancestors kind of understood, now alien to us. In spite
of having ‘decent’ rains year after year, Goan housing colonies and hotels
still buy tankers of water. But we’re not talking about our fiscal stupidity
here.
Suppose,
just suppose, a calamity of Uttaranchal’s proportion happened here. Since we’re
fighting for special status, first we’ll cry ourselves hoarse for the centre to
help us. When the water has risen above our ankles, the auto-rick guys would
charge Rs 500 from St Inez to Caculo Mall. Taxis and pilots would accordingly
hike their fees. You can calculate the cost for other distances.
Milk, sugar, bread and fuel would
suddenly go ‘black’. Fish wouldn’t be a problem. We eat anything that swims. In
a flood, should the larvae of amphibian and insects grow beyond three inches,
we’d be happy to catch, fry or chuck them into gravies.
Gravies remind
me of coconuts and the trees they grow on. If the water goes above a couple of
metres high and thanks to the plastic clogged naalaas doesn’t flow into the
sea, (that would happen soon enough), we’d have to get onto slimy, slippery,
unsafe rooftops or up the safe and sturdy emblem of Goa, the coconut palm.
Problem here: it’ll be too late to take tree-climbing lessons and it’s unlikely
that the bhailley who we hire to do the job (“oh-so-sloppily” we complain) will
agree to take us piggy-back for money or love or threat. Forget climbing the
roofs and palms, so used to wheels are we that without our bikes, scooters and
cars, we’ll have to depend on our limbs: that’s a disaster in itself. Except
for trained sportspersons and the getting-extinct hands-on Goan farmer… only
doctors know whether and where our thigh and calf muscles exist. We make up
with the strength of our jaws, but in or under water, of what use with that be
to us?
Once the
number of dead and affected rises beyond the combined fingers of the
Legislative Assembly Members, the Government will call in the Defence Forces.
It would be a shame to call in the very Navy that we didn’t want in our state.
The uniformed guys won’t say “we’ll save only Karwar or Sindhudurg”, will they?
They’re not like us, they do their jobs and they do them well. They’ve proved
this time and again, whether they’re dealing with enemies, or children who’ve
fallen into wells, earthquakes, naphtha leaks or floods. In fact, we’ll be
dependent on the people we’ve always cribbed about: the cops, the fire-brigade,
the municipality workers, the labourers from the NE, Bihar, UP, Andhra, Kerala,
etc.
Our village
brethren will no doubt bury all hatchets and help save each others’ dukors and
mhashee. After the floods recede, we will ask for our pound of flesh for sure.
Our television media will hyperventilate about how we didn’t have enough ghee
to cremate the Hindu dead (do the dead have a religion?) nor any blessed land
to bury the Muslims/Christians/Jews. NRIs will weep over heritage lost. Only a
few will start: 1. Taking classes for children so they don’t lose out on their
learning years, 2. Prepare for prevention of epidemics by disposing of decaying
corpses, 3. Building shelters of all kinds, 4. Collecting and distributing
food, water, clothing. In spite of what the tv channels say and we moan about,
it’s the government machinery alone that does most for rehabilitation. The
others do fringe work. Some even believe that techniques of meditation and
prayer-chants are more important than availability of drinking water, medical
aid and dealing with sewage.
I read on
the Net someone’s comment. Not verbatim: “… a shrine was ‘disturbed’, hence
this calamity happened.” When will we learn that our heritage lies in our
thoughts and behaviour? Principles and skills must and do outlast buildings and
statues. If we face a calamity of this proportion in Goa, what will we mourn
most? Destruction of our temples/churches? Our value system? Language? What?
Lots will
happen after the floods. NGOs will spring up to take care of the welfare of
mosses, rodents, oldies, babies, and now that our Freedom Fighters are on their
way off the planet, will demand free railway passes and pensions for their
‘causes’.
Dear fellow
Goemkars, we have to learn from Uttranchal’s tragedy. Now.
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