(2 Mar ’08)
D’you know, until now,
it was much cheaper to get a chap to wash a car in Mumbai than in Goa. Nearly
half. In Goa we used to pay some 350 for a Maruti, here we pay 200. That was
till last Thursday. What happened on that day was the Municipal people came and
charged us 1000 rupees because our car was being washed on the road. We don’t
have a compound, hence parking always means playing musical spaces, going round
and round the lanes until there’s a slot seen, possibly half a kilometer from
home. But that’s a different story.
These people refused to
listen to the fact that the water was the same that they’d supplied through our
taps. They didn’t believe that come monsoons, all the roads would be full of
water that can’t be measured in buckets. Then who were they going to fine?
God? Didn’t work. I knew that an
under-the-table-paid receipt-less system was what would work, but I’m married
to a type that believes in following the law no matter how ridiculous it might
be. So we paid. Then the officials told us, that if, instead of using a bucket
and mug, one used only a bucket and cloth (wrung out so that it’s damp, not
wet), there’d be no fine. More importantly, if they didn’t SEE anyone do it,
they couldn’t fine because no one could get caught. So if one washed one’s car
in the middle of the night, no matter how much mess one made, it didn’t matter.
In spite of the fact
that we were short by a grand, that we were impressed that the Municipal
Corporation was serious about cleaning up its act and the city, many questions
were left unanswered. If my half bucket of water was mucking up that six square
feet of public land, what about the two busy restaurants behind my building
that dump loads, piles, hillocks of rotting garbage night after night right
onto the road? It’s visible, it’s smellable, and causes disease. My half bucket
will breed mosquito larvae only until the sun comes up, when they will die….of
laughter, possibly, at the silliness of things here. Worse, what about
biomedical waste from hospitals? I’d urge Goan journalists to do a story (I’d
done one many years ago, with shocking findings) on how hospitals in Goa
dispose of their garbage. It’d also be a treat to find out how our sewage is
treated.
Right now, in Mumbai,
there’s a battle gearing up to fine ‘spitters’. Wonderful idea, for I hate
people who spit. But would it be practical to catch each ‘spitter’? What about
the squatters? And the arguments that would definitely ensue would involve waste
of man-minutes? No? Would it not be wiser (and certainly a better way to make
legitimate money for the Corporation) to actually fine, and fine hard, the real
offenders like the restaurants I’ve mentioned above? Never mind the garbage,
they’re cooking in a residential building, in a covered compound area, quite
illegal, am sure, with their staff living on the tin roof in terrible
conditions. It’s quite easily seen, nothing secret about it. I wish we hadn’t
paid the fine. If those people won’t pay for a definite crime, why must we for
a wishy-washy (literally) one? Actually the answer lies in the fact that people
like me don’t get into politics. We don’t want to ‘dirty our hands’, we don’t
like the rough and tumble and we crib that things have gone beyond control. The
need of the day, if we want to weed out corruption and have a better life, is
for more seedha-saadhas to get into politics and outnumber the baddies.
Sometimes, baddies make good administrators (check the IAS) and we can’t do
without them, but at least there will be a balance. “Good” professionals don’t
make good politicians or statesmen (the state of Goa –literally and
metaphorically--- will vouch for that), but in the long run, there would be a
change. So, readers, if you’re inclined, go sign up and be a member of the
party (no pun intended) of your choice.
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