(30 Jun ’13)
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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