Blame the monkey.

Amongst the several breaking news items that have sporadically hit TV screens and newspaper fronts in the last 10 days, a recurring one has been the tragic death of Abhishek, a young boy who got washed under into a drain in heavy rains. Much has been said about how it is another reminder of how our big cities lack the most basic of civic amenities, like safe drainage.

In events that followed, Mr. Vivek Menon, a Lead India finalist/nominee (no clue what it was, I wasn't in the country, and I don't see any person who's changed anything in society after winning Lead India, yes, your presumption is right, I don't attach any credibility to the contest) apparently said that Abhishek’s death had failed to draw any sympathy or support from the BBMP. He called for the resignation of BBMP commissioner. He also allegedly said that a criminal case must be filed against the commissioner. I say apparently, and allegedly because I have googled for the last 10 minutes (and I am a very, very good googler) and found no direct article that states Mr. Menon said so. The only article that seems to have a reference to the same is one in the Bangalore Mirror (well, the next time I want hypothesised news, I know where to go) and this article in the New Indian Express about BBMP officials coming out with a sign of unity (really?) against the statement. That they were reacting to a statement that I find no verifiable record off is amusingly irritating for it was a waste of valuable work hours.

Let us assume for this single paragraph and the next that he did say all those alleged comments. This is a major reason why the Lead India thing never really appealed to me. It wasn't that it was piloted by what I feel is the most deceptively marketed tabloid in modern print media history. Or that it was trying to find someone with Indian roots by asking them questions in english. The very aura I got from the contest was a very elitist, groupist kind of setup where the judges apparently seemed to be 100% aware of what it takes to lead India. The fact that something that was supposedly of that much of a grass roots level idea, is now so very forgotten, and continues on the internet (accessible to 2% of India) takes away even more credibility. (Anyway, I'll stop now lamenting about reality shows and the like, getting back to what I was saying) A person of Mr. Menon's alleged intelligence (actually, I've met him, he seems to be quite intelligent, albeit disappointingly yuppie at times) should know better than to call for the resignation of the chief of an organisation that has a crisis in hand. How does a resignation solve anything?! The boy's still dead, the drains are still a mess, and you're not Prime Minister Mr. Menon.

Next I want to talk of the media's hounding the BBMP too about it. I just tuned into the normally very sweet sounding Vasanthi Hariprakash bellowing on NDTV how this whole episode wreaks of civic negligence, and wondering very loudly whether civil governing bodies in India will ever wake up to the tragedies of day to day life in India (one thing is clear: if it wasn't for civic negligence, Abhishek might have been alive today. ). Maybe the BBMP deserves every bit of flak they're getting. Over the last 5 or 6 years, the work efficiency has visibly dropped (Couldn't we have the BATF back please?! Pretty Please!!). On my street also resides the local BJP MLA, and the drains that were opened for desilting (very conveniently) coinciding with the onset of the Lok Sabha Elections still remain opened. That's how many ever days from much before April 23rd, to today, June 10th. A couple of years back, a friend of mine fell into a gushing open manhole, and survived very narrowly (He held on very tightly to the rim of the manhole, enduring heavy rain, as his then girlfriend used the might of woman-power to pull him out.). But there is an urgent need for perspective here. Why are intelligentsia joining in, in unintelligent bashing of the administration, when EVERYONE are to blame? If Mr. Menon truly had a grass roots view of India, he'd know that our drains are in that bad a shape because we keep them that way. Every plastic cover that someone oh so "cool"ly throws away on the street contributes to it's many clogs. Would our drains really need so much desilting, if people stopped the very disgusting habit of keeping a pile of construction sand right in the street, and making sure it was fully exposed in the rainy season? Why is it our divine right to divert every flowing liquid from our houses into a stream in front of our houses, when actually the drains are there only to carry water off the street. But no, instead of very efficiently harvesting the rain water from our roofs, we push it into the storm drains, and push along with it scraps and leaves from the streets, including the nice big coconut branch that just fell, and the 6 finished packs of chips that our fat obese unhealthy kids just threw away. The BBMP is elected by us, they are, in a very cliched way first among equals, supposed to be doing in an organised way what the citizens need. It is a mark of how immature we are, that they seem so clueless. Instead of citizens and the authorities standing shoulder to shoulder in the quest for progress, here, the BBMP needs to be a teacher in a nursery class (very crude language coming up) with kids crapping in their pants before they come to school, and the parents then taking the teacher to task for rashes on their kids' butts, amongst other things. Why have we become so selfish? So unwilling to take up responsibility, unwilling to face the consequences of our very horrendous actions.

The truth is that we, the people of Bangalore killed Abhishek. With every bit of plastic thrown away, we dug a watery grave for a small child. There are small children around us, and I don't see them learning not to litter, so we're probably going to see this for long.

I do not think Mr. Vivek Menon said what he supposedly did (I hope not. Hope he could clarify.). If he did, then it only unfortunately validates my very pessimistic understanding of, if things are going to change. But no reason why we shouldn't hope that they do. For the BBMP to not go on strike, to be very strict with litterers, for people to do their bit to keep the drains, amongst other things, functional. It gets very lonely, not to mention frightful to try and tell a stranger not to litter. I've been laughed at for picking up after some idiot who dropped a plastic bag into a drain, yelled at, for telling him not to. And, very cinematically, spit at for saying that he didn't belong to a city he littered. I'm not a Gandhi. A leader who could instill in the minds of millions, what he believed they should think and do. Well, not yet atleast. So until I become one, could my friends please help me out?