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And quiet flows the Ganges...and the Yamuna
By Suhel Seth, Mumbai Mirror | Nov 2, 2014, 02.59 AM IST
And quiet flows the Ganges...and the Yamuna - Mumbai Mirror
It might seem odd to many that we, as a nation, have grappled with the cleaning of the Ganges. Or, for that matter, any of our other rivers; our streets; our temples; our mosques and so on. Filth is something we have come to terms with. We don't care about littering the streets as long as the cigarette butt is not in our car; we don't care about spitting: in fact, we are the world's greatest spitters. The elite will roll down their car windows with as much grace as will the truck driver. Most homes will try and do their best to remain clean but right outside there will be the usual litter and no one will care.
The genesis of this attitude lies far deeper. We are scared of two things: responsibility and accountability. If something goes wrong, we are the first to pass the monkey onto another shoulder. No one in this country will ever take responsibility. Current governments will always blame the previous ones. Current editors will talk about the malaise that had set in owing to an earlier incumbent. If we could, we would begin to blame the epics for our present misery. We love the credit. We love exposing the warts in our society but hate to take responsibility. If your ward doesn't do well, you will never accept your fault. You will blame it on the school or the teachers or the government. There is this enduring habit of the 'I am never at fault' syndrome that has afflicted India. Add to that our general subservience to those in power. Did it take a Narendra Modi to inspire an army of celebrities to take to the broom? If in normal circumstances you had asked them to clean the streets, albeit symbolically, you would have been presented with an endorsement bill. Now that it is no less than Modi who has asked you, you will do it for the nation. The truth is, and I know it sounds bitter, we rarely do anything in today's times for the nation. Rarely. We do it either for personal gain or for advancing an agenda. I am not the kind who will give brownie points to all those who heeded the PM's call and then wielded the broom. What about the follow up? Will one photo op be enough?
We don't need Twitter movements to clean India. We need an inner awakening and, the sad bit is, we've kind of lost that. Let's be honest and hold a mirror to ourselves. As long as self-preservation is paramount in our lives, we will lean on tokenism and not bring about real change. I am not for a moment being cynical about the Swach Bharat campaign: I am just being realistic about our latent hypocrisy and our unwillingness to tackle things with a sense of permanence. Narendra Modi cannot change India. And knowing the kind of people we are, we will expect him to do everything so that we can sit back and gloat about the changing winds. The truth is that Modi can only help flag the issues. It is we, both, individually and collectively, who will need to bring about that change for good and for the long term.
The idiom of who we are and how we are brought up will need to change. We will need to believe in the change rather than believe in Narendra Modi alone. He can be the spark but can never be the fire that will extinguish the past filled with misdemeanours. We cannot afford to turn the Prime Minister into a moral science teacher or for that matter replace responsible parenting.
We cannot absolve ourselves of the roles we must play as responsible citizens and I am afraid we are yet again passing the buck. With the usual savoir faire that has become our birthmark.
The only way India can change is if we change. It is not one man's filth or one man's river. So how can it be only one man's mission?
By Suhel Seth, Mumbai Mirror | Nov 2, 2014, 02.59 AM IST
And quiet flows the Ganges...and the Yamuna - Mumbai Mirror
It might seem odd to many that we, as a nation, have grappled with the cleaning of the Ganges. Or, for that matter, any of our other rivers; our streets; our temples; our mosques and so on. Filth is something we have come to terms with. We don't care about littering the streets as long as the cigarette butt is not in our car; we don't care about spitting: in fact, we are the world's greatest spitters. The elite will roll down their car windows with as much grace as will the truck driver. Most homes will try and do their best to remain clean but right outside there will be the usual litter and no one will care.
The genesis of this attitude lies far deeper. We are scared of two things: responsibility and accountability. If something goes wrong, we are the first to pass the monkey onto another shoulder. No one in this country will ever take responsibility. Current governments will always blame the previous ones. Current editors will talk about the malaise that had set in owing to an earlier incumbent. If we could, we would begin to blame the epics for our present misery. We love the credit. We love exposing the warts in our society but hate to take responsibility. If your ward doesn't do well, you will never accept your fault. You will blame it on the school or the teachers or the government. There is this enduring habit of the 'I am never at fault' syndrome that has afflicted India. Add to that our general subservience to those in power. Did it take a Narendra Modi to inspire an army of celebrities to take to the broom? If in normal circumstances you had asked them to clean the streets, albeit symbolically, you would have been presented with an endorsement bill. Now that it is no less than Modi who has asked you, you will do it for the nation. The truth is, and I know it sounds bitter, we rarely do anything in today's times for the nation. Rarely. We do it either for personal gain or for advancing an agenda. I am not the kind who will give brownie points to all those who heeded the PM's call and then wielded the broom. What about the follow up? Will one photo op be enough?
We don't need Twitter movements to clean India. We need an inner awakening and, the sad bit is, we've kind of lost that. Let's be honest and hold a mirror to ourselves. As long as self-preservation is paramount in our lives, we will lean on tokenism and not bring about real change. I am not for a moment being cynical about the Swach Bharat campaign: I am just being realistic about our latent hypocrisy and our unwillingness to tackle things with a sense of permanence. Narendra Modi cannot change India. And knowing the kind of people we are, we will expect him to do everything so that we can sit back and gloat about the changing winds. The truth is that Modi can only help flag the issues. It is we, both, individually and collectively, who will need to bring about that change for good and for the long term.
The idiom of who we are and how we are brought up will need to change. We will need to believe in the change rather than believe in Narendra Modi alone. He can be the spark but can never be the fire that will extinguish the past filled with misdemeanours. We cannot afford to turn the Prime Minister into a moral science teacher or for that matter replace responsible parenting.
We cannot absolve ourselves of the roles we must play as responsible citizens and I am afraid we are yet again passing the buck. With the usual savoir faire that has become our birthmark.
The only way India can change is if we change. It is not one man's filth or one man's river. So how can it be only one man's mission?
