WAITING FOR GODOT

“Waiting like they did for Godot” was the title of column by venerated city culturist, Shanta Gokhale in Mumbai Mirror of 4^th Sep.  Generally, she sticks to analysis of culture scene, coming up with rare insights into the goings on. As I pored over, I realized that this was not her normal fare. It turned out to be an anguish laden essay against wrong doings by our politicians. Going against her grain, she chose to lam-bast the band of bandits that rules us. She seemed to be particularly piqued about the scale of irrigation scams in Maharashtra. And in this case Godot is the elusive White Paper on irrigation projects.

Her rants reminded me of great ‘PULA’ the doyen amongst doyens on Maharashtra cultural scene. In 1977 when the nation was reeling under Emergency, Jayprakash Narayan had led the movement against political atrocities and excesses. At that time a whole lot of intellectuals from all walks of life including writers, poets had jumped into the fray adding literary fervor to the movement. Inimitable PULA added his own comic overtones, keeping the audience enthralled as only he could.  

It was like a non-violent revolution.

Time has come when intellectuals in greater numbers must pitch in and help initiate a new stratagem that can not only rid us of the rotten governance but also usher in an era of morality and accountability. Common goal should be to evolve a new system that keeps the interests of citizens as paramount.

Present system is blatantly arrogant and disrespectful of public sentiments. Our rulers have no qualms in resurrecting politicians who were shamed (were they?) by stigma of corruption. Nominating A. Raja and Suresh Kalmadi to Parliamentary standing committees is like spitting in your face. 

I am afraid; this could just be a test case. If they get away with it, they will be emboldened to exonerate all political scamsters and run away with the loot.

We are a very strange nation. We chose to remain silent spectators no matter how much are we pushed against the wall.

Ours is a country that for a long time was exporter of sugar. It was priced around Rs 15 per kg. All of sudden we were sold the story of unprecedented sugar shortages. To tide over the crisis and in view of festive season, government was forced to import sugar. It was a paradigm shift. Overnight, an exporting nation had become importer. Further, thresh-hold price of sugar went from Rs 15-16 to 35-36. They continue to be at same level since then. 

We remained unmoved then. We continue to be in state of stupor.

Dals are to Indian Cuisine what pastas are to Italian. For the less privileged sections of society which could not afford the luxury of vegetables, dals came as cheap source of nutrients. Some years back, we set up a commodities exchange. It is nothing but a gamblers’ den where ‘rich’ of the nation play checkers with our most essential needs. They make millions and prices of commodities rise steadily. Your dal is just one such commodity. Today, even middle class feels the pinch of pricing for dals. For the poor, fruits were unimaginable, vegetables unaffordable and now even dals have been tossed out of their plates.  Are we becoming roti-snatchers?

We still maintain a sphinx like silence.