Who does the nation belong to and what is the role of the
government. This is a question that has had me oscillating forever. When I was
a student and full of hot blood, it was best used a socialist. The upliftment
of the downtrodden and the poor was a priority. As I grew older and I wanted
money to fuel my dreams and my passions, I was clear – survival of the fittest
and capitalism is the best answer to the question of poverty. I think over the
years capitalism has been largely successful in taking masses of people out of
poverty, hunger and sickness. The free hand has been reasonably efficient in
doing so at a large scale. Hence what is the role of the government? The
Sarkar?
I find this question very difficult to answer in an unbiased
fashion and way. What can I say that is not influenced by my money, success and
life stage? Let’s look at a simple example – all of us rich folks hate the
Ganapti celebration and the toll it takes on the traffic while we are going
home. This dancing on the streets while taking the idol for immersion creates
bottle necks and we rich people in cars ask – what on earth is going on?
Shouldn’t all these be banned in a big commercial metropolis like Mumbai.
When I was growing up, dandiyas were like a big thing. All
the gujju neighborhoods would organize massive dandiya festivals on the streets
and they would dance till the wee hours of the morning. It became so big a fad
that every neighborhood would organize this function right inside their colony,
on whichever ground they could erect a basic pandal. It was the done thing.
With the noise levels rising and the dance continuing till late, it was a
matter of time that some people took objection to all the noise and started
protesting. The gujjus fought back. It was their 9 nights of revelry.
This was the only time that women and men could dance
together in pre liberalized India. There were no outlets for any of the young
kids to go out and just hang out, let alone dance. Dance is an interesting
thing. I think it is some kind of evolutionary thing where you allow your body
to sway with abandon and it then takes over your mind. It allows you to flirt
and exchange glances. It allows you to connect with someone matching step to
step. Dandiya is the best form of this. The whole group agrees on the steps and
then you match with each other – the timing being critical so that you hit the
dandiyas at the same time. The whole group goes into a coordinated frenzy. The
best part of this – then you twirl and move to the next dancer… multitudes of
people dance with each other. Each one trying to coordinate with the other.
It’s a perfect flirting sequence. No wonder it was so popular with the young
kids who otherwise would shun anything so traditional. They invested their own
moves, their own music and even called it a name – Disco Dandiya.
As the complaints grew, authorities took note and time
limits were set. I remember at first they were often flouted butt soon enough
the authorities were forced to act and the dancing would come to a close by 10
pm. That was the first body blow. The second and fatal body blow was simple –
more options for the young kids. Enough discos and enough places with music
where young kids could go and dance and inter mingle. Enough coffee shops and
enough malls. You don’t need to dance in a community with elders watching when
you simply can pub it (and get drunk as well).
This to my mind killed dandiyas completely and the gujjus
simply moved on. Even in marriage ceremonies, they were taken off and replaced
with dance parties with DJs, lights and daaru. But this craze didn’t die… it
simply moved to the poorer sections of the society. Now dandiyas are often
organized by poor ghettos and slums. They dance away with gay abandon in much
the same way the gujjus of old used to. The pubs are out of reach for the poor
and this is their outlet.
Ganapati celebrations are also similar. They get to get
together and play music, dance away, hold compeitions and have langars. They
all contribute and often get political
support and hold massive celebrations. At this stage when I see them dance and
take to the roads for the processions, I am forced to be in a little bit of a
dilemma. Who am I to pass judgment? Who am I to ask them to get out of the way?
As always the answer is somewhere in the middle. The poor
need an outlet to enjoy and gather peacefully as a community. If we as rich
asses think clearly, this is something we must promote. What’s a few days of inconvenience
for fostering a community. Communities if handled well, tend to lower the crime
rate and create an ecosystem that is self-dependent and economically
prosperous. Studies have shown that great community living ensures a better
health quotient than anything else. People take care of each other and people who
retire live longer and continue to manage and grow the community. Often it’s
seen that self-run communities like gymkhanas or housing societies rely on
older people to run and manage them as they are ones with time. Today I was listening
to a podcast that spoke about how spies are constantly worried about LOPs.
LOPS? Little old people. These are people who have nothing to do but stand
outside the balcony and watch other people and see patterns. They are ones that
figure that things are wrong. They sit up at odd hours at night and keep a
watch out. They are far more useful than what the society can imagine. In most
movies and crime fiction as well as actual crime stories – it’s always the LOP
that testifies. In fact once an Israeli spy ring was busted in Switzerland as
they were reported behaving suspiciously around a house at 2 am by an old lady.
Hah.
Jasmine is a secularist and is very annoyed that 500 rupees
is added to our society maintenance charges towards society celebrations – that
include Ganapati and holi and independence days etc. I agree it’s annoying and
it should be voluntary. But on the other hand, this money ensures that we have
society functions and that we know and recognize others in the society and socialize.
We meet over such events especially for the free food on offer. Thanks to this
a community develops and thanks to this people feel connected and thanks to
this we work towards common goals and public goods like – cleanliness, upkeep,
security etc. This increases the overall value of the property. The benefits
far outweigh the costs, however communal or forced down upon.
This is the nature of human behavior. The downsides to this
community is also when the society closes doors to outside ideas and talents.
Societies in Mumbai, especially the older established societies with few
tenants start making extra judicial laws like not allowing rental for singles
or live in or work to refuse sale to people outside communities. I have argued
before and studies show that a balance of renters and owners are required to
bring about change. Too many renters and no one really cares about long term
upkeep and too many owners and the society becomes rigid. This works as I have
noticed for buildings as well as cities as a whole.
I think that religious festivities or any festivities must
be encouraged but with rules that ensure that things don’t go out of hand.
Fixed times and space allotted for the festivities with minimal impact outside
of those directly involved may be created. Of course its gets crazy when one
talks about some festivities becoming so large like the lalbaugh ka raja
ganpati celebrations. The whole road outside needs to be blocked out. But on the
flip side many of these generate donations that can be put to good use and
least of all give employment opportunities to so many people. I like this as an
income redistribution mechanism. As often seen, politicians get it right before
most other professions.
Till then, I am going to be stuck in traffic, irritated and
bored, spewing toxic emissions for future generations. Curse those bloody
processions, I want to go home, while the meek inherit the earth.
