This post has no point. There's absolutely no reason to write this, except that i want to blow off steam, and express my very deep disappointment and anger at the dance i see taking place around Bhopal.
Bhopal happened in 1984; by conservative estimates, 20,000 people died. After Dow took over Union Carbide in 2001, they insisted that they had no liability for an incident (sic) that happened in the 1980s, and that they never owned nor ran the plant responsible for the disaster.
The Indian government made some sounds that approximated 'please, sir, clean it up',
And then subsided into grumbles which cumulated in an approximated
'ok, sir, but see, we're really upset about this, you've hurt our feelings'.
Big fucking deal. Like Dow Chemicals cares. Like the US cares.
But We Care.
You see, we mustn't hurt the feelings of the Great North, or they may stop letting us lick their feet. And what a tragedy that would be. Imagine, no powerful Northern feet to lick.
The judgement came out yesterday. Yesterday, it was all over the front pages (except the parts devoted to buying-related advertising, of course/ the show must go on). Today, its slipped to page three and four, and an obituary-like tone has descended over the commentary. Its so sad, says the tone of the writing. Its so sad that this should happen, that our judiciary is inadequate, that we can relentlessly hound, and prosecute individual wrongdoers, but we cannot take to task a company which, which, considering its size and holdings, constitutes a target the size of a murder of Tyrannosaurs Rex.
(What is a collection of T-Rex called? I don't know, but 'murder' seems appropriate. I've never really got why the term is applied to crows, but i can very clearly see, in my mind's eye, why it would be appropriate for a collection of carnivorous dinosaurs.)
But you can't take a T-Rex out with a shotgun. They have teeth, and claws, and they move very fast.
Thats why you need lots of guns, very large and strong nets, people experienced in taking out T-Rex-es, and most important, strategy.
Isn't that the role of a state system in a situation like this? A state system that includes the executive, the legislature and the judiciary? In the happenstance of marauding murders of T-Rex, isn't this system is supposed to kick in with its infrastructure and experience?
It may take a village to teach a child, but it sure as heck takes more than a village to take out deliberate monsters leaking chemicals.
Unfortunately, it also requires will. Will on the part of a system to engage with, and turn its destructive power towards a problem or a threat. This, with the Indian state's 'sir, please give me your ass to lick' attitude is the will it lacks. I'd like to rephrase, actually. The will is very much present, its just turned in Other directions.
More land. More minerals. More FDI, more Northern ass to lick.
'please, sir, i missed that spot of shit, could you turn this way please, so i can lick that clean too?'
It seems that its not just Northern ass either, any ass will do, just so long there is the possibility that measurable rewards are considerable. Theres lots of home-grown asses that qualify in this category, because theres just one parameter for returns. And we all know what that is.
Who says we're a proud country? Who says we have heritage and tradition, and Indian Values? I say the judgement on Bhopal tells us that we have neither pride nor foresight. Nor hindsight, actually. And certainly, no values. Can the Upholders of Indian Values Please Stand Up and Explain to me How the Judgement on Bhopal fits in with Indian Values?
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
On Republic day rehearsal traffic jams
Why is it that nations, in the practice of national identity building/ within the general ambit of governance/ must at the same time cause so much inconvenience to their citizens?
So I'm thinking that part of this is that it’s more or less inevitable. Think of it. Nation, Nationhood, national identity. All very abstract. Try to hold it and there’s really nothing there/ what does the nation look like? Vaguely like a webbed plus sign. But that’s on a map. And we all know that the maps not the territory. Umberto Eco has something quite wonderful on that, in a volume of essays called /how to travel with a salmon/ but anyway we digress.
What does the nation look like?
It looks like the symbols that in very complex interactional ways build our idea of what the nation is. Yours is different from mine of course, but there’s enough in common for there to be a sort of common denominator.
Very good. Problem being how do you govern that? Building homogeneity out of heterogeneity is a difficult thing; and besides peoples regular lives really do take an astonishing amount of time and energy.
So you have governance, the task of which is to build a highly abstract and complex notion in the minds of people who really don't have the time. And the large shows become inevitable. You have to have the pomp, the festival, the glamour / in both senses of glamour, really: the page three sense and the older faery sense/ and what you have as a concomitant is an understanding that the show implies presence/ not just of some kind of collective national identity but of /shall we say (and i have to do this in Bangla, sorry) Bharikki in the identity politics of the region.
Let me try and explain Bharikki. It’s one of these words like abhimaan in Hindi. Very difficult to translate anything close to well in English. Bharikki is weight, relative weight that is. So if you have the quality then people will treat you with respect, and you'll be able to put in serious bids for the UN Security Council. Yeah, that’s with a capital S and a C/ MS Word just didn’t let me type lowercase on the SC/ They’re getting you in caps all around the world, that sort of bharikki.
So you have to put up the show. It has to be enormous because of the enormity of scale of the idea you are implying. You have to, like all creators of identity have a point in the time space continuum to treat as sacred/ very important concrete of identity, dates. Independence Day, Republic Day, days of identity definition. All of which really follows and is no problem/ except this identity building exercise has to, apparently, take place on my way to office in the morning.
They're preparing to gleam for Republic Day. Its all very crisp and cool and neat blocks and lines, and attractive men in uniform. But while attractive men in uniform are a very pleasing thing, they do take a lot of time to march across the particular (only) about two hundred square yards of Rajpath i have to cross in the morning.
The unfortunate thing about peoples real lives is that they are prone to take a lot of energy. So much in fact that even though i deeply acknowledge that there is an aesthetic point to winter morning sunshine on severally colored regularity, i would still really prefer not to be late for work. Me and lots of others i guess. I sit in my car and look around at fellow stuck-in-this-damn-jammers and wonder how many people out there were thinking of ways in which this situation could be avoided. Alternate road routes mostly, probably, but i'm willing to bet that some involve governance and some engineering. And some of the plans may be viable. They should have a contest.
‘Send, with stamped self addressed envelope enclosed, 500 word essay on “System to Avoid Traffic Jam at Rajpath during Republic Day Parade Rehearsal”'.
Truly, they should. There’s an urgent problem to be solved and some very interesting people out there.
In the meantime, i’m still resenting being late for work.
So I'm thinking that part of this is that it’s more or less inevitable. Think of it. Nation, Nationhood, national identity. All very abstract. Try to hold it and there’s really nothing there/ what does the nation look like? Vaguely like a webbed plus sign. But that’s on a map. And we all know that the maps not the territory. Umberto Eco has something quite wonderful on that, in a volume of essays called /how to travel with a salmon/ but anyway we digress.
What does the nation look like?
It looks like the symbols that in very complex interactional ways build our idea of what the nation is. Yours is different from mine of course, but there’s enough in common for there to be a sort of common denominator.
Very good. Problem being how do you govern that? Building homogeneity out of heterogeneity is a difficult thing; and besides peoples regular lives really do take an astonishing amount of time and energy.
So you have governance, the task of which is to build a highly abstract and complex notion in the minds of people who really don't have the time. And the large shows become inevitable. You have to have the pomp, the festival, the glamour / in both senses of glamour, really: the page three sense and the older faery sense/ and what you have as a concomitant is an understanding that the show implies presence/ not just of some kind of collective national identity but of /shall we say (and i have to do this in Bangla, sorry) Bharikki in the identity politics of the region.
Let me try and explain Bharikki. It’s one of these words like abhimaan in Hindi. Very difficult to translate anything close to well in English. Bharikki is weight, relative weight that is. So if you have the quality then people will treat you with respect, and you'll be able to put in serious bids for the UN Security Council. Yeah, that’s with a capital S and a C/ MS Word just didn’t let me type lowercase on the SC/ They’re getting you in caps all around the world, that sort of bharikki.
So you have to put up the show. It has to be enormous because of the enormity of scale of the idea you are implying. You have to, like all creators of identity have a point in the time space continuum to treat as sacred/ very important concrete of identity, dates. Independence Day, Republic Day, days of identity definition. All of which really follows and is no problem/ except this identity building exercise has to, apparently, take place on my way to office in the morning.
They're preparing to gleam for Republic Day. Its all very crisp and cool and neat blocks and lines, and attractive men in uniform. But while attractive men in uniform are a very pleasing thing, they do take a lot of time to march across the particular (only) about two hundred square yards of Rajpath i have to cross in the morning.
The unfortunate thing about peoples real lives is that they are prone to take a lot of energy. So much in fact that even though i deeply acknowledge that there is an aesthetic point to winter morning sunshine on severally colored regularity, i would still really prefer not to be late for work. Me and lots of others i guess. I sit in my car and look around at fellow stuck-in-this-damn-jammers and wonder how many people out there were thinking of ways in which this situation could be avoided. Alternate road routes mostly, probably, but i'm willing to bet that some involve governance and some engineering. And some of the plans may be viable. They should have a contest.
‘Send, with stamped self addressed envelope enclosed, 500 word essay on “System to Avoid Traffic Jam at Rajpath during Republic Day Parade Rehearsal”'.
Truly, they should. There’s an urgent problem to be solved and some very interesting people out there.
In the meantime, i’m still resenting being late for work.
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