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Fiercely guard your infrastructure
Driving on the sheltered, tree-lined boulevard, Nanda Road in Jayanagar in Bangalore, this morning, I hoped once again in vain for the signal to turn red, so I can keep gaping at green parks on either side of the road, even if for only a few seconds. But that was not to be, because the traffic kept moving, what with VIP cars zipping past in tearing hurry and cops shooing off motorists. What an irony that the very people who are meant to serve the common man are so insulate
d from the ground realities, I thought.
One such reality is the status of our road infrastructure, either clogged up with too many vehicles finding their way through haphazard parking, or dug up for reason few would be aware of. It must be said to the credit of the police that they are visible in many places, to ease the traffic flow. But they too are helpless when a vehicle sporting red flashing lights, of a politician or a sarkari babu, seeks preference to everybody else. Thus, even as you battle out the harshness of a 5 kmph crawl on a scorching morning, there is this ‘highness’ bungling with Sudoku, for all you know, in the rear seat of an air-conditioned car blaring its way as if the voter didn’t matter.
Come to think of it, infrastructure is more than a seawall or a software park. It does make a difference even when you are inside your house, by ensuring predictability in the supply of essential services such as power and water. Infrastructure comes under stress and, at times, breaks down in times of crisis.
One reason, in my view, is that we don’t bet much on the authorities. Haven’t you heard of stories from your Mumbai friends and relatives of common people standing on the road and helping the stranded? Ramani, a good friend, who happened to be in Mumbai during those fateful rain-flooding days, recalls how when he was wading back to his lodging, there were a few well-dressed businessmen or executives helping by doing something very unusual:
At a particular point on the road, these volunteers lifted each passer-by’s leg and placed it about a foot ahead, because there was a deep trench that lay invisible beneath.
D. MURALI
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