5 alarming images from India that don't alarm us any more

The pollution, the dust, the filth, the contamination of our cities - it's staring us in our faces. No matter how much we look away, how much we try to turn a blind eye, it's screaming for our attention.

We are living in so much squalor and filth, and we are repulsed by it.

Here are just five images that will remind us of the sorry state of our collapsing cities and hometowns.

Our beautiful lakes. That have more muck flowing in them than water.

Our pretty cities where we breathe more toxins than oxygen.

Our state-of-the-art buildings that have more floating piles of plastic junk than solid foundations

Our immaculate cities that look like disaster zones.

Our skies that have dangerous live wire hanging loose

Let these alarming images move you to action

This is the pitiable state of our cities. Our city structures are now beyond despair.

We continue to look away, continue to ignore, and neglect our cities that are falling apart. What will it take for us to wake up from our stupor? When will we stop turning away, and start paying attention?

Wake up, before the last of our cities that are home to us crumble apart. Stop ignoring, and start working to improve and rehabilitate our cities.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle #JaagoRe!

3 Things That Are Normal For Indians

1. Calling a disaster ‘Home Sweet Home’

We live in buildings that are in shambles and could crumble any moment. We are oblivious to the danger that’s lurking in the corridors. We walk down staircases that could any time open into an abyss of pain. But we continue to trudge on, oblivious to our surroundings.

2. Walking on shabby bridges

We all have that one route we take, whether we go to office, or home. The same route is taken by several others too. It's become a part of our daily routine. We are so engrossed in getting to our destination, we fail to see the signs of the impending disaster staring at us...even as we go about our very routine.

3. Escaping death under a maze of live wires

We definitely have a taste for risk-taking. Or else, why would we think all sort of live wires hanging over our heads are no big deal? To add to that, we are living in a tropical region, which means monsoons visit us every so often. Definitely, a recipe for disaster.

Stop Normalising Disasters

Why are we so apathetic to what’s happening around us? Why do we suddenly become vigilant and reactive after that bridge falls, or that building topples over, or someone gets electrocuted?

Why do we protest do once these disasters have already struck - when we could be making an even bigger impact before crisis hits home?

We have to stop normalising disaster and raise the flag before it’s too late.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle #Jaagore!

A Letter to Pedestrians from an Open Manhole

Fact: Five people in India die daily by falling into open pits/manholes.

*Source: NCRB

Dear Pedestrians,

Remember me, that open manhole you walked past by, only a few days ago? Let me jog your memory.

Remember you were walking along and almost fell into me?

Remember you cursed me under your breath, and then just walked away?

Remember you threw an empty packet of chips into me and looked around to see if anyone caught you doing that? Well, I did, but I guess you didn't notice me.

Remember when it rained and I overflowed on to the streets? People didn't know that my lid was open and they fell into me.

Remember when you were walking again by my street, oblivious to my existence and suddenly found yourself falling into me, a world of filth that existed beneath the pavement?

Remember the crowd that gathered around me? Around you? Remember how embarrassed you were? How guilty was I. Remember how you had to be pulled out, a stench surrounding you that reeked more of helplessness than of anything else?

How you all flung expletives at me. How you all shook your heads in disbelief and blamed the system for yet another accident.

And how you all walked away. And yet you are here again, walking on my street, being cautious of your step. Reminiscing about how nothing ever changes around here. If only you had walked on another street. If only someone had covered me. If only someone had seen me.

If only someone had done something.

Yours failingly,

An Open Manhole.

I regret buying a big car

I would have never thought that the car I was so looking forward to buying would finally become the bane of my existence. I was looking forward to buying this car, what with all the hours of hard work I put in to be able to afford it - but of course, the traffic jams of my city had other plans in store for me.

The day I purchased the car was possibly the only time when I was genuinely happy. Yet every day since then, I have been cursing myself. And why? I am not able to shift past the first gear. Perennially stuck in a jam, I am always late. Both ways, while going to office or while returning home.

The other day, I was stuck in a jam, as usual. I could hear the faint sirens of an ambulance. I sighed, knowing that there was no way the ambulance was going to make its way out of the long procession that was the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. I checked my rear view mirrors and miraculously, I saw the ambulance inch forward. I honked loudly to signal the vehicles in front of me to make way. However, there was no space for them to go. I waited anxiously as the ambulance drove ahead and halted to my left. I peered into the ambulance and could see the worried faces of the family members inside, helpless and desperate.

I cursed, this time, not for me, but for the ones battling life and death in the ambulance. After what seemed like an eternity, the cars began to move ahead at a slow pace. As the ambulance snaked its way out of the jam, some people followed its trail, as is always the case on Indian roads.

I shudder to think what would happen to me, if I were to be in the same situation?

Why are we stuck in a rut?

It’s only because we are in ‘let’s just adjust and adapt’ mode, this menace endures. Good civic sense is the hallmark of any proud city. Our streets can be safer and peaceful only when we break out of the ‘adjust and adapt’ mode and start being responsible. Do we have to wait for a complete breakdown of the infrastructure of our cities?

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!

We love to litter

The other day I was on a ferry in Mumbai, and I saw a family eating a bag of chips. Afterwards, the mother threw the wrapper into the sea. The children followed her example. Everybody just looked away. It was after all ‘picnic time’. Who will bother to look for a garbage can, that too on holiday?

What is this inherent need to not throw garbage where it belongs, you ask? Well, when was the last time you saw a garbage bin in your area that wasn’t overflowing?

Or the last time that the garbage bin has been duly emptied? How is a civilian supposed to act civil if the facilities don’t prompt that behaviour?

I remember when I was walking to a shop the other day, a man threw a banana peel at the garbage dump on the road. The peel of course, never actually landed in the bin and fell in the pile that was accumulating on the roadside. Next thing we know, a bike skids on the peel and the rider falls off. Who would have thought, right? Who’s to blame here now, the man who threw the peel and littered on the street, the rider who didn’t see where he was going, or the system that did not attend to the matter at hand?

If we won't clean up India, who will?

Hygiene and sanitation concerns have led to grave diseases and deaths. This has remained an issue for a very long time. We have been complaining about it relentlessly.

You complain about families littering and polluting our streets. Do you do anything about it, except watching from the sidelines?

Why wait for bits and pieces of waste to turn into a monstrous eternal pile of junk?

‘Itna problem hai, toh solution ban jao’.

Watch out for warning signs. Wake up before the alarm bell rings.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!

Open Letter From A High Voltage Wire

Dear Human,

Ever felt like you've hung around somewhere for so long that you begin slipping into the woodworks? I've been feeling that way for a while now.

You only notice me during the monsoons. If I suddenly have some amount of voltage, it's of a major concern. I get that me, being a wire, and a live one at that... cannot be exposed to water. But it's not like I am not functional during the rest of the year - you get what I'm saying?

I have been here for years - and it's beginning to feel pretty cramped up here. You would think that after all these decades of hanging around, I would get a neat makeover - but noooo. If being shoved carelessly around poles hasn't been boring enough, you've gone ahead and added a few more wires and now, you've just turned me into a nest of wires.

And should one of your own careless kind cross my path, you have to write these shocking headlines about me in your tabloids, blaming my ugliness and every detail about me.

Do not even get me started on all the various carts of food, clothes and what-not you display at abandon below me. Some of you have the audacity to use me as a clothesline, for crying out loud. I mean, DO YOU KNOW WHAT I CAN DO?

Just, look at me. Think about me, have some consideration for the times that I haven't electrocuted you. And while you take the time to do that, I'll take your advice and just, hang in there...

Dangerously Yours,
High Voltage Wires.

Open Letter from a Crumbling Flyover to the City

Dear Commuters,

You have been flying high with me, everyday and every night. When I first came into being, you were dumbstruck with awe. Then you soared with me, crossing over to the most inaccessible parts of the city with ease.

Many decades have passed. I am tired of bearing your weight. Your vehicles are getting bigger by the day, growing both in size and in number. I have borne many accidents here. Many deaths. You zoomed over me, overcome by the thrill of speed.

But that was all in the past. Today I am in the last stage of my life. Years of accommodating you has taken its toll on me.

And now you have turned a blind eye towards me. I'm in complete disarray and I need repair. Numerous articles are written on me. I am now said to be a dangerous, crumbling flyover. We may not even have to wait for an earthquake, a blizzard or a cyclone and I will come crashing down on you and your neighbourhood establishments.

I guess then we'll have a real jam, won't we now?

Barely Standing,
The Crumbling Flyover.

Open Letter from a Broken Street Light

Dear Pedestrians,

From where I stand, I have seen a lot. Accidents, people stumbling and falling in the dark, women being stalked, molested and raped - you name it. Yessir, many a disaster has occurred right below me. Had there been a CCTV mounted on me, you would have the evidence as well.

It's pretty traumatic being me. I have shed light on so many incidents... but hidden in the dark are so many more. Once, an old man was mugged. My wiring was in dire need of repair, so no one saw what happened. Perhaps if I were in a better condition, they wouldn't have had the guts to attack and rob you.

You may have passed by me many times. Some of my own kind are well lit even during the day, but aren't turned on during the night. Some of us, including me, have existed for so long that people have forgotten that they could use me, and I just stand there, unused, uncared for.

I remember the other day, when a car rammed into the street lamp down the road. It's ironic, actually. The car couldn't see the other lamp because, well, I wasn't functioning. And it had to go and ram itself in, of all things, a lamp. It's like we're trying so hard to make a point, but no one's really listening, or seeing for that matter.

So while I try and make myself more visible, here's a fun question for you to answer: "How many humans does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

Yours no longer functional,
A broken Street Light