My Lord,Lately the local TV channels are telling me that you are sternly reprimanding administrative authorities of the city. I must thank you as your words are venting my deepest frustration because the minute I step out of my gate, I am forced to negotiate a dirty, polluted, traffic-choked under-construction nightmare going by the name of Ahmedabad.

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My city excursion always starts with a pleasant interaction with a lovely group of twelve curs, with an amorous couple already appearing to be engaged in a bit vocal process of augmenting the number.

They patrol the street day and night, singing in chorus to ensure that we join their vigil by staying up. They also upturn every dustbin and spread its content to investigate if humanity is up-to any mischief. So, my street looks like a war-zone of Syria, only noisier and lot dirtier.

But, I know that my city administration can’t do anything to clean up the mess, as these divine creatures enjoy patronage of your lordships’ counterparts sitting in the highest judicial authority of the nation.

As I continue my expedition, unfortunately in a car, as the curs have enforced a strict law of “No Pedestrian Movement Allowed” in the street, I have three exits to join the turbulence of the city traffic.

The first has a pani-puri vendor with his patrons parked at the corner to deter me, the second has metro construction barriers and a temple to test if I can drive through a gap couple of millimetre wider than my car, and the third, the choice I am forced to make, has just sprung up a coaching class with its kids double parking around a tight corner, a car-wash taxi stand manned by extremely polite drivers who think cars can bend around a corner and a construction material vendor who uses the footpath as a storage space with assorted tempos loading-unloading material. When I look at the mess, working only because metaphorical lubrication of extreme tolerance that Indians are covered with, I often feel that it would be good idea to have every vehicle covered with actual lubricant oil too, as in near future, we are going to have a tight squeeze where tolerance may fail.

But, till suitable lubricant is discovered, to you, My Lord, I have a question. Please tell us, the suffering citizens getting tired of the mess, which side are you on? If the pani-puri vendor, the coaching class owner, the taxi-drivers or the material vendor is tackled by municipal authorities, they will seek Your Lordship’s refuge.

If AMC attempts to reduce the parking woes of CG Road by demolishing shops constructed in parking areas of commercial buildings claiming to be nursing homes, it can’t be done, as you, Sir, are musing over the issue of impact fee since a while. And, God forbid, if the road-side temple is even touched, your lordship will have to dwell upon some deeply philosophical part of constitution.

Sir, the situation, as I see it right now is that we seem to be reprimanding a person, whose legs are tied, for not beating Usain Bolt. It is an interesting idea, but it is surely not helping us solve our problems. And it is surely not helping the morals of city administration.

We have been blaming corruption for the mess, but it is now appearing that the bigger question is not corruption, but confusion.

My Lord, we are looking up to you to decide, as we want a habitable city freed of cancerous growth driven by greed. You need to stand up for the citizens and standby the city administration to empower it.

There is no greater power than justice, and you Sir, have a job to do. You must decide and decide soon, for the sake of Ahmedabad.

City-based science nomad who tries to find definitive answerssamir.shukla@icloud.com