Gitanjali - Maduraiites Amnesia

For some reason, I find my brethren extremely selfish or probably they are affected with some form of Amnesia. I checked the Public Library for any unofficial notices from the local mafia to ban any literary material that would provoke the senses of an individual thereby allowing them to question the dire position of democratic rights in the Temple City.

For some reason, I don’t see Maduraiites understand a bit about what is it like to live in collective democracy. For Allah’s sake, Saudi Arabia at least declares itself a monarchy and does not have a democratically elected Government. But what is the problem with a democratic country like India? Oh no. Wait! I am not talking about Mangalore or Bangalore or Mumbai or Delhi.

This is about the city {for some reason Megasthanes found it appropriate at that time and the Madurai Corporation is still sticking to the historical reference} of Madurai that is technically run by the local mafia and has unofficially reinterpreted the Constitution of India. In this Constitution, the royal family of Madurai celebrates its family members’ birthday at the expense of tax payers money. In olden days, we have heard about stories that the King used to consider the welfare of his people and implement public works project.

That’s right! Our unofficial King also distributes goods to the welfare of his party cadres. Dare raise a question about our unofficial King and be damned to a dungeon (read: Corporation sinkhole - oh no, wait! Corporation open sinkhole). Our King’s appointed sycophants occupy the rooms of Public Works Department that was once held by people of not-so Indian Origin, like, <Benniquik>*. <Benniquik>* administered a lot of Public Works Project that our so called sons of Dravidian soil care to manage.

Our unofficial King can also focus on improving the economic aspect of Madurai with his strong connections to Papa. Unfortunately the close Advisories of our King are more interested in other plans like providing constant employment to Flex Banner Printing Units in Madurai. May be it can very well be a large scale employment provider with the number of illegal hoardings out there in the Streets of Madurai that in turn offer business to local Hospitals in terms of freaky accidents. Wow! How intrinsic is the economic growth of Madurai?!

If my countrymen were/are so brought up on the concept of nationalism, with biased History books constantly reminding the younger generation that the Colonial power were evil and we need to redeem our self-esteem and identity, how come my brethren lost its democratic values in post independent India? Don’t blame the King for possessing a mega industrial-scale vacuum cleaner and sucking our brains out. Isn’t it we as Citizens responsible for the collective well being? I mean, where is our sense of social responsibility or individual discipline?

Though Rabindranath Tagore’s timeless masterpiece of Gitanjali (”Mind without Fear“) might require translation to the Caste Hindus of Madurai, I don’t think they will fail to understand the following song (quite pertinent to the times that we live in) from the movie, ஊமை விழிகள்:

“தோல்வி நிலையென நினைத்தால் மனிதன் வாழ்வை நினைக்கலாமா?
வாழ்வை சுமையென நினைத்து தாயின் கனவை மிதிக்கலாமா?

உரிமை இழந்தோம் உடமை இழந்தோம் உணர்வை இழக்கலாமா?
உணர்வை கொடுத்து உயிராய் வளர்த்த கனவை மறக்கலாமா?”

Hail the King!

* Correct name requested