Which world do we live in? What has happened to us? Rats have launched an attack on our home, funnily we are those rats! Eating, knawing, crippling our legacy! Time is here to stay, to teach us a lesson. Yes we are blind with eyes...automatons attuned to look away, having earned a degree in the art of 'Escapism'!
You provide us with answers! What can be done to shake the most indifferent individual of Gen-Next into action? Time is ticking away...
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11 comments:
Will you go visit a monument on the pretext of having fun? The only reason you went and did this was because you needed to do a project on SOMETHING. Werent you already aware that monuments in India esp Delhi were being blatantly ignored and trashed. If ppl are capable of defacing taj mahal (blackeneing due to industries, acid rain...stopped only recently) then how can you expect anyone to maintain something that doesnot invite any attention anyway. People from all over the world come to see the Taj...thats why it has been maintainned to a certain degree of respectablity, if not to perfection. To lure in tourists in order to earn money, and obviously to appreciate our own culture the government requires money. Do you rather have the ever increasing fiscal deficit of this country contributiing to save monuments rather than people. This country cannot afford to repair buldings that are currently inhabited by people, so how do you expect them to sheild the houses of the people who have been dead for a hundred years, or more. The government is intrested in profit. If a monument can bring them that, then they will go out of their way to safeguard it and make it presentable.
Im not defending the immoral defacement of our past. But in a country where you are allowed to litter the streets, urinate in public and deface public property at will, how can you expect any different treatment for the monuments. We allow people to urinate on walls. We allow people to throw garbage on the street. The fault lies withtin the system itself. Defacement of monuments or any kind of property, even the road, is wrong. Do we ever get out of our cars to stop a scooter waala from peeing on the road? . If you are defending our past then defend our present and future as much.
Shiva your criticism is welcome and yes you have raised some extremely pretinent questions. Firstly however we would like to clarify that we are students of IIMC and this institute exists to train and churn out students who would act as 'vehicles' of mass media, hence our class projects will be directed to the same effect. I would like to add that we had the freedom to do our project on any subject. We could have chosen to work on a 'commercial product' or any 'brand' as well. We however chose to take up a social issue. The topic, was also totally our choice. The members of ZEST were committed to this cause from day one and will remain so.Yes we were aware of the existence of this problem of 'monument defacement' but in IIMC we have found a platform to stand up and do something about it; to tackle the problem, rather than merely tattle. It is very easy to point fingers but very difficult to say that enough is enough, it is time for me to take up the responsibility, as a citizen of this country. After all it is a mamoth task and we have to begin some where.
Our present and future rests on our past. Our identity rests on our past. The pristine monuments which constitute our cultural heriatge are the symbols of our ancestors, of what has been passed down to us. What if there was no Taj Mahal or no Qutab Minar? Why have these 'fossilled' structures at all? After all they are eating up space unnecessarily? A man or woman who disrespects his parents commands little respect. I hope you will not take me literally and will understand the spirit of behind this conjecture.
What makes you think that a monument like the Taj Mahal is more important as compared to certain others like the Moth ki Mazjid in Delhi? Have you heard of it? Have you seen it? Even if you have, there are many beautiful structures which we Indians are not even aware of? Is it something to be proud of? The Japanese decorate the smallest pagoda on their lands and beautifully develop the land around the monument which makes it a major tourist attraction. A poet's home in the UK is maintained like a palace and some Indians might boast of having visited it even if it were to be once in a lifetime, when they visited the island country. However we might not be aware of a monument near our own homes.India all in all has only 9000 'protected' monuments whereas
England (Much smaller in size as compared to India) and New York have 50,000 and 2,00,000 buildings respectively to be protected. This discovery should only make us more shameful!
Shiva, what makes you think that if some of these so called 'insignificant' monuments were to be properly maintained even if "not to perfection" they would not attract many times more tourists? It is only because these monuments have been converted into urinals and dumpyards that the select few who want to visit these places are discouraged from doing so. Does the government or do 'we' need to spend money to enforce the laws already in existence to curb monument defacement? The problem as you rightly pointed out lies with our attitude. The 'blame game' we are so accostomed to playing... Or our habit to criticize just for the heck of it! To talk and talk and not do any work! Am I right? Tell me how then, are we fighting indifference?
I am already aware that you are the students of IIMC...I have my ways!!...but anyway...since u consider yourself to be just vehicles of mass media and limit your capabilities to make a change, I think your the ones who are being indifferent. If you have taken up this just cause then you have the capability to bring it to its logical end. Just making people (and that too the educated ones ...who knew all this before you made this website)aware is not the end of the battle. I personally feel that if you can put in so much effort in building such an informative blog (congratulations for that), you can also step out of your air conditioned computer labs and make the common man aware of whats going on. SINCE COMMUNICATION IS AN INHERENT PART OF MASS MEDIA...i believe that there are several ways of COMMUNICATING these important facts to a lay-man. A project on a commercial product or company is passe, it does not necessarily contribute to a decent resume. But a project on a "just" cause speaks volumes about your "character". All the examples that you have cited above are of developed nations, hence I still stand by the points i made in my previous post.
One of the statements you wrote was-"Does the government or do 'we' need to spend money to enforce the laws already in existence to curb monument defacement?"
OFCOURSE execution of any law requires a work force, are you not aware of that?!! It needs money to maintain and safeguard any place, let alone a monument.
As for finding a reasonable solution is concerned...you can organize an open session for NDMC and MCD officials as well as cops, to educate them about this issue.
You can also start a signature campaign to make the laws that protect these monuments more stringent. Everything starts at a small scale and then assumes a larger shape. You too can make a difference and involve "cynics" like me in your campaign. Normal, "run- of -the -mill" people had gone up to the supreme court(not the government) and started the Sealing Drive and the removal of industries from the vicinity of the Taj, then what makes you think that students of our age, who are motivated enough, cannot make a difference.
ok, you guys at zest, i know that some of you know me rather well, so hopefully you will not take any of the following as a personal affront. I'm just being pbjective.
Shiva raised some very pertinent points, and it was perhaps his aggressive tone that prompted the response it did.
I hope you will consider the following very carefully -
1. The Indian government has to handle a complex developing economy. It's easy to rule a developed country, because sources of revenue for the government are plentiful. Income tax is the major source of government revenue. Moreover, it's easy and hassle free to collect. In developing countries, income tax forms a small part of revenue. If per capita income is low, more than half the population falls within the exemption bracket, and the total yield is low as large chunks of the population fall under the 10% bracket. Therefore, we have less to spend. Problens are also more pronounced. We basically have less to spend and more to spend it on. Understandably, the government spends more on feeding the population and defending our borders, and as a result has less to spend on conserving historical monuments. That is not to say that the government can't do anything. It can develop these monunents as toutist centres, paving the way for a self sustaining system of monument upkeep and preservation. But even this requires an enourmous initial investment, and that kind of money isnt available to the government. It has done it with the Qutab Minar and Humayun's Tomb among others, but doing it for every monument is not financially viable given the present circumstances.
2. It's inappropriate to call at least some of the people responsible for defacement 'rats'. Consider the economic situation of a beggar, who doesnt have a roof over his head. He finds shelter in a monument and uses the place as his living quarters. Is it right to say that, given his present circumstaces, he should be persecuted and called a 'rat' for taking shelter in the monument? Try telling him about the value of india's cultural history, and he will tell you about the value of a morsel in your stomach. This is an extreme case, i know, but it only illustrates the following. Per capita income is directly corellated with concern for history. People with low incomes are too busy trying to feed, clothe and shelter themselves that thet don't give a flying f*** about old buildings in ruin. As people get richer they dont spend all their time trying to eke out a living. They start spending time with themslves, introspecting and studying. Then, and only then do they realize the value of history. So the long term solution is simply that as per capita income risesm apathy towards history will cease. But at the micro level, awareness campaigns have a role to play as they can instill in people something they didnt have the time to cultivate for themselvec because they were too busy trying to live. So what's my point? Pease carry out your campaign, but with a deeper understanding and regard for why people behave the way they do while defacing monuments.
3. For this campaign to really be successful, it must logically reach the people who actually carry out the defacing. That is not possible through this blog, as that section of the population very seldomly have access to the net. So, you must go out to the masses and make them aware in a away that more people in the target group are reached. In this regard, I believe what Shiva said holds. It's easier (relatively) to come up with a blog than spend time in the field carrying out demonstrations and campaigns. That you've set up a blog is a great thing. But you will be the first ones to vouch that this medium won't quite reach your target audience directly. What it will do is raise awareness among people such as myself, who will then hopefully prevent an incident of defacement as an when they are in a position to do so. But the impact of this will be severely limited. Negligible even. Therefore, if you really are committed to the cause, you will consider acting in ways that will reach the target audience.
oh, and please take Shiva's recomended courses of action very seriously. they make a lot of sense. Signature campaigns (especially those carried out near the monuments), workshops, letters to the ASI, demonstrations and in-the-field campaigns are the way to go.
The online effort by memebers of ZEST is only to evoke response and comments from the educated, priveledged section of the society, from say college students who want to really do something in their own way but are either frustrated by the system or converted into mere cynics. Both of you, Shiva and Saatvic have made some etremely relevant suggestions which we will definitely take up.
We have merely taken the first step, shaky yet certain. We need all your encouragement upport, and ofcourse criticism.
Wow. Interesting to see such an impassioned discusson. Dissent and difference of opinion are always a welcome note in any forum because they generate debate which is the bedrock of any mature and egalitarian society. However, at times passion can cause people to lose sight of the basic aims that they had set out to achieve. Kind of like losing sight of the wood for the trees. As the Wise Man once said, 'It ain't WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that matters.' But I digress.
Firstly, Congratulations to Zest for a commendable effort and a most praiseworthy initiative. More power to you. I think that both the earlier respondents to this blog have made some very relevant and valid observations which must be taken into account while planning any strategy to deal with the issue. I have some ideas, but before I post them, I'm curious to know if INTACH came up with any suggestions for a game-plan. How about the team? I'm sure you have a strategy worked out and some kind of an action blueprint in place. Have I missed this? Is the purpose of this part of the exercise solely to generate awareness (albeit among a limited urban-elite societal segment) and garner support? Would be grateful for further elucidation.
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