Of Chennai Floods in ShakurBasti

When floods had ravaged Uttarakhand, a few years ago in 2013, the nation acted if it was shocked. The devastation that followed was largely man-made with a number of unauthorized, illegal buildings flowing down the river carrying along with them bodies, dead and alive, a huge number of them.

Now Uttarakhand is in North India and Tamil Nadu in South India. Perhaps it was the distance. They learned little from the Uttarakhand floods. When floods ravaged Chennai in 2015, the water had simply nowhere to go to. Water bodies were encroached by greed of the local population. Urban planning was like a boring essay no one had ever read about. The city is growing without any method or idea. Just on basis of greed and politics as is every other city or town in India is being planned. And this is costing everyone except the rich guys a lot of money and as in this case, lot of lives. So many are dead just because we don't feel like giving up on our dream of encroaching as much public land as possible.

Of course, if that causes floods, people will rise up and go about asking donations for flood relief.Much of these will fund more haphazard structures. Just like it happened in Uttarakhand. Like it happens all the time.

At around same time Chennai was flooding, the Railways was removing encroachments from land t be used to upgrade facilities and equipment. No surprise was the backlash at Railways which decided to get back the public land at Shakur Basti in Delhi from encroachers (to improve the facilities and upgrade track supposedly for common people). The Indian media and Indian society was enraged. How dare, Indian Railways, remove encroachments on land meant for railways? The Hindi News media was especially fuming as their favorites, the Aam Admi Party was fuming. They wanted to show AAP their support. Their support for Shakur Basti. Their support for illegal encroachments and haphazard growth of Indian cities. So what, it can cause disaster. We can ask Central govt for more funds, tax people more. There will always be people like Sri, who worked selflessly during the Chennai floods, helping those in need. Not thinking about taking sides or blaming people, but just helping others out of goodness of her own heart.

But as long as the society encourages the Shakur Bastis in India, it should accept the collateral damage of lives that we will continue to lose over our own greed and lust for power.

Comments

An epidemic of loneliness: Why are we lonely in a world so full?

In the town of Havenwood, an unusual epidemic takes over—not one of physical illness, but an outbreak of loneliness. When Lina, a fiery yet secretly tender-hearted skeptic of romance, meets Quinn, a free-spirited artist questioning the same ideas, they are forced to confront whether real connection lies beyond romantic love or if they are truly doomed to solitude. It was a crisp day in Havenwood, and the sky was brooding—dark clouds laced with impatient energy before a thunderstorm, as if even the heavens felt the town’s growing melancholy. It was not the kind of town you would expect to be cloaked in loneliness. Stone cottages lined the narrow, winding roads, and the trees had that sage-like stillness that you only see in stories and dreams. I hadn’t been here long when the problem struck me like a slap in the face: everyone was obsessed with finding The One, as if every single person was but half a person, wandering through life like a lost sock in search of its pair. How did a town ...

The Sympathy Beggar: A tale of a heart seeking true love

In a quiet, mysterious Asian town, Mili, a self-professed “sympathy addict,” yearns for genuine love amidst the enchantment of lush landscapes and eccentric locals. A poignant journey, she faces harsh truths, introspective questions, and surprising warmth along the way. Will she transcend the “sympathy trap” or remain a beggar of borrowed love? In a place so mystifying it could have existed in a daydream, perched in the fog-draped hills of Valanpur, where wild jasmine bloomed beneath a veiled sky, there lived a young woman named Mili. Valanpur, mind you, was not an ordinary place; it was a town small enough for secrets to survive but large enough for whispers to travel. Picture Credits: Sergey Romanenko And here, under a canopy of lush forests and swaying tamarind trees, Mili—a petite woman with eyes that sparkled with the misplaced audacity of someone searching for love in all the wrong places—was about to confront the thorniest of human desires. But first, let me make one thing v...

Epitome of Equality

First of all This is not to demean any religion.. I am a Hindu by birth, but yes I respect all religions .I offer my daily prayers , fast on holy days , but there was something that was disturbing me . God as per me was a Friend, someone who was by my side always , someone who was a dear friend , but this is not what everyone else thought , for others he was the Judge who gives his verdict always and punishes anyone and everyone . Walk into any temple and you would see , if you have money , you will be treated in a way as if you are the ONLY disciple of the God . I have had too many experiences where I was treated as a second class citizen in the temple . Why? Well I could not afford giving thousands as donation. This is not how it should be , God looks at each one of us with the same divinity .As I mentioned God for me is a friend, so tell me, do we chose friends based on their bank balances? Do we give our verdict on them ? then how can God do it? I know many of us would ...

Tushar Mangl

Search This Blog