An Urban Mess

Bangalore (I will gladly change the name to Namma Bengalooru once the Centre gives its permission for the name change) is witnessing some of its heaviest rains … I believe that it rained around 108 mm last Thursday (14th September 2007) and as usual the roads were clogged up with rainwater which refused to drain off well after the rains were over with. Most of this mess (the clogging up of rain water) has been rightly blamed on the man-made obstructions caused to the natural flow of rainwater that would have otherwise found its way into major water bodies and helped the rainwater drain off more quickly. Citizens and the media (who usually slumber for the rest of the year) are now asking tough questions. The BMP is sweating and in their quest to find the genesis of the problem (read scapegoats), they have declared that major obstructions including housing complexes, which have been constructed illegally atop the course of natural water bodies, must be demolished. And thus begin the demolitions in right earnest. As of today, around 11 such illegal buildings have been demolished, most of them residential.

It is a story that is not limited to Bangalore. Delhi has seen some pretty intense demolition/sealing drives against unauthorised constructions. The suburb of Ulhasnagar near Bombay also suffered a similar fate. And while there should be no leniency towards such illegal constructions, I really wonder as to who is paying for whose deeds and where does the buck stop. Reading news reports today, it was pretty apparent that the residents of these ‘illegal constructions’ were caught totally unawares that their houses were in fact unauthorised in the eyes of the law and in a few hours time, they would have no roof over their heads. And even though I have a pretty serious and uncompromising stance when it comes to issues concerning urban governance, I can’t but feel sorry for these people who are suffering for something that very honestly was not even within their control. And I’ll explain why I feel sorry for them. A couple of years ago when my sister and brother in law were scouting for a house in Bangalore, they took great pains in ensuring that they were on the right side of the law with respect to purchase of the house … which meant ensuring that the builder showed them that the ‘title’ to the land was clear… having a look at the Development Plan (DP) of the area… to ensure that the area earmarked was in fact meant for residential use. There were a couple of times when they were about to seal the deal when they realised that something was amiss… and they came pretty close to being duped …given these experiences, it took quite some time for them to satisfy themselves …and touch wood… they have a house that is not ‘illegal’, till now at least. However, what became amply clear is the fact that getting these intricate details can be an arduous task and a majority of people who buy a house are probably not aware of many of these details. Even looking at the development plan of your area is no guarantee that a space earmarked for a specific purpose is actually meant for that. It is very easy to show a wrong DP or to manipulate/misrepresent the DP in a way that can confuse the shrewdest of people.

So what I’m trying to say is that it’s next to impossible to be a 100% sure that the plot of land on which your house stands is in fact legal. One might argue that nothing in fact is a 100% and that one must satisfy oneself to a certain degree after which one must have faith in one’s actions… and while I agree with this stance, the sheer scale of racketeering in this business makes you shudder.

In the Bangalore case, it was only after the houses were demolished, did the house owners actually come to know that their apartment complex was in fact sitting atop a riverbed. And there is no way that this fact could have been omitted in a DP which clearly lays out the geographical terrain of any place and then accordingly earmarks the areas fit for development. The residents whose houses were demolished, clearly had no idea what they were in for and the DP that they had been shown at the time of construction did not highlight these facts, which is the clearest indication of collusion between builders and civic officials.

The same was the case with Delhi and Ulhasnagar. What really worries me though is the case of Bombay, cause there the problem is much greater and it is a ticking time bomb. In Bombay the DP shows huge chunks of area as being available for development (residential and commercial), however it has recently come to light that many of these areas in fact are forest land which had not been reflected in the DP. Forest land or no forest land, the truth is that these are now full fledged residential areas and the implications of declaring these constructions as illegal would be catastrophic and would probably displace 40% of Bombay’s populations… a ominous thought indeed. The truth also is that the courts will declare these constructions as illegal and all hell will break loose … a situation very similar to that in Delhi where there was full fledged rioting. It is a very scary proposition indeed and something that I would not even like to consider.

In the case of Bombay, it is quite clear that 2 departments (forest and revenue) did not talk to each other while the DP was getting made … and while this is something, which happened close to 20 years ago… it will be people who invested their hard earned money in purchasing a home who will be made to suffer. And here, the law must show compassion liberally towards house owners and in fact treat them as victims rather than criminals. In the case of Delhi and Bangalore, it is a clear instance of collusion between builders and civic authorities and here this nexus must be brought to book. In Delhi, they said that nothing could be done since the violations happened close to 2 decades ago and the government officials who allowed these violations are now long gone … some retired … some dead … and some transferred… I don’t agree and I think that these people must be held liable for their actions and an example must be set. In Bangalore, the slide is more recent and there might still be time to catch the perpetrators.

In conclusion, I think 2 things must be done… the law must really look at each case independently and not merely go by the book … and house owners must be more vigilant towards property investments … though it is a tough job as I have said earlier.

One final point that I would like to make is that, this entire mad rush for land is part of a larger malice emerging out of the ill effects of urbanisation and that needs to be addressed… though I will keep that for later.

Blogs Anyone???

So what does blogging entail and why should one take it up or not take it up…. I think (and I could be wholly wrong even) that the word ‘blog’ arrived from the word ‘weblog’ which literally means maintaining an online dairy. (Note: MS Word refuses to acknowledge the word ‘blog’… it gives me a spell check error and instead suggests that I replace the word ‘blog’ with ‘bog’… quite emancipatory I must say… but seriously what else would you expect from MS Word) Somewhere along the way …some person decided to give it a jazzy name and hence the word ‘blog’ evolved. Pretty catchy I must say… A blog could relate to anything… your thoughts about life capturing different emotions, hues, various moods etc etc…in essence it is a personal diary which reveals much about you (or does it J) … could be personal ramblings, which you would like to share with a certain audience (oops … I mean ‘constituency’ … since the words ‘audience’, ‘target-group’ and their ilk are not supposed to be used by development practitioners… and for better or for worse I am one by qualification...sigh…lol). However, if one goes back to the very classical understanding of a personal diary, diaries are meant to be extremely intimate in nature… usually not shared with all and sundry… a passage to one’s deepest secrets privy only to oneself.

So, if a blog is the web equivalent of a personal diary, what is it that makes all those people who maintain blogs literally advertise it to the entire world… and trust me even with the strictest of privacy settings, it’s impossible for your blog to remain anonymous on the big bad world of the Internet (so my notions about the Internet or at least some facets of it have come out pretty strongly in this sentence). I have a strong hunch that people who maintain blogs are not privacy purists anyways… they typically know that information of this sort is bound to be accessed by people the world over. So I come back to my original question… why do people blog… why do they reveal so much about themselves… and here I think there are two important points to understand… one about the seductive nature of the Internet and the second point, about human psyche, which typically likes to flirt with this seductive nature of things… Internet or otherwise. And at this point, I must draw your attention to something similar … not exactly a parallel but something which intrigues me immensely … it’s from the original Star Wars Trilogy of which I am a HUGE fan… it’s a beautiful trilogy…masterpiece even… and has something for everyone…and you can draw parallels with different aspects of life … the thing about that trilogy which really intrigues me is the entire concept of ‘the dark side’ and especially ‘Darth Vader’… I mean, there is something about the dark side/Darth Vader that really pulls you towards it… you know it represents evil and yet you are completely enamoured by it. The tremendous power that it brings along with it, the sway that it has over matter … there is something extremely compelling about it which draws you to it… The seductive nature of the Internet is akin to the power of the dark side… it completely overwhelms you… though by no means am I suggesting that the Internet is evil ;-) … just to illustrate the power of the Internet :).

So now I have this situation where I was so caught up about analysing about the dark side that I have totally forgotten what I am writing about… So coming back to blogs, bloggers and the Internet (MS Word once again reminds me that the word is not ‘Bloggers’ … but in fact ‘loggers’… thank you MS word once again for showing the light), it is extremely easy to put a cloak of anonymity over who you really are. The Internet does not ask who you are, does not demand any kind of verification. It accepts you as you are and allows you to be who/what you want to be (I think this line is borrowed from some movie or something… can’t remember which one though). And therefore it is not entirely surprising that millions of people the world over are coming online and giving themselves an ‘online-avtaar’. People create blogs, communicate with fellow bloggers, share stories, criticise each other (constructively and otherwise) and so on.

The human mind is a unique entity. It requires to vent, to be acknowledged, loved, loathed and so on. And the human mind will search for all possible avenues to satiate these diverse needs. A blog is the simplest way in the pursuit of the above points. When we want to vent, all we need to do is to go ‘clickity clang’ on the keyboard and voilà… there you have it… a blog allows you to create your own truths … it is your own space to do whatever you want …well at least virtually :). Some of us would blog to just express our thoughts which would otherwise have been difficult to get across other medium, while others would, as I said hope to achieve something totally different. Who knows what are my hidden motivations to jot down these points ;-)…

Personally, I think that blogging is a good stress buster, mentally and physically (you get a good exercise for your fingers and eye muscles). It has tremendous potential for the immediate future, some people have referred to it as a new wave in journalism… which allows for people to do their own thing… and while I am initially tempted to agree with that point… a majority of the blogs which I have read are nothing but vanity and trivia … they represent the values of people who are presently connected to the Internet… typically the yuppie middle class population (I’m talking about Indian bloggers) and we very well know what kind of value system they represent and the danger in equating their writing to journalism and their views as the voice of India… Therefore, at this point of time, lets leave journalism to serious journalists (such as those from Indian Express and Hindu) and take blogs less seriously, however at the same time hope that increased Internet penetration will bring about a divergent population online who will and I’m sure that they will… take up blogging on serious topics and that’s when blogs will truly realise their potential.

P.S. - Darth Vader on the Internet

“The Internet … it is your destiny”