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| The Maharaja of Hindustan |
Vikram Seth’s poem, The Tale of Melon City,
is an attempt to show the redundancy of political rulers. Can a nation manage
itself without a king or a similar ruler? Melon City in the poem does not have
one. Rather, an inanimate melon is their king. And the citizens are happy. They
say, in the words of the poet, “If His Majesty rejoice / In being a melon, that’s
OK / With us, for who are we to say / What he should be as long as he / Leaves
us in Peace and Liberty?”
Rulers don’t leave us in peace and
liberty. They tax and vex us in many ways. Politicians create more problems
than any others. Since we don’t have kings in the old sense, I’m speaking about
politicians. India has too many of them for its good. There are more than 2600
political parties in the country. The number of politicians will be in millions.
The politicians create most communal
problems out of political motives. India has always grappled with the problem
of sectarianism and politicians are responsible for the bulk of them. If there
were no politicians, people might live in peace and harmony. Most people don’t
want strife.
Imagine how much better off our world
would have been if just one politician called Vladimir Putin were not there.
Think of a dozen such avoidable evils
closer home. It won’t take you even a minute to make such a list. Doesn’t that
surprise you?
India spends
over a crore rupees [ten million] every day to protect its prime minister. That’s
just for his SPG security. Add to that the cost of all the luxury given him,
his endless foreign tours, his gargantuan publicity operations, and so on.
India could have used all those daily millions in far better ways.
If we can access the amounts spent by
our politicians on themselves – medical treatment, journeys, secretaries and other
helpers, etc – we would be astounded.
Why not outsource governance to the
corporate sector? Our telecom and air transport and many others sectors fared
much better when they were privatised. Probably, governance too will fare much
better with some such arrangement.
When my health insurance company sent
me the reminder for this year’s premium which is well above INR 30,000, I
really wished to live in Seth’s Melon City. It’s not the premium that bugs me
but the GST. 18%! Almost Rs 5000 is what the government of India takes as tax
from a senior citizen who wants to ensure good medical care for himself. In civilised
countries, senior citizens are given free medical support or other ways of
looking after themselves. India sucks their blood.
Look at the taxes on medicines in
India. This is a country whose politicians fatten themselves on the citizens’ lifeblood.
We will definitely do better without
such politicians.
But, I know, a world without
politicians is only a dream. Vikram Seth was joking.
PS. Provoked by the latest Indispire prompt. I cannot give the link
since Indiblogger
site is out of reach right now.
Not many are educated or have any patience to educate themselves to understand what you have written. They just want political entertainment. They will read Seth and laugh, but will never think, let alone the paucity of readership in nations like India!
ReplyDeletePeople know how to survive in any system. That's why Dostoevsky said, "Man is a vile creature, he gets used to anything."
DeleteA sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteBut Indians are happy!
DeleteYou said it. Politicians especially the Indian politicians are just like white elephants for the commoners. If only we were able to avoid the responsibility of their maintenance.
ReplyDeleteThey all should be made to do some hard labour every day. An hour of farming or something.
DeleteVery pertinent topic, Tomi. I concur with you fully. Politicians are the core of the form of governance called democracy. And unfortunately, they are accountable to no one, though theoretically it's deemed that they are accountable to the people. But who are the people is the moot question. Thus, politicians get away with whatever they want to. All at the cost of, ironically, the people.
ReplyDelete(By the way, in case you have subscribed to the feed of my blog, you might have been experiencing a disruption in the feed updates. My blog feed wasn't being picked up by some feed readers.
Maybe you would like to update the feed subscription with this feed URL:
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Thank you.)
If only we could find a way to bring back that accountability!
DeleteIs it even possible for a human to let go of power? if not politicians then someone else will take charge. The only way i see governance being truly private is by education is the principles of goodness, fairness, consideration and kindness. Maybe then, there's a chance of a just society- thanks to a just man.
ReplyDeleteWhere 4 persons gather, one will try to be king of the other three telling them when to yawn and so on. Power is intoxicating and so politicians will always be with us.
DeleteIt is a utopian world you are suggesting. Even gods failed to make us just creatures. Will education do it?
I wish I could write poems, maybe if I practice.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on, and stay safe
I shall be a reader when you begin to write poems. All the best.
DeleteThis is a very good post! Even if seemingly an uthopia that may never happen in reality, Vikram Seth's Mellon nation is so appealing.to ponder over.
ReplyDeleteIf citizens are good, government is redundant. But then you know..
Delete.
The statistics quoted are staggering! Technocracy instead of democracy?
ReplyDeleteSomething has to change. The present democracy in India is sheer nonsense.
DeleteDon't you think the majority Indians are responsible for this state of affairs, they are all there to gear up for these politicians in the elections coming and coming 🤔
ReplyDeleteOf course. I have always wondered what kind of Indians voted Modi to power. Worse he is still popular after all the shipwrecks he has caused. Indians have no sense
Delete