Tuesday, 25 August 2009

In Amchi Mumbai it was Swine Flu Vs Ganu….









and aaachoooo! Ganu won hands down.

Interesting isn’t it? You spend the best part of the year being logical and even sounding intellectual. Do a Mexico. Don’t do a London. Will Tamiflu help? Will isolation work? Close schools and colleges. Isolate the phoren returned babas first. Close down shopping Malls ( I think that was a all male voice!!). Do a swab test. Wear a mask. Arre na baba na don’t wear, it doesn’t help. Yet at the first given opportunity, without even as much as batting ones’ eyelids, everything is thrown out of the window.

In walks the rolly-polly elephant God and the ‘jaan-lewa-suwar-ke-bachey-wala-syndrome’ is all but forgotton.

So I joined the bandwagon. Prabhadevi, where I stay, is sandwiched between Shivaji Park and Parel- the heartland of Mumbai’s Hindutva. Almost every house brings in a Ganu and every street and by-lane has a pandal. Drums are beaten. Bugles are blown. Crackers are burst. Street dancing is common too as people bring in the idol to their houses. Honestly I felt better for it.
Carrying the burden of intellectualism in this country is much more cumbersome and frustrating than carrying a God and bringing it home. We prayed and we chanted shlokas. My wife was on a fast (Teej you see) while the rest of us feasted- Ganu will feel bad my son reasoned.

Amartya Sen’s Argumentative Indian goes hyper at the drop of a hat. When a Khan is told to, ‘Step aside Sir,” in an American airport or swine flu starts spreading across Indian cities, the loose-motion of words and constipation of action becomes almost farcical. The decibel levels of arguments and counter arguments become so shrill that they become a national embarrassment. So in between all this I had a quiet word with Lord Ganesha. I requested him not only to save humanity from swine flu but above all give Shahrukh Khan the right to walk out of all domestic and international airports without search formalities. The Indian Economy, the truant monsoons and farmers can all wait I told Him.

It was an intellectual flip-flop, some kind of a cross-over from reason to faith but deep down I am sure only He can save us from modern day calamities. And this includes everything from swine flu to sub-prime crisis, from terrorism to airport formalities for bhorld phamous Indian VIP’s.
So while the intellectual argumentative Indian frets and fumes it is Ganpati bapa Morya times for me.

10 comments:

Banhi Laha said...

When ganu can drink milk and water,there's no doubt he can DEVOUR H1N1 too ??? There is no dearth of faith ,Mumbaiwasi can pour out anywhere!!!

Omkar said...

Arun,

Always fun to go thru a post of yours.

But something made me melancholic (no not your article, just while going thru it). U c, to people, its all about sensationalism, and bordering on the jocular, is it not?

I don't exactly recollect how, but I was reading about lymphatic filaria, a few days ago. Its still very much out there!

We talk about swine flu as if ancient diseases like filaria, are a thing of the past. I guess, who it affects. Its mostly a "poor people's" disease, filaria i.e.

arun bhatt said...

Bani,

Couldn't agree with you more. Faith is central to Indian ethos.

Hilu,

That's well said. There are many who champion a cause because it is headline grabbing. Not that it is bad but just that it probably makes your efforts shallow.

That is why I deeply admire the work of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The work and money they are pumping into fighting TB, providing clean water, enhancing income levels in India and sub-saharan Africa is mind-boggling.

Kausty said...

"the loose-motion of words and constipation of action" - very aptly put ! How I hope it would have been the other way around......BRIC would not have become "Chinese-Asia" in this recovery.

Naresh said...

May Amit, Avaneesh,Devarata,kapil, kirti,omkar ( not Hilu ),Swaroop, Tarun, a.k.a Ganapati, the different aliases and manifestations shower his blessings on the bloggers !

arun bhatt said...

Kausty,
The words may be appropriate but it sure stinks!!

Naresh,
ditto

Faiyaz said...

Nice Write up Arun!

'SCARED' Vs 'SACRED'

Enarkay said...

Arun Apart from the lovely writeup I loved the Ganesh made up of banana leaves

Vimal Parmar said...

Faith heals... Having said that, good post AB. As usual...
We have kids who cannot go to school, families that have no roof over their head, farmers worried about less than normal rainfall... In such a scenario, I wonder why so much of noise coz of the Khan episode...!

arun bhatt said...

FAB:
That was a real good one.
Enarkay,
thanks. wish i had drawn it instead of downloading it.
Vims:
I reckon 67 minutes of a bollywood star is as important as 67 swine flu deaths