2005 began with the receding waters of the tsunami and is set to end to the accompaniment of flood waters left behind by copious rainfall. To be sure, the lingering memories and images of 2005 shall be that of water everywhere, all around and from up and below. And water as a newsmaker made waves not just in TN but in the rest of the country also and all over the earth too, though I am not in a position to comment on Mars or beyond.
Now, let’s get back to earth. The beach-going denizens of Chennai came to know what it would be if the beach came to them instead. But Chennai was lucky unlike its other unfortunate coastal companions like Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Nagercoil where the killer waves converted the shores into instant watery graves. The sands of the Marina with its ubiquitous litter just went under water and resurfaced after a couple of days–yes, of course with all the litter in place. And after two weeks of ‘closure’, two Sundays later, the cliched ‘sea of humanity’ was back at the beach to wet its feet in those seemingly innocent waves. The fury of the ocean was forgotten and forgiven though fears linger for we know not what the party of the other part conceals in its inscrutable depths.
But the deluge from up above has been even more devastating, both in terms of geographical spread and affected population. As one depression after another walked in to bat and battered the State black and blue, the washing away of cricket matches turned out to be the least of worries. The rain gods seemed to have decided to settle all their old dues to TN at one go and the State clearly was in no position to take in the bounty. The water-starved people were witness to the unimaginable and ironical spectacle of potable water being let into the sea! Roads turned into rivers overnight and boats were an unexpected addition to the city’s public transport system.
The water woes did not end with the tsunami and floods. Post these natural disasters relief workers are trying hard to keep head above water, what with the massive humanitarian effort needed to rehabilitate those affected. But for some, like the unfortunate 42 who got trampled in rain, mud and slush on a damp, dreary night the very relief efforts turned fatal. The insatiable water finally found its match in the tears of their near and dear. The tsunami-hit and the flood-hit populations would be only too happy to leave behind the troubled waters and overcast skies of 2005 and walk ashore to a new dawn and life in 2006.
Much water flowed under the political bridges too in 2005. With ideologies getting drowned by the rising tide of corruption, scandals found their level along with natural disasters and terrorist strikes in the public domain. Virtually every political party found itself in deep waters: With Volcker becoming Cong’s Watergate, the party strived to keep its leader afloat, while Natwar Singh & Sons were allowed to sink without a sound. After all, for the Congmen the bloodline, which is their lifeline, is thicker than water, or even oil! The Cong’s own lifeline, in turn was held by the slippery Left. Any reform or progress and you can bet on the Left to pour cold water! The UPA boat which has so far survived all the rocking by all and sundry may get blown out of the water anytime, given such wobbly allies. But one of its constituents, Rabri Prasad Yadav … or is it Lalu Devi? … well, whatever, went down in Bihar’s murky political waters, their own creation.
For its part, the BJP’s leader got himself into hot waters over Jinnah and looks set to throw in the towel. The party with a difference is now flooded by so many differences that it is now a house marooned. But the supreme House of the nation itself fared no better. Like stagnant water, Parliament was often in a limbo and stank too. Several MPs, big fishes from both the communal and secular streams, bit baits dangled by a hyper-active media and promptly met their Waterloo. We often hear of a well in the House that the members rush into before rushing out of the House. Voters may want to know if that well to is full, so that they can push their reps into it for all their sins! But for our immoral and insensitive politicos any criticism is like water on a duck’s back!
And in TN, politics overflowed into other realms too. While Khushboo’s watered down versions of morality raised the hackles of many, the broom-brigade broke all dams of restraint and inundated the State with raucous rhetoric besides rotten eggs. For the two Dravidian parties alternately ruining, pardon, running, the State for the last several decades, rampant politicking even over disasters and corpses is like water sports: all splash with visions blurred in a reckless bid to catch the wave, read, vote and ride the tide, ie rule. And the water has been so muddied that no clean and ‘self-respecting’ person can survive here or even dare test the waters. And we are told that is very rational too. But do their self-serving rationalisms hold any water any longer? They are all empty vessels!
Is the going getting too contrived and difficult to swallow? Well, the advice is to wash it all down with a gulp of, er , what else, water! Avoid the tap, go for the can instead! And remember to pray to Varuna for a good supply of water in 2006 also. But only enough to wash and drink, not so much as to swim and sink!
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