Let’s Blame the Government

Let’s Blame the Government

That seems to be mantra of the moment. So what has been your contribution to the city? Besides leaving heaps of garbage around. Think. How many times have you chided people for throwing stuff around the city, be it your friends or family? How many times have you littered the place? Is your society clean? If not who is to blame? The government?

Mumbai is filthy because the people make it filthy. If they were disciplined this would not have been the case. How many rules do you break? Have you ever bothered cleaning up your own city? It’s not your duty right? Okay I agreed that the guys atop are not perfect, in fact far from it. But then again neither are we. When have you raised your voice against what your fellow citizens did? It’s easy to sit and blame the government every time something goes wrong. But in reality you are living with the bomb ticking every day. It is bound to explode at some point or the other. The filth. The hustle. The thieving. The pushing. The lack of discipline. The pickpockets. The rapists. The people who take bribes. The people who give bribes. Who are they? Aliens from out of space?

They have grown in this very society. And yes we ourselves are to blame. Because we have a “chalta hain” attitude. We could have disrupted proceeding for a day after the blasts and said I will not tolerate this anymore. Resolve this for me. But then you did go back to work right. Were you willing to take initiative and lead a revolution? No. That is someone else’s job. Well who the hell wants to lose a days salary for the sake of the others? It’s not that we do not have a choice. We do have a choice. It’s just that its an expensive one.

And this is just not Mumbai. It’s about India . Its about each and everyone of us. I do not say that the government did their job. They failed. And so did we. I hold nothing against my fellow Indians. Just wanted to express my thoughts that we are the government. Not just a bunch of people elected. Lets all do our bit. Stop and take a moment to look around. Can you spare time on holidays to organize cleanliness drives? Is there anything you can do to make the city better? Then do it.

I am sure to receive a backlash for this. But then that’s all that I will receive. Words and mails. No concrete actions.


Melwyn Abraham to friends back home after the Mumbai blasts in July 2006