On Civic Pride, Civic Consciousness & "Politics"

This is especially for all you good, hard-working, enterprising people of Pondicherry, all endowed with vast quantities of "natural religion" and "natural honesty" - but there are lessons in this for the rest of India, and also for the rest of the world.


Let us begin with MOH Farook, the prominent and well-established Muslim trader of this pretty, little town, this "little Gaulish village," a CONgressman, who was Chief Minister here in 1985, while I was an Officer of The Indian Police Service posted here, and who instructed me in these following words:

No one can be forbidden to drink alcohol in public in Pondicherry.

MOH Farook, the CONgressman, is now Governor of Jharkhand!


He is lording over the City of Ranchi - and he does NOT own any shops in the City of Ranchi.


And why is MOH Farook in Ranchi today?


Because the CONgress is a "political organisation." And there are "transfers and postings" in this political organisation.


But this is NOT "politics." It is best called "Roving Banditry."


What is "politics"? 


Well, I discussed this in an earlier SPIKE, but I will reiterate some of the essential points below:


As Professor Bernard Crick wrote in his In Defence of Politics, after "making some OLD PLATITUDES PREGNANT," and these old platitudes are all from Ancient Greece, a civilisation based on "City States," in which "politics" existed, perhaps, only in Athens, for this sort of "human activity" certainly did not exist in  neighbouring Sparta, that:

POLITICS ARE THE PUBLIC ACTIONS OF FREE PEOPLE

"Politics" is a Greek word, with its root in the word polis, which means "city." So Persepolis was the City of the Persians, and so on. Aristotle wrote a volume titled Politics. And there is nothing in this ancient philosophical treatise that has anything to do with "political organisation."


In India, each and every "political organisation" is CORRUPT. This is UNDENIABLE. People join these organisations, in which they invariably kiss the butt of some "leader," only to occupy public offices that enable them to Loot the Treasury, that enable them to Harass the Citizenry with Legislation, with Subordinate Legislation, and with Rules & Regulations that are enforced by a CORRUPT BUREAUCRACY.


And they use an Indian word for this: Rajneeti. This Indian word, rajneeti, has no relation with the Greek word politics. No relation at all. They mean completely different things.


In the meanwhile, throughout the length and breadth of this vast sub-continental sized nation, a nation with many, many METROPOLISES, a nation with hundreds and hundreds of CITIES, and with thousands and thousands of TOWNS - there is COMPLETE AND TOTAL URBAN DISASTER.


And this, too, is UNDENIABLE.


In India, we do NOT possess any free, civic institutions to administer our urban areas, and we therefore do not possess any CIVIC PRIDE, nor do we possess any CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS.


And the political organisation of the CONgress has "transferred" MOH Farook out of Pondicherry, a city in which this gentleman owns many BIG SHOPS, and has sent him to Jharkhand as Governor, a province that is full of DENSE JUNGLE, and there are lots and lots of WILD TIGERS as well as WILD ELEPHANTS in these dense jungles of Jharkhand. And there are Armed Maoist Guerillas there, too.


It seems to me that MOH Farook has accepted a VERY DANGEROUS PLACE to lord over.


Imagine that: 

From being King of a Fair City to being King of the Jungle.

Like Tarzan, the Ape Man.

Doesn't make much SENSE to me.


Does it make any SENSE to you, all you good, hard-working, enterprising people of Pondicherry, all endowed with vast quantities of "natural religion" and "natural honesty"?


Surely, this MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.


And they call ME - The Baba PAGAL Nath Charsi.


Like the Oracle of Delphi once pronounced Socrates the Wisest Man in Athens.


And poor ol' Socrates expressed "surprise and shock" when he heard this.


In Pondicherry, you good people need CIVIC PRIDE as well as CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS. This is a tiny, little city. And it is a pretty, little city. And it is being DESTROYED. It is getting UGLY, and even UGLIER, and maybe, someday in the near future, if you good people of Pondicherry do not take some positive, well thought out steps, this city will become UGLIEST - just as Bombay, and Calcutta, and Nude Elly, too, have all turned into UGLIEST.


There is GARBAGE all over Pondicherry.


The footpaths are BROKEN - even on Jawaharlal Nehru Street, right outside The Grand Bazaar.


There is a lot of difference between the pretty "beach shacks" of Sunny Goa and the UGLY little carts of the poor vendors on Beach Road.


But, I sincerely believe, Pondicherry has FAR MORE POTENTIAL than Sunny Goa.


In Sunny Goa, all the beaches are "villages." And there is the horrible Coastal Zone Regulation Act in place - so these can NEVER EVER become towns. And in Sunny Goa, as everywhere else in India, the towns are all a MESS. No tourist lives in Madgaon, or Panjim, or Mapusa. Tourists just laze around on the beaches, being served whatever they want by the owners of these "beach shacks," and then, very late in the night, they retire to their "coco huts." And these "coco huts" are all FUCKING HORRIBLE. At least I would never like to live in one, with their PUBLIC TOILETS and all that.


But Boom Shankar was GREAT!


Big chillums, some MDMA, fantastic Mojitos, great STEAKS, and the fabulous, and extremely cheap, LOCAL BEER of Goa, called "King's," always served chilled.


But here in Pondicherry, you have a CITY. Tourists can stay in nice HOTELS. And you can extend Beach Road by 10 kilometres to the North, and also another ten kilometres to the South. And these poor vendors of today, with all their little UGLY carts, can all be owners of pretty "beach shacks."


And I am sure lots of tourists will surely come here, because this is the East Coast, this is "The Land of the Rising Sun," and the DAWN here is so BEAUTIFUL.


In Sunny Goa, there is NO DAWN.


In Sunny Goa, there is only the SUNSET.


And here in Pondicherry, even the MOON RISES OVER THE SEA.


What a FAR OUT sight.


So, get together your CIVIC PRIDE and CIVIC CONSCIOUNESS and get that Tarzan, the Ape Man, back HERE to do some "politics" - a word with its root in the word polis, which means "city."