Some day .............

“India is a country that is forever dying but never dies” – V S Naipaul

When I  read this statement for the first time as a fresher out of high school , I was angry with Naipaul.  To me India was home, a special place that gave opportunities to dream, to grow and to achieve.  How dare he call it dying ? 

At 67, on every morning walk, I realize more and more the truth of his statement. 

Every day a new bill board springs up advertising 3 or 4 bhk, ‘luxurious’ apartments – there is a near to completion scheme that promises, a library, a gym, a day care centre, a mini theatre and above all a swimming pool on the 21^st floor. 

While these get built, what of the people who build them ?

Their homes are still four bamboos with a green cloth for roof and another for a wall.  The men and especially, the women, trudge to the nearest open ground with a shrub or tree for shelter with a tin of water.  Like birds in the shower, you see a group of them bathing every morning with water that pours out of a tube tied to a pole or tree top. 

Drinking water comes in dirty cans out of even dirtier drums.  Three bricks and few pieces of wood serve for a fire over which thick, big roties shaped by a woman’s hands cook on the griddle. 

Two hours later, when I drive to work – the scene changes.  There is a little one sleeping in the make shift hammock tied to trees, while others scamper on the sand piles ; a little girl of 8 or 10 with one child on her hip and another holding her finger plays mother to another brood . 

Why can’t the builder or construction company begin work with makeshift homes and toilets for its workers ?  After all, the land is there.  Portable toilets are also available in the country now.  While approving the land acquisition and plan certifications, can’t some regulatory body insist that these builders provide these basic amenities to the people who building such beautiful edifices ?  

Some day, some day …