Smita Prakash Column: Chennai spirit and other musings

As the year winds down and I end my innings at midday after writing this column every week for several years without a break I doff my hat to the Spirit of Chennai Smiling in adversity Chennaikars stoically and patiently waited for help to reach them in the devastating floods last week When assistance arrived they waited for their turn allowing the underprivileged to first be taken care of The visuals that have been beamed to our homes from Chennai have left us moved to tears and amazed at the display of compassion and humanity under such trying conditionsWhen assistance arrived Chennaikars waited for their turn allowing the underprivileged to be taken care of first PicPTIMy favourite shot would have to be of a lady on the rooftop waving to the army chopper that one packet of food was enough she didnrsquot need more No greed no panic no hoarding One person tweeted about his daily lsquomilk ladyrsquo delivering milk despite having to wade through thighhigh water logging Similarly there were heartrending photographs and video of women hitching up their silk sarees clinging to their small bag of possessions leaving their homes in boats to safer zones Men carrying young children and pets in their arms wading through shoulder high water housewives preparing food packets men driving their vehicles valiantly in stagnant water recharging peoplersquos phones taking people to hospital students pitching in with their bit Just everybody helping each other selflessly There was no looting of unguarded shops and homes no stealing of vehicles no chest beating complaints no haayhaay and no politics Well almost noneOne anchor interviewing a DMK leader pointedly asked her to not do politicking and then questioned her whether her cadres are working along with the AIADMK on the ground She gently replied yes not a time to play politics or score points Dissatisfied with the gracious answer he persisted ldquodo you think the administration could have done more reacted soonerrdquo Ah Viewers know exactly when journalists are trying to rake up muck instead of lsquojust askingrsquoAs Chennai limps back to semblance of normalcy it will require weeks and months of work to rebuild its broken infrastructure and help people reconstruct their lives Just like Mumbai did in 2005 or Srinagar in 2014 No city it seems learns from the mistakes of others Unplanned haphazard growth kneejerk unscientific decisions by municipalities to solve problems have made our cities urban nightmaresIn this column I have written often about decaying towns Simla and Delhi Mumbai and Bengaluru It doesnrsquot matter which city or town I wrote about here changes in state or central governments made no difference to them Revisiting those columns written years back I notice they could have been written today Nothing would be differentAn oped I had written here two years ago titled lsquoAlzheimerrsquos and Ammarsquo on the long goodbye that my grandmother is going through has received many responses An update on that Amma at 93 recognizes none has gone silent needs nursing but she watches her TV serials and smiles when she sees children and puppies We cling on in the hope that she might one day say something or recollect a memoryI had written about depression and my brotherrsquos battle with it lsquoUntouched by Painrsquo when he went into a state of catatonia Rohit came out of it and I am happy to report that he is slowly recovering We donrsquot talk of lsquonormalcyrsquo in our house anymore We are grateful for each day and celebrate every small achievementMy columns in these pages dwelt a lot on IndiaPakistan and the issue of Kashmir Revisiting the columns I see that nothing much changed in that sphere either This week foreign minister Sushma Swaraj heads to Islamabad to take part in a conference on Afghanistan Officially we are told this visit has nothing to do with IndiaPakistan peace talks But itrsquos a huge symbolic move that the BJP government under Narendra Modi which had a hawkish stance before elections and was not expected to make any bold moves with regard to Pakistan would be makingAs the year winds down the BJP seems to be making some course correction by engaging with the opposition One a half years into the term and two state elections lost the BJP realizes that a huge mandate does not mean an easy term The sheen wears off every government sooner or later Bold announcements can only help not do the job The deliverables need to show in anotherrsquos year time or it could be lateThe coming together of NitishLaloo here would have to be the political event of the year Nothing is impossible in politics At least not in India Best wishes for the New Year Au RevoirSmita Prakash is Editor News at Asian News International You can follow her on twitter smitaprakash