River inter-linking

The proposal to interlink Indian rivers has been going on and on and successive governments have only paid lip-service to this proposal. If the plan were implemented (albeit at some cost - some figures suggest Rs. 140 billion, or Rs. 14000 crores) it would benefit Indians in many ways. The amount in perspective (keeping in mind various scams over the last 2 years) seems minuscule indeed!

Interlinking of rivers would enable water transport - probably the cheapest mass transport system possible and of course flood relief through excess water diversion in times of plenty and equitable distribution in times of shortage. The politics of water-sharing will not be inter-state as is now, but will be pan-India and a major headache for the party and the PM in power, obviously. Maybe that is the single most important reason for the proposal not seeing the light of the day. The politics apart, what may be worrying for most people is how to garner so many resources needed for the interlinking. The major resource, of course, is manpower and equipment needed for canals and sluice gates.

As an aside, I am reminded of a very powerful movie  Do Aankhen Barah Haath made by V. Shantaram in 1957 which was a socially relevant movie (it is relevant in all ages) and spoke about a police officer willing to stake his career for jail reform by taking hard core criminal-prisoners to a distant place and making them farm land and be responsible citizens. It was a fantastic film and the performance of the actor-director Shantaram immaculate.

The connection between interlinking of rivers and the movie should be obvious now. Pardon, appropriate punishment for rape, death penalty or not, and such like being top of the mind concerns of many citizens and politicians alike, wouldn't it be great if all such convicts of various crimes (from Sanjay Dutt to Ram Singh to Hafeez Sayeed) were to come together and dig canals in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu? Efficient monitoring and fencing them off may be attempted to ensure that these guys do not leave the place. Even villagers which are likely to benefit by the canals can set up watch-and-ward so that these guys complete 8 hours of hard labour each day of their "incarceration".

What do you think? Workable?

Lakshman Rekha - in our daily life

Lakshman Rekha as a phrase comes from the Ramayana. Lakshman, in his quest to look for Rama who had gone chasing a "golden deer", draws the line in front of their ashram in Panchavati in the Dandakaranya forest and asks Sita not to cross that line under any circumstances. Being inside the line would ensure her safety, says Lakshman. However, that was not to be. Major events are sometimes linked to small and seemingly inconsequential actions. Ravana, who had anyway come in the guise who had asked Mareecha, his demon subject, to take the form of the "golden deer" to entice Sita, comes now as a sage asking for alms. Tradition has it that alms must not be given from the threshold of the house. The lady giving alms must cross the threshold to hand over alms. So, Sita had to cross the Lakshman Rekha. Once she crossed the line, Ravana revealed his true form and abducted Sita to Lanka.

In modern times the phrase "Lakshman Rekha" refers to any situation or convention never to be broken. I find this has another application in our daily lives. We interact with people in our professional and personal lives. We create a sort of line between us in our dealings with one another and try never to cross it. Once the line is breached, we have a situation of causing hurt to the other person. Take the case of children. When they are young, we tell them what they should or should not do. We expect them to listen to this "sane" advise since we feel we have more knowledge and experience in the matter. Most often our children listen to us. The "line" is drawn. The kids respect us for what we know and "obey" us (at least most kids do when told properly). However, as the kids grow up and attain adolescence and later on grow to be adults, we tend to keep the Lakshman Rekha in its original place. As parents we continue to treat our children the same way - maybe make some minor modifications, but generally continue to give "advice" which is misconstrued as "control". That causes rebellion. The Lakshman Rekha is not at the right place. We need to recognise this and periodically redraw this line.

Edited: 11-April-2013 (Mareecha as the "golden deer")