How can you tell when a crow is happy? Perhaps by the way it hops about excitedly. Kaga Bhushundiji was in an uncommon flurry. I asked him what it was all about and he hopped dangerously close to my face. ‘Son, rare is the occasion that I have to acknowledge man’s smartness,’ he crowed noisily, ‘and this is one!’
‘I am listening, Kagaji.’
‘Do you remember the story ‘A Thirsty Crow’ you were told to mug up in Class VI? That there was water in the pitcher but the poor crow couldn’t reach it? What he did was drop a few pebbles into the container, raise the water level and quench his thirst. Mankind occasionally acts smarter than we crows. Water is scarce in Delhi, you see. The rich among you can have it in any quantity, but not the poor. Now someone in that parched city has started dispensing water to the poor through a vending machine. Insert your card in the slot and you can have a bucketful of clean water at a price that does not pinch. I find it a big step to help the poor.’
‘I have seen the news-story. But I think the poor should have more money. Selling water through ATM machines at 30 paisa a liter is not going to lessen their woes.’
‘Neither will doling out money to them. Look at your currency notes. They are but promises on paper. Of what use these promises are to a family unless they deliver goods and services? In Ram Rajya, they ensured that all the citizens lived well, whether they had money or no money.’
‘Kagaji, think of the size of our population and the multitudinous problems that we face – the world today is not the Ayodhya of Bhagwan Ram.’
‘I agree. But if the people of Ayodhya spent their lives Ram bharose, there is science and technology to help you. Barely twenty years ago, it was rare for a whole village or a poor neighbourhood to be connected with a telephone, now rare is a person who doesn’t carry a mobile. This is not a miracle but technology wisely used. In the poverty-stricken continent of Africa, people are using a wood-burning stove that not only saves them fuel but also runs a generator to give them free electricity. By using simple principles of physics and nanotechnology, a method has been developed for removing water impurities by a magnet. And someone has come out with a software that enables you to interact free of charge with your friends and relatives on your mobile or computer without having to depend on the internet.’
‘If indeed we were so ingenious, then why does every third person among us suffer the misery of poverty?’
‘I will give you just one example to explain. Moved by the plight of people who carried human excreta on their heads, someone thought of flush latrines that would remove this crying shame of mankind, make the environment cleaner and produce cooking gas too. Your sarkar also helped readily. But what is the end result? Go to the old mohallas and bustis of your town. You will find that the houses
KAGA BHUSHAUNDI SPEAKETH
Suman K Sharmathere do have proper pots, but the night soil flows straight into the open drains. The idea has been implemented, but only by half!’
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