To Goanet - News Flash -
In a rare display of intelligence and wisdom, the Government of India has officially agreed with what I have been saying the past several years - that India is one giant filthy toilet. Today's TOI reports an Indian govt turkey named Jairam Ramesh declaring: "If there is a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India will win it, no doubt." Touché! Let us see how many more years India takes to accept my other prescription - that India should wholly focus on building and MAINTAINING clean toilets, both in private and public spaces. The rest will take care of itself. I have to concede, though, that the germ of this idea is Gandhiji's, not mine. Goa was different in this regard, but the Indian govt (with generous support from apathetic Goans) is keen to cure Goa of its clean and calm. Take Azad Maidan in the heart of Panjim, for instance. There is fresh vomit on the TB Cunha memorial, garbage strewn all over the square, loiterers spit and piss there, ghati urchins use the Martyr's monument as their cricket wicket as well as a loo. Yet all of this is invisible to the citizens of Panjim. Even more surprising, it is invisible to the Goan journos who congregate every evening within a stone's throw of the Maidan at Cafe Prakash. Warm regards, r
