December 3, 2011
There is a 116 year old dam.
It lies inside a state but on land that has been leased to the neighboring state for 999 years as per a contract made when the first state was three kingdoms, the second state was a Presidency and the nation did not exist.
That neighboring state conducted elaborate maintenance of the dam for over a decade in the 90s.
Based on this, 5 years ago, the highest court of the nation allowed the water level to be raised to 142 feet.
Recently a few earthquakes have happened in the dam district.
The above are the only 'facts' available to the common man, either Malayalee or Tamilian, in the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. Granted these aren't spectacularly informative facts, but they are much better that the deluge of opinion, pessimism, panic and jingoism that is provided round the clock as "information" by the hyperactive regional media.
Surely, there must be the elaborate reports of the maintenance and reinforcements done by Tamil Nadu.
Clearly, there must be detailed footage of the seepage and crack situation of the dam that was captured by the remote controlled underwater vehicle according to Kerala.
Then, there must be excellent seismic analysis reports of the district prepared by objective experts and the allowable standards of seepage.
And there should be a disaster projection and evacuation and rescue plan.
Hopefully, there is a damn plan in a nation full of dams for the procedure of decommissioning the older ones.
Unfortunately, none of these bits of useful information seem to be available to the public. Instead, the common man has to contend with what some politicians and lawyers and terribly scared people on either side of the dispute opine.
Oh yes, it has become a dispute.
The farmers in Tamil Nadu are afraid that Kerala will not give them any more water and all agriculture in five districts of that state will perish. 35 lakh people inhabiting 4 districts of central Kerala are afraid that the bursting dam would bring them a sudden death.
While "chotta" leaders are waving sickles and cudgels, the Chief and Prime Ministers are sending each other letters. Thankfully, they seem to be using speedpost because the replies are arriving within 24 hours.
"Madam, please lower the water level to 120 ft," wrote Oommen Chandy based on the evidence he has got.
"Sir, please raise the level to 142 ft" replied Jayalalitha based on the evidence she has got.
Rest of us don't get to see either of these evidence.
Instead we see graphics, either movie quality ones that are cut and copied from disaster films, or quick-fix ones with a badly composited water tank floating over a map of the state like the "varuna-astra" in Ramananda Sagar's old Ramayana TV serial.
All this letter-writing business by the top brass reminds me of Tavernier mentioning India's efficient postal system in the 17th century. An elaborate network of postal "runners" were maintained in all kingdoms. There would be special huts housing them every few miles. Like a relay race, the letters were carried by different runners from hut to hut. Since these are lower caste people, letters were never "handed" to them. (Oh my god, the pollution of touching them but this cow-dung is so tasty and will take me to heaven!) Instead, the letters were thrown at their feet. Since each runner covers only the distance between two nearby huts, they sprint and that makes them faster and more economical than travel by horses or ox carts.
Main roads were lined with shady trees (Akbar ordered planting of 400 miles of them) and public wells which served these men.
In the absence of trees marking the road, the villages in the vicinity had to maintain a large carved stone, constantly whitened using lime, which served as route marker for the runners, day and night.
Of course, the villagers in those days might have been more dutiful or might have feared severe punishment. So the maintenance of these markers was done religiously.
If only the maintenance of dams in modern India were done so, along with meticulous, public, verifiable record keeping.
But then again, we have always been a culture, so deeply attached to spirituality and philosophy, that facts are always foreign: in content, in medium and in effect;
whereas opinions, Sirs, they stir our souls!
Kingdoms fall,
Empires crumble,
Nations arise and vanish,
Disputes and bloody battles engage the short lifespan of men and their subsequent generation,
Cable TV news engages the ever shrinking attention span of generation next,
Rivers continue to flow....
I will conclude in accordance to the new golden standard of online communication...so,#occupydamshame
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