The Plot (BH: D277)

May 9, 2012

The innumerable Malayalees who work abroad but nurse a longing to return home for retirement have bought small plots of land in and around the city. Their home is to construct a home that matches their abroad-derived social standing and heaviness of their purse. This note is my two cents about the five, ten and twenty cents of land plots the hardworking men and women overseas have invested in.

Thiruvananthapuram city hasn't had garbage cleared for nearly half a year now. The situation is same in other bigger cities in the world. The problem has been overdiscussed and political abused by now. It has been transformed into a permanent political platform. The ruling parties at the corporation which haven't solved the problem might lose the next election. The opposition party that will promise that it will solve the problem might come to power. But then solving the problem is not in the interest of the political parties.

Garbage must be left uncleared so that the issue can burn like the ubiquitous piles of garbage all around for the years to come. This has been made easy by the fact that since Malayalees are Indians to the core, we have become "used to" the problem. It has been ingested so to speak. It has become part of our "way of life" already. We are very quick about compromises, you know! The apparently "unsolvable" problems are the greatest nourishment of the political system. So the filth is here to stay.

There are a few last standing colonies, like ours, which have managed to put pressure on the local counselors to open small-scale landfills. But it is a temporary solution which threatens to disappear with every sunrise. The placement of the garbage can daily morning outside the homes is invariably accompanied by a prayer. This is the case of a microscopic minority. For the whopping majority, especially those who have managed to build homes in small plots and aggressively concreted over whatever piece of soil was, a new tradition has come to force.

It is the act of quickly throwing away garbage from a moving vehicle and then speeding away. Such dumping can happen in any street after 11pm at nights. But most blatant violation is committed on those empty, gated plots that Malayalees abroad have bought and left unattended. In the roughly couple of square kilometers of area that I walk around during the day, there are at least a dozen plots bearing the brunt. They have become virtual landfills.

As I had written in an earlier note, a garbage mafia now operates in the city. They collect garbage from shops, restaurants and hotels for a hefty fee every night. Then they dump it conveniently somewhere in the suburbs. Once again, the slightly bigger vacant plots of land just outside the city have become the favorite destination.

With each day, the pile grows. In a matter of months, the expense to clear out the filth from even a tiny plot to begin any kind of construction there would be scary. Besides, where can it be redumped? Once it has been found in your land, its your garbage. The corporation officials with the rather itchy palms will be quick to slap sanctions on anyone attempting to redistribute the waste.

I wonder how practical and effective it would be to appoint watchmen to prevent the late night dumping. This new menace should soon start reflecting on real estate prices. Increased small scale construction activity all around meant simply to avoid the inviting look of a "vacant" plot is possible. Of course, it will happen under stringent new guidelines for having garbage disposal facilities included. Then again, it will be as stringent as stringent gets in this land.

Under a single king, as we know now, this was the home of the richest temple in the world. With everyone being a king, democratically, with the criminally irresponsible put in charge of administration, it has become the dirtiest and stinkiest!