Sunday, March 13, 2011

Broken State - Andhra Pradesh

An individual life is full of perceptions. A net sum of these individual perceptions are what we see every day in society. Individuals constantly live in and out of these these perceptions everyday. This is a constant struggle in anyone life to understand the perceptions like greed & ambition, love & infatuation, truth & reality, fact & imagination or rights & abuse. Individual would come out of these perceptions out of wisdom and rationality. The challenge is - society does not have wisdom and rationality. Largely society as a system moves along smoothly based on certain value systems. Unlike an individual, there is no constant struggle with perceptions in a smooth flow.

When the smooth flow gets into imbalance, any society would face serious challenges. The general social equations, or perceptions until then accepted as a kind of norm would be questioned. Again unlike individuals who are under the constant thought process - society lacks a collective wisdom and rationality. In a nutshell what is good to you and your next door neighbour until yesterday is not acceptable anymore. Differences come out in open. The arguments accelerate. Divisions widen. Communications stop. Understanding evaporates. In such situations - an individual is termed as insane, mad or imbalanced. Immediate attention and treatment from the experts would be imminent.

Doctors or Psychiatrics are readily available to offer a cure or provide treatment to individual. Then, the question comes - who will give a treatment to a society? Who will provide a cure? Who will offer a kind of solace and wisdom to society that can think rationally? Who could provide a platform to think, understand and empathise?

Andhra Pradesh - today is a broken society. Today, the question is - who is responsible? Is it K Chandrasekhar Rao, or Chandrababu Naidu, or YS Rajasekhar Reddy, or Sonia Gandhi, or PV Narasimha Rao, or Pranab Mukherjee, or Chidambaram, or Srikrishna Commission, or NT Ramarao, or the non-Indian Telugus sitting in US / abroad, or my servant maid who is from Telengana, or my boss who is from Andhra, or my CM who is from Rayalaseema, or the elected representives, or media, or British, or Tamils, or Nizam?  Who?

It is broken because of collective failure of every individual in Andhra Pradesh or every individual who got an interest in Andhra Pradesh. The sad sate of affairs in Andhra Pradesh or for that matter Telugu people have reached to a point, the give or not give decision of Telangana, bifurcation or trifurcation of the state is not in the hands of the so called Telugu people. Every second, a voice comes out "it is Sonia Gandhi [amma] who will have bestow". The decision would not be taken in the Telugu people interest but in the national interest. The concern that in Bengal or Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu such movements may take momentum. The concern that Congress may loose is core base. So what is it for Telengana or Rayalaseema or Andhra Telugus?

We have to understand the difference between war and a conflict. Andhra Pradesh issue is essentially a conflict. This is not war - to win someone territory, wealth or material possessions. This conflict is an opposition of people (culture), forces (politics), or other entities (like regional imbalances). A war can be won, but conflicts have to be negotiated.

Today in this broken society, there is no scope for negotiation. Because, there is no communication. Because, there is no understanding. Because there is no acknowledgement of the facts. Because there is no rational thinking. Because there is no collective wisdom. Because there is no credibility.

It all starts with credibility. Who is credible? To be honest no one. Then, who can bring credibility? It is the citizens. By acknowledging the facts. Listening to one another. Understanding one another. Appreciating one another. Working a collective road map to address the perceptions from all sides. Bottom line is - it is not for Sonia, Pranab, Kodandaram, KCR, Kavuri or Chandrababu to decide. It is for the citizens to decide what they want, how they want?

Can this happen? Probably Yes, and equally No. It depends on the perceptions, and collective sum of these perceptions to understand and decide that best for the people by them not by cronies or proxies. If citizens get into the grip of the so called leaders - the events that resulted in distruction of status on tankbund or suicides by innocents would become a reality in coming days rather than a perception or on off incident.

Here is an excellent opportunity to make a difference. Are we ready yet?

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