[Reader-list] Happy Sunday :) Library and Garbage bins

Sun May 10 19:03:05 IST 2009

Anupam
Delightful 'strip'. Thanks

Rakesh
Public libraries would serve an excellent purpose. The poor and homeless could find temporary refuge in them, getting shielded from the cold and protected from heat.

Only problem in that might be along the lines of the news story "US library bans 'offensive bodily odours' from entering!" http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090415/959/tod-us-library-bans-offensive-bodily-odo.html

Wonder how 'library going elite' (for elite they would be in comparison) would react to the poor and homeless in the 'public space' of a public library

Kshmendra

--- On Sun, 5/10/09, anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com> wrote:

From: anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Happy Sunday :) Library and Garbage bins
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009, 5:13 PM

Here's a little library's story.

http://www.soundofdrowning.com/lib.html

regards anupam

On 5/10/09, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Jeebesh (and all)
>
> While the heat in this list could have been tackled by means of more
> personal chats and more respect of both sides' views from the other
> sides, here I wish to express my views on the first issue you have
> raised.
>
> Any issue, be it water, roads, health, education, or even a public
> library, can be addressed. However, there are umpteen points regarding
> as to why it is not an issue. And they are numerous in our system of
> democracy (or as in Gulaal they say, it's just autocracy in the name
> of democracy).
>
> The first issue here is about the way our democratic system works. It
> is a system which is half full and half empty, meaning that it is 50%
> democratic and 50% not, if one were to quote Ramachandra Guha from his
> book 'India After Gandhi'. And it certainly is. We do have a
system
> which has elections and the transition of power after elections is
> also smooth. However, that's it. Our system begins and ends with
> elections. After that, nobody cares. We never look at things beyond
> elections. Any criticism of a government takes place only with the
> point of view of elections.
>
> What this means is that only those issues which are important from the
> election point of view, would be addressed. But the question arises,
> as to then which issues are important, if they are there at all? Here,
> our media and the grassroots are totally at crossroads. The media
> feels the PM or the CM at the state level are more important issues
> than say water supply, health or education. On the other hand, the
> candidates realize that is not necessarily the case, and they
> concentrate on the kind of developmental works undertaken and some or
> the other sops being given.
>
> And what are these developmental works actually? The issues of
> livelihood. The issues of roti, kapda and makan. And if one may add to
> it, in a certain way they are related to bijli, sadak aur paani. These
> are the issues which are uppermost in the minds of the people. One
> must understand that with the kind of society we are, a caste and
> religion-biased society, where Brahmins wouldn't eat with Muslims or
> Dalits, where now even the OBC's live separately from them and where
> inter-caste marriages are even now abhorred, at least in rural areas,
> the kind of politicians who would emerge would also concentrate only
> on giving doles to their supporters or caste/religion members as cash
> or some kind of incentive.
>
> With the competition between people of different castes and religions
> for such govt. doles and rewards like jobs, rather than them fighting
> together for a common cause (long back this happened under Gandhi's
> movements), and with the kind of society we are (where people revel in
> having contacts with the powerful and the rich rather than following
> rules), all want a common minimum level of existence, from where
> education is excluded.
>
> Also, no political party has been imaginative enough to put health and
> education as basic issues in their campaigns and trying to corner the
> incumbent governments either during elections or during other times
> through mass based movements. Neither have non-political organizations
> played a successful role in this part during such times to ensure that
> such issues are addressed, which does not mean that they haven't
> tried; it simply means they haven't tried enough or the results are
> not enough.
>
> People in general also have little patience to understand the
> complexity of issues. That is why we have experts to understand them.
> But one must remember that things should also be made palatable to the
> electorate to back you. In this case, Manmohan Singh is a huge
> failure, precisely because he has never contested an election himself.
> And Advani may have an advantage here mainly because he has won a Lok
> Sabha election before this at least, so he could understand possibly
> how to make an issue and its solution palatable to the public. (This
> is a possibility, not necessarily the actuality).
>
> The second issue we have forgotten is in our society who is doing
> what. The poor don't have the power to actually undertake movements on
> their own and fight a battle which can yield results. I don't mean to
> say that the poor can't undertake movements. The poor in many states
> may have actually done so, but one must remember that in today's
> times, when our politicians are image-conscious, things which are not
> popular are not going to make much headway. Therefore, one must
> realize that unless such things are popular or in the mainstream
> media, it is very difficult to get the point across.
>
> Moreover, the poor are more concerned with their livelihoods, which is
> the most important issue for them. Things like library are non-issues
> from their point of view.
>
> The rich on the other hand do have the power, so also the middle
> class. The media is also on this side. However, we have tended to
> concentrate more on issues which are not going to help the poor at
> all. Forget that, we have not even concentrated on issues which can
> help the society at large. Even in the voting campaigns, people are
> being encouraged to vote. But the moot point remains this: if all the
> candidates are corrupt, what is the point of voting, even if for the
> least corrupt candidate? After all, corruption be it of Re. 1 or lakhs
> can and should not be tolerated. If terrorism is not tolerated, how
> come corruption is tolerated?
>
> Similarly, Hindutva seems also to be an issue going by some great
> Rediff articles and views expressed on them. Malls and removal of
> slums are issues, even though people don't try to understand at all
> the situational changes which can take place by having malls at
> certain places, or even the problems in slums and how they can be
> corrected without removing them. And of course, we have some other
> nonsense things to talk about.
>
> Conclusion:
>
> The library is a public good, and ultimately the library will benefit
> the public. The problem is that the rich don't want to fight for it as
> they think it's useless to involve themselves in such fights which are
> unprofitable (or non-money yielding). The poor don't fight for it as
> they have more important issues to look at. The media doesn't take it
> up as it's not a 'TRP-giving' news to be looked at, or it is
too
> serious. And our politicians being image-conscious, believe that
> these are not the things which will fetch them votes.
>
> So the library is a non-starter in our cities.
>
> And so, we don't have spaces in public to debate with on a personal
> level by and large.
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
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