To the City that will raise:Chennai

A heated Debated- Was it nature’s fury or construction frenzy, raised a lot of questions, moral anger, and above all it has raised the humanity, compassion to a fellow human and what not, as I read a status which went viral-, “ it wasn’t just the skies that opened up, but the hearts of the people of Chennai.”

I begin writing this with a sense of moral anger, which transforms into a smug with what has happened, and a great sense of gratitude especially to the unknown person who went to my house to hand over the medicines. He will forever be a hero.

When pushed to a corner, the humans in us gets out. Ego and other unwanted things takes a back seat.
Ultimately all that everyone wants is being together and oneness. The remaining things about fame, money etc are all because of an altered state of mind
If only this is realized by everyone, every time, and world is such a great place to live in. Nature, no doubt is the best teacher.
First, we must realize what is that we need.
And it is important, not to let that need become a greed.

The devastating floods might or might not be man-made. The illegal constructions has indeed caused a lot of havoc in the past few days, but let me not write about that.

There are, one too many brighter perspectives to this wetness caused by the flood. A million salutes to the Tamil Nadu capital for showing us the most ennobling way of standing up after being hit hard and harder, not once or twice, but thrice.

Chennai has emerged as the city of courage and compassion. In a time of unprecedented distress and difficulty, it turned into a million-armed helpline, and showed how a city transforms itself into one with a human personality and rises to become an angel. Not just the image of that lady, who waded through knee-deep waters to perform her duty of providing milk when it was needed the most, what stood out was that common citizens - unknown faces and strangers - were helped as if they were blood brothers. Leaders were truly born at every street, more importantly they didn’t do all this for the recognition.

Chennai, in such a time, became the definition of the idea of India. My ever favorite, DR.APJ, sir though we have not completely made you proud of us, but the promise here is we have started our progress, and especially to those fat bellied uncles who say that youth today, aren’t responsible enough because they “don’t go for a job” or they spend time on gadgets and girls, well uncle let me tell you, we are not the generation who marries a girl at the age of 14 and tries to suppress her with chauvinism, we give our girls the space. We are responsible, stand aside and watch the change, we will create jobs.

And, all these happening when communication systems had crashed. The city ran on immobility: no mobile phones, no internet, landlines were faulty, the airport turned into a river, with planes appearing as toy islands. Houses and cars were like floating icons of despair in a sea of water. It's difficult to imagine how Chennaites managed to sail through these days of unimaginable damage and death. It will take a long time to come back to normalcy even if the rains stop and the water begins to recede.

A big round of applause and salute to RJ Balaji, a man who has gained huge respect from all of us. Nobody would have ever thought that a common man, failing in the early stage of his life could do something this great. All it takes is a big heart to make this society a better place and restore our faith in humanity.

Great job, sir. You're now an inspiration. If I ever get a chance to meet or talk to someone I adore, it is never going to Rajnikanth anymore, my first choice will always be RJ Balaji and I'm proud of this statement. I don't know if this post deserves to be shared, but people like him, who are helping our city in a similar way simply deserve a place in the TN Government so that we can start a new corruption free Government, especially at the hour where disturbing news such as relief materials being thrown into water for no stickers, allegedly walking in with goons and hitting the volunteers, and even pressing charges for attempt of murder, I’m not pointing out on anyone in particular, but things are not a good sign. Amidst all this, the best part was that youth, we are the power and backbone of this country. Great gestures. Now I’m having the confidence that we are prepared and we are not so easy to defeat.

But what shall remain forever is the lingering image of the milk-lady and the anonymous local people helping each other as if the city, itself had turned into a loving, caring mother for her children.

WHAT HAS TO BE DONE GOING FORWARD:

·         Money is not everything, whatever you earn materialistic will not last, it is about the good hearts and love you earn, which is going to come forward.

·         Never waste time on listening to speeches by politicians, it is all fake.

·         Spend more time with friends and family, social media has proven to be a great platform for garnering support, but now it is time to get back to paying attention to who is next to you.

·         Stop accepting freebies, yes you make the change for yourself and educate those who are not aware, it is because we took it, now we are being dictated in a land of democracy by goons and local uneducated thugs. Why must that space be given?

·         Enjoy every weekend with your family and friends, take them out for an outing. A movie or dinner maybe.

·         Waste disposal- a very important factor, even when the rains weren’t so bad in November, the water logging had affected the streets and the drainage system were all blocked by these wastes and after a fortnight, the rains have affected us even more largely and now, what has happened is all that dumping has been thrown back at us.

·         You talk about westernization in culture- is that only in terms of clothing or drinking all night? NO. Learn cleanliness, never throw litter on the roads, and when you find a waste paper on the road, pick it up and drop it, and trust me, there is a psychology with human minds called pervasive learning, and another person on looking at you will certainly change. Don’t wait for the change, please be the change.

·         Obey traffic rules, don’t try to evade the cop by using the politician name you know. They did not help us at the time of crisis. So why do you want to use their name and in turn become liable to them? When you keep your hands clean, you can look into the eyes of anyone and talk boldly. Don’t be scared of being true. You’ll not be defeated. We Chennaites are the living example of it. Our love for Chennai was true and even nature could not defeat us.

·         We absolutely have no caste, religion and we are all one humans. We are all truly brothers and sisters, we proved it. Let a few north Indians hate us, but we will still continue to love them.

·         Let us ensure we have self-governance, be it about not littering and obeying traffic rules, let’s begin with as small as those- let’s exercise our duties and not seek for help. When that eventually fades out, you can be bold enough to face anyone.

·         Let this work not be forgotten, smile and greet everyone, sign up with an ngo and start planting more trees across the city. Let’s make it greener, climate change can happen even for good.

·         Do not accept anything with pics posted on it. It is your tax money. Educate those around you, this journey must not stop.

·         HELP OTHERS AT EVERY POSSIBLE SITUATION.

·         Let us make other cities and states be proud of what we are going to make Chennai into, and for that, at this moment, make a strong promise to yourself for being a better person in every aspect with respect to how you are about to take a transformation completely. We are going to set examples.

Remember this,

“The floods came, washed aside not our homes but our evil thoughts!

The water burnt, not our hopes but our ego,

What was lost was not our happiness but our selfishness,

Is easier to say that what rose above all, was not the water levels alone, but the friendship,

Ultimately nature, has given up in front our humanity and compassion”.

If we can do it now, we can do it forever.

Thank you Chennai for showing us the most ennobling way of togetherness. 

A million salutes to you!!!