What To Do With It? - I Have An Answer.. Do You??
Let me begin with a story... Once upon a time....
Pappu was sitting idle at home, gobbling up some cookies, on a pleasant afternoon. All of a sudden he decided to go to the park. On the way he sees a small kid playing with a toy and gets attracted to it at once. He thought how to make it his own. He snatched it away from the kid and took it home. He could neither make out what it actually was nor did he knew what to do with it. A clueless Pappu showed it to his friends, all of them were amazed and told him to keep it in the showcase. He then asked his teacher, she told him to share it with his friends. He asked his parents, they told him to return it to the kid itself - which was not acceptable to him.
The next day Pappu went to the park hoping to see the kid, but in vain. He inquired others at the park and found the kid's home, only to realise that it was a Palace, and even his own house was gifted to his forefathers by them. The kid told Pappu that he never wanted it, and also that the 'toy' was a tiny crown inherited by the kid from his ancestors.....
Heard this story somewhere before..????? You would easily be able to relate this story to the figure 90000 crores. First we asked 'whether to open it', then 'who should do it', then 'what is it's worth' and now finally WHAT TO DO WITH IT...!!!!!!
Now that the treasure hunt has made Trivandrum, the focal point of heated discussions, and Lord Padmanabha the richest deity in the world, the question still remains, how do we protect this and moreover how can we utilise this in the best possible way. The Palace has made no claims whatsoever - which underlines their dignity and commitment towards the society. So now who becomes the owner of the 'toy'??
Some want them to be exhibited to all, for mere visual pleasure, ( like Pappu's friends ) thus paving the way for a big scale burglary. Hmmm... yesss.. we have adequate and efficient security officials to safeguard the treasure - so efficient that they could just watch gold chains being robbed from their eyesight - that too within the temple...!!!!. Any person who is not a mug can realize that the decision to retain the riches within the temple is just a gap-filler and sooner or later the treasure will have to be moved out of the premises, which then provides ample opportunity for our 'honest' officials and politicians to 'handle' it 'with care'..
Some want them to be spent for the benefit of all, just like Pappu's teacher. I agree, but partly. May be not the whole of it, but it would be only just, to spend a substantial part of the riches for the development of the backward areas in our country or state. After all no one wants farmers committing suicide for loan waivers or unemployed youth walking the length and breadth of our metros, when by God's grace we have fallen upon such a blessing. The rest, probably a small portion, and rare collections shall be protected as a mark of our culture, tradition and archeological values.
But it will not be as simple as sharing a toy. Give me one name in this country who is capable of leading a team of officials who could take up this project and execute it with clean hands. Even if you can name some, a single person or a group of people cannot eradicate the cancer that has entwined our nation - Corruption.
Some are of the opinion, that even if plagued by corruption, our Government , should go ahead with projects - in the hope that atleast the 'remains' gets utilized. I cannot help but sympathize with them. But there is some truth behind this joke. If Rs 1000 is taken out, such people hope atleast Rs 100 gets used for public welfare. If nothing is taken out, nothing gets used. And definitely 100 is better than 'nothing'.
The challenge is now clear - Can we, the largest democracy in the planet, led by our Government, either convert these treasures, which amounts to more than a quarter of the Nation's Fiscal Deficit, into projects which are beneficial to its millions, a lion's share of whom are still under the poverty line - without shaming ourselves like in the cases of 2G spectrum or Commonwealth Games Saga, or atleast safeguard the riches as it is, without letting down our culture and tradition...
My answer is - 'Yes We Can...', Now what is yours..???
.
Pappu was sitting idle at home, gobbling up some cookies, on a pleasant afternoon. All of a sudden he decided to go to the park. On the way he sees a small kid playing with a toy and gets attracted to it at once. He thought how to make it his own. He snatched it away from the kid and took it home. He could neither make out what it actually was nor did he knew what to do with it. A clueless Pappu showed it to his friends, all of them were amazed and told him to keep it in the showcase. He then asked his teacher, she told him to share it with his friends. He asked his parents, they told him to return it to the kid itself - which was not acceptable to him.
The next day Pappu went to the park hoping to see the kid, but in vain. He inquired others at the park and found the kid's home, only to realise that it was a Palace, and even his own house was gifted to his forefathers by them. The kid told Pappu that he never wanted it, and also that the 'toy' was a tiny crown inherited by the kid from his ancestors.....
Heard this story somewhere before..????? You would easily be able to relate this story to the figure 90000 crores. First we asked 'whether to open it', then 'who should do it', then 'what is it's worth' and now finally WHAT TO DO WITH IT...!!!!!!
Now that the treasure hunt has made Trivandrum, the focal point of heated discussions, and Lord Padmanabha the richest deity in the world, the question still remains, how do we protect this and moreover how can we utilise this in the best possible way. The Palace has made no claims whatsoever - which underlines their dignity and commitment towards the society. So now who becomes the owner of the 'toy'??
Some want them to be exhibited to all, for mere visual pleasure, ( like Pappu's friends ) thus paving the way for a big scale burglary. Hmmm... yesss.. we have adequate and efficient security officials to safeguard the treasure - so efficient that they could just watch gold chains being robbed from their eyesight - that too within the temple...!!!!. Any person who is not a mug can realize that the decision to retain the riches within the temple is just a gap-filler and sooner or later the treasure will have to be moved out of the premises, which then provides ample opportunity for our 'honest' officials and politicians to 'handle' it 'with care'..
Some want them to be spent for the benefit of all, just like Pappu's teacher. I agree, but partly. May be not the whole of it, but it would be only just, to spend a substantial part of the riches for the development of the backward areas in our country or state. After all no one wants farmers committing suicide for loan waivers or unemployed youth walking the length and breadth of our metros, when by God's grace we have fallen upon such a blessing. The rest, probably a small portion, and rare collections shall be protected as a mark of our culture, tradition and archeological values.
But it will not be as simple as sharing a toy. Give me one name in this country who is capable of leading a team of officials who could take up this project and execute it with clean hands. Even if you can name some, a single person or a group of people cannot eradicate the cancer that has entwined our nation - Corruption.
Some are of the opinion, that even if plagued by corruption, our Government , should go ahead with projects - in the hope that atleast the 'remains' gets utilized. I cannot help but sympathize with them. But there is some truth behind this joke. If Rs 1000 is taken out, such people hope atleast Rs 100 gets used for public welfare. If nothing is taken out, nothing gets used. And definitely 100 is better than 'nothing'.
The challenge is now clear - Can we, the largest democracy in the planet, led by our Government, either convert these treasures, which amounts to more than a quarter of the Nation's Fiscal Deficit, into projects which are beneficial to its millions, a lion's share of whom are still under the poverty line - without shaming ourselves like in the cases of 2G spectrum or Commonwealth Games Saga, or atleast safeguard the riches as it is, without letting down our culture and tradition...
My answer is - 'Yes We Can...', Now what is yours..???
.
nandini, here i think u r wrong. as u said 'something is better than nothing'. but there is a second part to that. that 'nothing is better than nonsense' u know what will happen if this 1 lac crs get into the hands of the politicians (pseudo secularists). if God is great, some Rs.10000/- may remain. another thing, y r everybody bothered about only the wealth of Sri Padmanabha or for that matter only Hindu Temples. r christian and muslim places of worship poor or r there no wealth with the diocese. i think what is Sri Padmanabhas is only Sri Padmanabhas and there is no need to exhibit it also. for good or bad, it has been opened. now lets take inventory and leave it there itself. regards, mama.
ReplyDeleteI agree. What is Padmanabha's, let it be his. But my worry is about it's security. Definitely the present mechanism seems inadequate to handle a major mishappening. And regarding '100 better than nothing...', its not my opinion mama. What i told is what 'some' think about the issue from a humorous angle.
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