Weekly column in English | Window Seat | 27.6.21

 Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 27.6.21

Problem and Solution

Solutions derive from what we define to be a problem. A wrongly defined problem will yield a wrong result that may be mistaken for a solution or which unscrupulous persons may push as one. Often, interventions defined as “solutions” may merely hide the actual problem or translocate its manifestation. Consider spraying deodorant to hide body odour or room spray to hide any unpleasant smell. They work temporarily. It is not the solution of the problem, which might have greater implications. Looking from this angle quick-fix temporary solution can actually aggravate the real problem.

Beach clean-ups or many of the Swachh Bharat photo-ops with broom-wielding celebrities are again examples of false solutions. They hide the symptom of the disease by removing garbage from places valued by the social elite to places considered valueless. One person’s solution becomes a curse for an entire community.

There is another problem with this quick fix sham solutions: it becomes the form that everyone tries to adopt as it provides the sense that the problem has been dealt with. Politicians do it to gain popularity fast. Administrators do it to tide over immediate problems at hand.

But the problem remains and worsens.

Emergency

As I am writing this column on 25 June, I remember that on this day in 1975, at midnight emergency was clamped in India. I was 15 years old, too young to understand the larger issues related to it but old enough to understand that something has changed. There were fewer crowds and more police men at the bazar of the small town that we lived. My father wore a long and gloomy face. My mother was visibly happy as she was told prices of essential commodities had come down.

Cartoon by Abu Abraham. 1975. Published in Indian Express.

I went to college next year. Stories of police atrocities floated in our college campus. Police were, we were told in hushed voices, particularly harsh on young men who wore long hair and bell-bottom pants with wide bell shaped ending. What harm long hair and bell-bottom pants (a fashion craze in mid-seventies) could do- we wondered. In 1977, suddenly one day- there was jubilation in the college- emergency had been lifted. Elections were announced. Indira Gandhi contested from Raebareli seat. Her major opponent was Raj Narain. AIR used to broadcast the election results. My father sat through the night with the lone transistor radio that we had. Past midnight suddenly we heard father shouting with glee: wake up everybody, Indira Gandhi has been defeated. His announcement was followed by a song on radio: Jhumka gira re Bareli ke bazar me Jhumka gira (my earring has fallen at the Barelie bazar).

Monsoon

The term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy season or rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern.

The term was first used in English in British India and neighbouring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area.

The English word monsoon came from Portuguese monção, ultimately from Arabic mawsim (which means "season") perhaps partly via early modern Dutch monsoon.

The monsoon is critical for agriculture in India since nearly 60 per cent of India’s net arable land lacks irrigation. The monsoon delivers about 70 per cent of India’s annual rainfall and determines the yield of several grains and pulses, including rice, wheat, and sugarcane. Agriculture may have steadily lost its grip on India’s overall economy, but it still holds around 15 per cent of the pie, employs millions and sustains hundreds of millions of people.

More importantly, higher agriculture yield would mean lower pressure on food prices and the overall retail inflation. It is also crucial to keep up the rural demand which creates market for FMCG, white goods and auto sector.

The rains also replenish 100 plus large reservoirs critical for drinking water and power generation across the country.

Tailpiece: Genius

At Oxford, 200 people were participating in men’s only English language competition. The challenge was to express peacefulness, happiness and calmness in a single sentence. The person who won wrote: My wife is sleeping. He received standing ovation from all the judges and audience. One married judge actually ran to the stage, hugged him with tears in his eyes and said, “You are a genius.”

Tailpiece2: Senior Citizen

After retirement, Ashutosh Nath aged 60, married a young 25 year old woman.

Now he was spending less time with his friends. His concerned friends enquired if there was a problem.

“I'm eager to pass time with you all, but my young wife gets lonely when I'm away.”

His friends advised him: Keep a young tenant at home, your wife will be happy in the company of a younger person.

Nath promptly acted on their advise and leased a room in his big house to a young tenant.

 

Now the friends were meeting more often. One day the friends jokingly asked, “How is your wife now?”

Nath: "She is not lonely at all, in fact she is happy and in fact she is pregnant"

The friends laughed, as they expected this. “And how is the tenant?” they asked.

Nath replied very soberly, “She is also pregnant. ..”

 

Morale of the story: Never underestimate a Senior Citizen.

(Courtesy: Social Media)

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The columnist is a journalist turned media academician. He lives in Dhenkanal, a central Odisha town.

mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com

This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and www.prameyanews.com