The rationale of our Satyagraha

A road is a road, a footpath is a footpath, a shop is a shop, and a bazaar is a bazaar. Is this really so difficult to implement dedicated-use facilities for citizens?

I understand that there are exceptions to every rule. There are times when one must be flexible and adjust. There are exceptional places where one simply cannot have a separate pavement for pedestrians, and therefore, one must come down to walking on roads. Also, there are times such as rush hours when no pavement will suffice, and therefore pedestrians must spill over and walk on the roads.

But what does one say to a city that has forgotten that there are norms of any kind? What does one say when a city's municipal corporation deserts its sense of maryada, and wilfully refuses to distinguish between road, bazaar, shop, mosque, temple and footpath? What does one say when the policing system has deserted its responsibility to safeguard the boundaries between roads, footpaths and bazaars?

Maryada is a sense of limits and boundaries. It is also a sense of shame -- of feeling ashamed when wrongdoings are committed. Sad to say, our "city fathers" as they are called have lost all maryada in both senses of the word.

Our "city fathers" (O, how shall I utter these words without bitter irony?) are the fence that eat the crops. It is an open secret that each hawker pays a substantial hafta to retain his right to loot public spaces. It is an open secret that these bribes go towards maintaining a huge parallel economy that involves both municipal employees and members of the underpaid police force, is it not?

Why then do we not join the dots and just proclaim that each and every hawker that we see is a symbol of corruption, a standing testimony to the power of money to overcome maryada and bend the morals of public servants?

A number of prominent citizens keep calling for a "war against corruption"... but they turn wishy-washy when it comes to the issue of hawking. Is it so difficult to figure out that as long as hawkers are crawling all over our public spaces, our collective war against corruption is going nowhere? Is it so difficult to understand that the any campaign against corruption is a complete non-starter as long as we are tolerant of visible corruption (a.k.a. hawking) roaming free on our streets and pavements?

In these confused, directionless and amoral times, I would like to propose a guiding principle, a simple axiom for governance.

Sahasi Padyatri's Principle of Civic Management:

Let roads be roads -- not footpaths and bazaars.

Let bazaars be bazaars -- not thoroughfare for vehicles.

Let footpaths be footpaths -- not bazaars, dumping grounds or gutters.

Fellow citizens, consider adopting this principle as a simple way to draw the lines and restore maryada to our public lives and public spaces.

Methinks that if we all resolve to treat the pedestrian's walking space as sacred space -- not to be encroached upon by hawkers, vehicle parking or any other obstacle -- we would immediately begin a return to maryada and an orderly, decent civic life. Can we please resolve to do so now?

Warm Regards,

Krishnaraj Rao,

Spokesman,

Sahasi Padyatri