What can the common man expect from the new government? Better governance? Stability? Addressing civic woes? Can the new government bridge the Bangalore vs rest-of-Karnataka debate?
IBNLIve.com organised a chat with Arundhati Nag, a multi-lingual actress with more than 35 years of theatre experience. One of the prominent citizens of Bangalore, she has also assisted David Lean on his 'Passage To India'.
Here we reproduce the full text of the chat.
Varun: Bangalore witnessed an abysmal voter turnout on Saturday. It's stupidity to expect a good government to be elected when the educated masses stay away from voting. We then leave the job of electing to the uneducated and rural masses, which leads to a lousy government coming to power and taking the people for a ride. Most of the fundamental rights accorded to us by our Constitution are grossly exploited. The right to vote, I believe, is the single right that we can exercise in its total purity. Mrs.Nag, my question is, how can encourage the educated masses and youth to come forward and enthusiastically cast their votes?
Arundhati Nag: I think it’s time we have some kind of a penalising clause for urbanites who do not exercise their franchise. Something that will make them feel miserable like putting their names in the papers and also (this at the cost of sounding didactic) having it marked maybe on their driving license and passport.
Rahul: In the last few years, Karnataka and Kannadigas seem to be turning parochial in their outlook. Would you agree?
Arundhati Nag: I would like to see people from anywhere learning a bit about the culture and language of any place they visit or live in. We all go to France and come back speaking English with a French accent in a matter of weeks....why? Because the French do not speak to you in any other language. India is not that bad, even a villager makes an attempt to speak to you in Eng or Hindi. No harm in trying to respect and learn about the language and the food and culture of a place that is home! I did it. I learnt Kannada after coming to Bangalore.
MD: What will be the future of theatre? In some places theatres are making way for shopping malls?
Arundhati Nag: By theatre I presume you mean drama. Yes? I believe that drama is the mother of cinema and TV. Training in drama equips one for every performance genre. I believe that there will always be a segment of people in this world who are fed up of the mediocre fare on television and the larger-than-life image of the cinema and opt for drama which is the closest to real life. Places like Ranga Shankara where you do not have a Coke or Pepsi ad plastered on all our walls just because they have given us some money to produce a play. Vodafone supports our theatre and has the grace not to cover our walls with their ads, people are tired of seeing more ads on TV than the content they wish to see. Theatre will never die, it has a way of inventing and re-inventing itself. It will perform in basements, foyers, on streets, bus stations and even people’s living rooms, so the malls can grow if the people want them!
Om: Do you have any plans to join political party?
Arundhati Nag: No.
Rama: As a common man, Kannadigas should get their share in Karnataka. What do you think?
Arundhati Nag: Each citizen of this country should get his rights wherever he is placed geographically. We Kannadigas are a warm and welcoming and peace-loving people and that is our greatest wealth. We must continue to be the way we are. We must take genuine pride in what is ours – language, food, art, culture and help people from other parts of the country and world to enjoy and cherish and imbibe it. Imagine if every state began to exist only for their own people, what would become of India?
PAGE_BREAK
Satish: We require a far-sighted person like the late Shankar Nag who had a plan of Metro train and ring roads for Bangalore 28 years back. 1) Development of Metro train including 2nd phase since it covers white field and electronic city so that we can reduce a maximum number of private buses, TT and cabs entering the city . 2) Cities like Mysore, Tumkur, Davangere, Shimoga and Dharwad should be improved so that BPO companies can start functioning in Tier 2 cities. 3) Introducing lane system for 2 wheelers since the roads are small and even it will be easy for the 2-wheelers to turn and maintain compared to autos and cars. 4) Cold storage facility for the crops of the farmers so that they can export the surplus crop and farmers do get the right price. 5) Giving a permanent solution for Kaveri water and interconnecting all the rivers of Karnataka. Since today Bangalore cannot afford bandh or riot as one-day bandh costs more than Rs 500 crore of loss.
Arundhati Nag: Satish, you have almost got the mantra our planners need. I am sure they know this but sadly the political will is missing. Planning cannot be to ease today’s miseries, we need to look at development 20 and 40 years from today and provide for it .Shankar Nag unfortunately left us at a very young age. Computers and mobile phones were not yet a reality in India. Way back in 1989 he already had a plan for an underground metro for Bangalore City. It would have cost four times the money the existing elevated system is going to cost but it would have retained the aesthetic beauty of the city and also kept noise pollution levels low. Short-sighted is what I call the present-day dreamers and planners!
Aditya Badami: Dear Mrs. Nag Just the other day I saw a movie on Chandana titled Nodi Swami Navirodu Heege. Apart from the brilliant movie that it was and your brilliant acting, I saw glimpses of the old Bangalore that we all grew up in. Knowing fully well that Bangalore will never be what it was, what according to you would make Bangalore a better place? My idea is to decentralise Bangalore and try building a new Bangalore around Devanahalli and the new airport.
Arundhati Nag: Not a bad idea Aditya! Then the international airport will have to shift again! I think we need a ruling from the govt, one that does not allow people to change the facade of buildings that are over a certain age. This is implemented very efficiently all over Europe. The exterior remains old while the interiors could be as swank as anyone wants them to be.
Pradeep Reddy: In what way a state govt can improve the old rural culture and rural tourism?
Arundhati Nag: Many small countries in Europe have a very efficient system in place to preserve and promote rural tourism. First and foremost, the buildings and streets have to be maintained in the typical style of the region. In India we need to have a ruling that will not allow modern constructions anywhere near a 3km radius of any heritage or tourism site.
Satish: Hello Mrs. Nag, do you think that with the delimitation exercise, politicians will show 'real' interest in the development of Bangalore? Or will it be the same old case of robbing Bangalore to feed rest of Karnataka?
Arundhati Nag: I do believe that the capital city of any state has the capacity to generate greater money than the rest of the state. It has a responsibility to see that all the other parts of the state function with a measure dignity. We all know how some districts like Bidar and Gulbarga have been shortchanged at the cost of keeping Bangalore beautiful. The delimitation exercise I hope will help the Bangalorean clean up the city and not just add more money in the already-bulging pockets of the vested interests. I keep repeating –it is us –us citizens who have to come together and demand the kind of development we want. Proper zoning in the city, satellite townships, no plastics, protect green cover, water management, eco-friendly construction, maybe it’s time to ask for these.
PAGE_BREAK
Srikanth GV: One more question is about women candidates in Karnataka elections. Could you tell me why is it that there are such few women candidates in the fray? One of the prominent women this time around is Mamta Nichani, who is the daughter of former JD man and former CM Ramkrishna Hegde. She is a good fight for Kumaraswamy in Ramnagar. However, the main reason she is pitted against Kumarswamy is astrological in nature. Is it fair on the part of Mamta to accept this offer, first of all from the Congress, against whom her dad fought so much? Secondly, she has earned a ticket due to astrological reasons and I don't see any other valid reason, atleast she doesn't hail from Ramnagar. So isn't it a kind of insult to all ladies of our state?
Arundhati Nag: I am sick and tired of our politicians and film stars who are afflicted with moral bankruptcy to the extent that they actually fall prey to the mumbo jumbo of astrology and numerology and what have you! Yes it is a pity we have no women in the political arena this time. Wonder why! I, for one, am petrified of the mayhem in the political arena!
Rohit: Do you blame the Government or the people of Karnataka for the current state that we are in? I still see educated people employing kids - would we see any upliftment of the poor from whoever forms the government or would this be just another government with some more false hopes?
Arundhati Nag: What can a govt do if people , especially our educated well-to-do urbanites are not cultured enough to see that employing a child is a social crime? Child labour is only one of the offences the govt will have to tackle. Finally a govt is not a person, it is made up of people. People like you and me. We the people will have to become active and participative.
Mayasandra Suresh: What do you expect the next govt to do for the promotion of performing arts, especially the vanishing rural & tribal arts?
Arundhati Nag: Proper, well-built and well-administered performing spaces in every district level headquarter is a need. The govt already has a programme that is building completely dysfunctional monsters that are being passed off as performing spaces. Ranga Shankara is a template that can very easily be emulated. The Govt must really look at involving the theatre groups and making them responsible for the programming. Govt is there to provide infrastructure, not run the performing arts. As for the tribal arts, there are two tasks at hand --one is preservation and the other is presentation. The atmosphere and time in which each tribal form was born is not the same anymore. Contexts and terms of reference have changed. So, it is only preservation that will work to a great extent. In the course of preservation, training will also take place.
Nidhi: After the basic amenities (water, jobs, electricity) to rural population, prominence to Kannada culture is one of the main items that the new K'taka govt should focus on.
Arundhati Nag: Yes of course water, jobs electricity for all, especially the rural population are the basic requirements of a people, the bottomline that a democracy must meet. Culture is a complete picture for me. Indian culture is the thing. Kannada culture of course figures in the whole picture. Karnataka has a rich culture and every person who is a Kannadiga or resides in this state must be proud of it. We need to kindle the pride in our people. No more Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck garbage bins in the Lal Baug Glass house for example. Dollu Kunita or Veera Ghase cheerleaders would be nice too! Culture tourism is something Karnataka can focus on after consolidating the performing arts of the state.
Comments
0 comment