As a die-hard Chennai girl, it's only obvious that I write about the heinous Chennai floods and the eye opening truths it has brought out. The way I look at Chennai floods is 'Nature's way of teaching us that humanity is all around us. It's up to each one of us to find it."
Following are 4 personal letters I wish to write to few people who have either played a critical role or failed to do so at a time when they were needed the most.
My first letter is to a very important entity that "apparently" did a brilliant job for Chennai floods - Our national media.
Dear National media,
I promise I will be as polite as possible. I have just 3 words for you-"GO F*** YOURSELF". This is the most polite I can be for what you have failed to do. You are such a shame to our country. What matters the most to you is not people but your f***ing TRP rating, while you still pretend to be on people's side. If by any chance, you think you are a big ass entity that has the freedom and power to do what you want, sorry! You are wrong! This time, people of Chennai have proved that you can be the most useless entity despite your so-called self proclaimed power!
All you were capable of doing this time was re-telecasting the same shots you had taken before. Why this indifferent attitude? Oh, I know. According to you, India just has 2 states - Delhi and Mumbai. The rest of the states are invisible to you because we don't help you get enough viewership. So, why waste resources on covering the full story? Yeah, that sounds very reasonable!
The only consolation for you is that our own so-called "popular" local channels, SUN TV and JAYA TV are equally bad because they were busy playing dirty politics. I wish the floods had washed away all your channel offices to drain.
Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, you did a noble deed by posting a video in Facebook about how Chennai floods have exposed national media. Just don't think that this has earned you any brownie points because you did that only after about 200 lives were lost. Until then, you cared a damn! Please don't take your viewers for granted because we aren't a bunch of stupids watching your show.
So, dear national media, SUN TV JAYA TV, great job on failing to do your duty for your country. Keep it up!
Yours sincerely
An angry Chennaite
P.S., By national media, I am particularly referring to CNN IBN, NDTV and TIMESNOW
My second letter is to an important entity that should "ideally" hold the responsibility of rebuilding our city as we wake up from this disaster - the entity led by our dear chief minister Selvi Jayalalitha.
Dear Jayalalitha,
This disaster must have taken a toll on you and your government the most because you and your team must probably be tired by playing all the dirty politics you can within and outside Chennai. I also think this disaster must have given your team innovative ways to think about how your name and your Government's name can be projected for electoral purposes as against actually helping people. Some pictures below clearly speak for themselves.
Well, you may ask, how do I know these for sure? I don't! Infact, I even saw a social media post by a gentleman who said that the Government is doing a great job with relief activities. But, I am sure that "Government" actually referred to those few authorities who honestly care for people's welfare and safety and did all that they could with the help of our army and navy, But, I can show you many other proofs for how sick your MLAs and their goondas can get, but that would mean I would indirectly have to reveal the identity of my fellow-Chennaites and obviously, I don't wish to do that. In any case, one needs no proof to realize how cheap you and your dearest counterpart Mr.Karunanidhi can get when it comes to playing dirty politics and keeping people's welfare as the last priority. Having said all that, I don't have a problem believing that your government is capable of doing such things as shown in the picture above.
So, I have just 2 words to tell you and your F***ing Government - "SCREW YOU!". Your government is just as useless as the national media. You are all just a bunch of power mongers who care the least for the people who bring you to power. When you are hungry, you all might even end up eating money and people around you than actual food. Cannibals!
I pretty much can guess what you and your government might do after all the water has drained out and it's safe for you to come out. You would publicize that you are personally donating money for the flood relief and most part of it would end up being gulped by your own MLAs and (some if not all) police authorities who will diligently make sure that most of it does not reach the needy. You will use a part of the 1000 crores that Modi has apparently donated for Chennai floods to reconstruct all the damaged buildings and prepare a new urban plan by taking cuts from those real estate projects, once again compromising on the the infrastructure of our city. What would happen to the remaining money? No one would know! This will most likely happen because you have the audacity to say, as quoted by an NDTV report, "losses are unavoidable when there's very heavy rain. Swift rescue and relief alone are indicators of a good government". What "unavoidable" loses were you referring to here? The innocent lives that were lost? The lives of the people who voted you to power? Wow, that's so F***ing magnanimous of you! Apart from calling the army/navy, what other "swift" action did your Government take? Care to clarify?
Just FYI - you many want to read this article before you talk about such "loses" - http://scroll.in/article/769928/chennai-floods-are-not-a-natural-disaster-theyve-been-created-by-unrestrained-construction
Well, there are a few immediate solutions for you to adopt to avoid these 'loses" that you are so indifferent about i.e., if you F***ing care for your people that you claim you do. Take it on yourself to find out all those incompetent builders who were stupid enough to construct building over lakes and cancel their licenses, dismiss the illegal building contractors from their jobs and finally put behind bars all your MLAs who instead of supporting people, ended up being a hindrance and swindled the relief supplies that were sent to the needy. Yeah! it's pretty much like the 'Mudhalvan' movie. Good cinema is an inspiration to me as much as it is to you.
Yours Sincerely
A frustrated Chennaite
Here comes the nicer side to my letters.
My third letter is to the actual heroes of Chennai, every single man and women who selflessly ensured safety, shelter and supplies to those in need.
Dear Chennaites,
For the humongous amount of work you all have put in to keep our city intact, I am nobody to certify your efforts. What you all have done cannot be expressed in words. This will go into the history of Chennai and its solidarity as we all will continue to talk about it to our future generations to come. Today, you all have proved to the world that strength of humanity defines the success of disaster management. While in other parts of the world, people are killing each other for power and religion, we, in Chennai, have been helping people beyond that power and religion. This is a story that the world needs to take from us. If Oxford can include 'google' as a synonym for 'search', then 'Chennai" ought to be included as a synonym for 'solidarity'.
While most of us outside India did some help, it is ofcourse nothing compared to the real-time work you all did. I am sure hundreds of us who are away from home literally wanted to teleport ourselves to Chennai and be a small part of your noble deeds. Representing those hundreds, I can confidently say that outside India, we are incredibly proud to call ourselves Chennaites and the credit for that goes only to you all.
What is even more amazing is how you all have already started thinking about next steps from relief to rehabilitation. This incredible spirit is called "Chennai".
Friends from other cities and states: The amount of support you have showed us, financially and psychologically, only means that at times of distress we always have each others' shoulders. It is like how siblings fight in a family, but when parents scold one sibling, the other automatically comes to the rescue, here the parent being mother nature.
May we all stay united not just at times of disaster, but always!
Yours sincerely
A grateful Chennaite
My last and fourth letter is to a set of important people who indirectly helped us ensure timely communication at a time like this. Want to take a guess????
Dear founders of Facebook, Google and Twitter,
Mark Zuckerberg, if not for the floods, I am pretty sure my Facebook wall would have been inundated with the news of your baby girl and the generous donation you have made for children, education and science.So, first of all, congratulations and may your daughter have a blessed life with health and happiness.
This disastrous event has proved to the world that social media not only aids communication, but has the potential to become a nation building tool. I can't imagine how this event could have been managed better without the brilliant products that you all have created, It was incredible to see how people ended up using google sheets, google docs, Facebook pages and Twitter tweets to coordinate a humongous effort of restoring a city. Your products helped connect people who were willing to help, to those who needed the help. At times of disasters, this is exactly what we need. A BIG thank you to you and your brilliant team of engineers for envisioning and building products that can help us sustain humanity. This seems extremely important at a time when humanity seems to have been taken for granted in many parts of the world today.
Yours Sincerely,
A hopeful Chennaite
Following are 4 personal letters I wish to write to few people who have either played a critical role or failed to do so at a time when they were needed the most.
My first letter is to a very important entity that "apparently" did a brilliant job for Chennai floods - Our national media.
Dear National media,
I promise I will be as polite as possible. I have just 3 words for you-"GO F*** YOURSELF". This is the most polite I can be for what you have failed to do. You are such a shame to our country. What matters the most to you is not people but your f***ing TRP rating, while you still pretend to be on people's side. If by any chance, you think you are a big ass entity that has the freedom and power to do what you want, sorry! You are wrong! This time, people of Chennai have proved that you can be the most useless entity despite your so-called self proclaimed power!
All you were capable of doing this time was re-telecasting the same shots you had taken before. Why this indifferent attitude? Oh, I know. According to you, India just has 2 states - Delhi and Mumbai. The rest of the states are invisible to you because we don't help you get enough viewership. So, why waste resources on covering the full story? Yeah, that sounds very reasonable!
The only consolation for you is that our own so-called "popular" local channels, SUN TV and JAYA TV are equally bad because they were busy playing dirty politics. I wish the floods had washed away all your channel offices to drain.
Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, you did a noble deed by posting a video in Facebook about how Chennai floods have exposed national media. Just don't think that this has earned you any brownie points because you did that only after about 200 lives were lost. Until then, you cared a damn! Please don't take your viewers for granted because we aren't a bunch of stupids watching your show.
So, dear national media, SUN TV JAYA TV, great job on failing to do your duty for your country. Keep it up!
Yours sincerely
An angry Chennaite
P.S., By national media, I am particularly referring to CNN IBN, NDTV and TIMESNOW
My second letter is to an important entity that should "ideally" hold the responsibility of rebuilding our city as we wake up from this disaster - the entity led by our dear chief minister Selvi Jayalalitha.
Dear Jayalalitha,
This disaster must have taken a toll on you and your government the most because you and your team must probably be tired by playing all the dirty politics you can within and outside Chennai. I also think this disaster must have given your team innovative ways to think about how your name and your Government's name can be projected for electoral purposes as against actually helping people. Some pictures below clearly speak for themselves.
Well, you may ask, how do I know these for sure? I don't! Infact, I even saw a social media post by a gentleman who said that the Government is doing a great job with relief activities. But, I am sure that "Government" actually referred to those few authorities who honestly care for people's welfare and safety and did all that they could with the help of our army and navy, But, I can show you many other proofs for how sick your MLAs and their goondas can get, but that would mean I would indirectly have to reveal the identity of my fellow-Chennaites and obviously, I don't wish to do that. In any case, one needs no proof to realize how cheap you and your dearest counterpart Mr.Karunanidhi can get when it comes to playing dirty politics and keeping people's welfare as the last priority. Having said all that, I don't have a problem believing that your government is capable of doing such things as shown in the picture above.
So, I have just 2 words to tell you and your F***ing Government - "SCREW YOU!". Your government is just as useless as the national media. You are all just a bunch of power mongers who care the least for the people who bring you to power. When you are hungry, you all might even end up eating money and people around you than actual food. Cannibals!
I pretty much can guess what you and your government might do after all the water has drained out and it's safe for you to come out. You would publicize that you are personally donating money for the flood relief and most part of it would end up being gulped by your own MLAs and (some if not all) police authorities who will diligently make sure that most of it does not reach the needy. You will use a part of the 1000 crores that Modi has apparently donated for Chennai floods to reconstruct all the damaged buildings and prepare a new urban plan by taking cuts from those real estate projects, once again compromising on the the infrastructure of our city. What would happen to the remaining money? No one would know! This will most likely happen because you have the audacity to say, as quoted by an NDTV report, "losses are unavoidable when there's very heavy rain. Swift rescue and relief alone are indicators of a good government". What "unavoidable" loses were you referring to here? The innocent lives that were lost? The lives of the people who voted you to power? Wow, that's so F***ing magnanimous of you! Apart from calling the army/navy, what other "swift" action did your Government take? Care to clarify?
Just FYI - you many want to read this article before you talk about such "loses" - http://scroll.in/article/769928/chennai-floods-are-not-a-natural-disaster-theyve-been-created-by-unrestrained-construction
Well, there are a few immediate solutions for you to adopt to avoid these 'loses" that you are so indifferent about i.e., if you F***ing care for your people that you claim you do. Take it on yourself to find out all those incompetent builders who were stupid enough to construct building over lakes and cancel their licenses, dismiss the illegal building contractors from their jobs and finally put behind bars all your MLAs who instead of supporting people, ended up being a hindrance and swindled the relief supplies that were sent to the needy. Yeah! it's pretty much like the 'Mudhalvan' movie. Good cinema is an inspiration to me as much as it is to you.
Yours Sincerely
A frustrated Chennaite
Here comes the nicer side to my letters.
My third letter is to the actual heroes of Chennai, every single man and women who selflessly ensured safety, shelter and supplies to those in need.
Dear Chennaites,
For the humongous amount of work you all have put in to keep our city intact, I am nobody to certify your efforts. What you all have done cannot be expressed in words. This will go into the history of Chennai and its solidarity as we all will continue to talk about it to our future generations to come. Today, you all have proved to the world that strength of humanity defines the success of disaster management. While in other parts of the world, people are killing each other for power and religion, we, in Chennai, have been helping people beyond that power and religion. This is a story that the world needs to take from us. If Oxford can include 'google' as a synonym for 'search', then 'Chennai" ought to be included as a synonym for 'solidarity'.
While most of us outside India did some help, it is ofcourse nothing compared to the real-time work you all did. I am sure hundreds of us who are away from home literally wanted to teleport ourselves to Chennai and be a small part of your noble deeds. Representing those hundreds, I can confidently say that outside India, we are incredibly proud to call ourselves Chennaites and the credit for that goes only to you all.
What is even more amazing is how you all have already started thinking about next steps from relief to rehabilitation. This incredible spirit is called "Chennai".
Friends from other cities and states: The amount of support you have showed us, financially and psychologically, only means that at times of distress we always have each others' shoulders. It is like how siblings fight in a family, but when parents scold one sibling, the other automatically comes to the rescue, here the parent being mother nature.
May we all stay united not just at times of disaster, but always!
Yours sincerely
A grateful Chennaite
My last and fourth letter is to a set of important people who indirectly helped us ensure timely communication at a time like this. Want to take a guess????
Dear founders of Facebook, Google and Twitter,
Mark Zuckerberg, if not for the floods, I am pretty sure my Facebook wall would have been inundated with the news of your baby girl and the generous donation you have made for children, education and science.So, first of all, congratulations and may your daughter have a blessed life with health and happiness.
This disastrous event has proved to the world that social media not only aids communication, but has the potential to become a nation building tool. I can't imagine how this event could have been managed better without the brilliant products that you all have created, It was incredible to see how people ended up using google sheets, google docs, Facebook pages and Twitter tweets to coordinate a humongous effort of restoring a city. Your products helped connect people who were willing to help, to those who needed the help. At times of disasters, this is exactly what we need. A BIG thank you to you and your brilliant team of engineers for envisioning and building products that can help us sustain humanity. This seems extremely important at a time when humanity seems to have been taken for granted in many parts of the world today.
Yours Sincerely,
A hopeful Chennaite
Comments
To the author, hats off to you for expressing such lively emotions in just mere words. You spoke my heart very well. I would like to encourage you to keep writing and inspire the young crowd here at Chennai. Enough is enough with these dirty politics run by some old, stupid, selfish, power hunger brats and Gundas. It is time to wake up and strike the rod when it is hot and shape it to a useful and selfless form.
"Pen is mightier than sword" we all agree to it, but the pen now has evolved to more modern forms like social media and information technology. Let's not waste the boon we have got for this century. I hereby request the author and writers around the world to flare the agony and motivate the youth to form the constitution and governance like never before. Given the fact that elections are around the corner, its the sweetest time to toss the coin.
I presume that the technology and communication will definitely favor the young crowd to form the government which can be transparent, selfless and hopeful in many ways. Why not we crowdsource to form a government if money is a problem. Why not we use the agnostic, young blood who plays a major role in our population to handle the gundas, if they are a problem etc. Personally, I am hoping for a change for the better tomorrow. Let's start small with "Chennai" for now and see what changes as we evolve. This is not a new idea, we have been seeing this happening over social media for at least a week. I just want to initiate this to have a solid foundation soon enough to make it viable.
Let's start this movement and request volunteers, writers, entrepreneurs to take advantage of the situation and empower the young with your writings, ideas and philosophies. Let us make use of this golden opportunity. Happy motivating...