Where are the answers?
Questions ranging from the profoundly philosophical to the
most mundane have been swirling in my mind ever since the incredible phenomenon
called demonetisation was thrust on the unsuspecting citizens of this country. It
is a gross understatement to say that the Govt. has not applied its mind before
hastily announcing the move.
Questions started…
In case of Chennai, it proved to be a bitter blow below the
belt. No sooner did the people of Chennai recover from the shock of having to
stand in nightmarish queues before ATMs, the news of our CM battling for her
life in one of our premier hospital took centre stage.
More questions were asked…
The crowds seemed to have moved away from ATMs to the
hospital gates. Many preferred to switch on their TV sets to catch tidbits of information.
TV channels vied with each other in “breaking news”. Some Tamil Channels jumped
the gun and announced that the CM had passed away leading to utter chaos among
the multitudes that had gathered outside the hospital and at the party
headquarters. The hospital however quelled the situation after it announced
that the CM is indeed alive.
The news anchors by this time outdid themselves and in fact,
one of them blurted out that he is “happy
to inform that the CM is still very critical” -this summed up the state of
affairs that quickly deteriorated from serious breaking news to almost absurd rhetoric.
Past midnight, however, the dreaded news was finally broken.
The police and armed guards moved in quickly and they were everywhere the next
day too ensuring that the aftermath passed off peacefully.
New questions were raised…
Hardly a week passed and after a very short though dreary
break, the queues resumed in front of ATMs and arguments erupted across bank
cash counters. While this storm was
brewing inside and outside banks, a real cyclone storm Vardha was making its ominous way towards Chennai. It was predicted
that winds over 100 kmph would blow across the city...
The very severe cyclone storm, indeed lived up to its hype, created havoc and left a trail of destruction in its wake…power supply was
disrupted, shops closed and the remaining open shops made a killing and
demanded cash payment and sold essentials at exorbitant prices.
As we sat through the night without power supply, fighting
mosquitoes and praying for the rains and the squall to stop, a sense of déjà vu swept
over us. A grim reminder that nothing much has changed.
Questions, some very old ones came back to haunt us…
As Chennai citizens once again re-lived the nightmare of the Chennai
floods of December 2015, they also had to grapple with the collateral damages
of the demonetisation move ..which were accentuated by the cyclone. WiFi
and internet connections on the laptop and mobiles died before the batteries
did. Point of sales (POS) machines went dead and so did payments through e
wallets.
The mighty cyclone Vardha in
one single gigantic sweep shattered the dreams of a Digital India. Government’s chest thumping of making India go
cashless seemed to come true in a most bizarre way…Cash once again ruled.
As I am writing this piece,
the Government has declared yet another holiday and more compensation for the
lost lives. But the questions that were raised on 1st December 2015, on November 9th 2016 and again on December 12th
2016 remain….
The questions remain,
because maybe we as a Nation, as a democracy, as law-abiding citizens, as individuals are only asking questions but not demanding ANSWERS.
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