Is it a mark of what we call "progressive societies" that the more civilized and progressive they become, the less they cater to the most basic needs of the human beings who are part of that society?
At the level of physical needs, each human being requires nourishment in terms of food, water and shelter, and also needs to be supported by a framework of close relationships in which he or she feels loved and needed.
The more progressive we become, the higher our sights are set. The more complicated our goals become. Today the authorities in charge of India's major commercial hub, Mumbai, are all set to get the city recognized as a world class centre. They want global recognition. We have malls here which almost give you the illusion of being in London or Paris. Builders everywhere are intent on putting up high rise apartments in every inch of spare space available. One of the most recent achievements - the Bandra Worli sea link - has been touted as India's longest such bridge and the politicians and politicians have been almost drowning in their own pride at having produced this engineering feat, never mind if work straggled along for over ten years and there are traffic pile ups on either side of the link.
Side by side with these glorious achievements we are faced with the perpetual threat of a water shortage, never knowing whether the the lakes will fill up sufficiently to meet our needs for the year, or when the next hundred year old water conduit in the city will burst and flood the streets with a commodity more precious than gold.
How come in all these years our most basic needs have been ignored in favor of global concepts whose materialization can only benefit a handful of the privileged members of Bombay's elitist society? We are choking here through lack of open spaces and greenery and yet each bit of open space left is being drooled over by some builder and developer who wants to put up yet another multi storey construction like a deluxe apartment block or yet another mall with hundreds of shops selling jewellery and designer clothing.
Not a thought spared for rainwater harvesting, or other means that would ease the water situation. No thought for converting open grounds into parks or playgrounds for children. No thoughts for decent pavements which would minimize the need for private or public transport and would encourage people to use their legs a bit more.
Not all tribal societies were idyllic and I don't want to start dwelling on some ancient past but at least we know that most tribes had their basics in place. They often lived according to principles which reflected their organic bonds with each other as described by Thom Hartmann. in his book "The last hours of ancient sunlight". In such communities, all its members were seen as belonging to a kind of extended family, a perspective which helped to build up strength, resilience and a sense of belonging among all. If a couple had a child with a handicap the village considered that it had a child with a handicap. If a family had an elderly ailing person to look after, it became the responsibility of the village to help look after the sick person. As Hartmann puts it, when members of a community begin to lose faith in the community, and start to believe that "it's there to serve some purpose that's not congruent with their needs (as in to sell them something, to control them, or exploit them somehow) then community breaks down."
Today this is reflected in the lack of respect with which we treat the environment as well as each other. We are not interested any more in ensuring that our streets are clean or that the basic amenities of life are available to all. Seeing this destructive attitude in almost every sphere, you can't help but wonder whether the whole aim of modern society is to send everything up in flames some day soon.
Makes you wonder doesn't it, what progress is about!
Uma
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