Hyderabad Halt

Hyderabad ,the sticken capital city of a critically paralyzed State, is waiting for the Delhi Durbar to infuse some life into it. The Peoples Strike has brought it to a virtual halt. It can no longer be called Andhra Pradesh without inviting the wrath of Telangana, Rayala Seema and what may be left of ‘Andhra’ Pradesh.

The locale of political activity shifts between Hyderabad and Delhi; but the heart of the State and hearts of the people are sticken and the head is contused. The witch-doctors are still watching and trying to ‘anlyze and understand’ the problem as though they are super-speciality doctors who’ll need more diagnostic inputs before taking a suitable and ‘final’ decision. By now any kind of a doctor ,with minimal knowledge of first aid should have rushed with his little bag of pills,potions, herbs and balms, for the care and the cure are necessary NOW, and are quite within the scope of abilities of anyones quackery. The paralysis is reversible as in cinema (notably Rang De Basanti in which Waheeda Rehman’s fingers twitch symbolically at the end of the movie). All that is needed is one simple mantra of understanding and solution which the Delhi apothecaries are unwilling to utter under the breath while tying the knot of a talisman.

The well-known author of some recent, significant Telugu works such as The Last Brahmin, Purana Vedam etc. was in Hyderabad for 3 days. Today when I had to help him buy a ticket back to his hometown, I tried Private bus operators, Railway Reservation Counters and finally bought a General Ticket and pushed him into a crowded bogie. The strike and the festival combined to conjure a World War II rickety bogey choked with contorted passengers hoping somehow to keep breathing till the destination came.

The pleasure of the three days of company and animated conversations and the disarming candour of the writer gove way to a sense of guilt that he was being put to so much trouble. What is the plight of the Singareni worker, the RTC driver, the MCH worker, the government clerk, the common patient at a government hospital, and the thousands of students who are hoping that the schools WILL reopen on the 10^th of October ? What about small-traders, street-vendors, daily labour? Does Delhi want to wait till a gas cylinder is sold for Rs. 2000/- and a litre of petrol for Rs. 150/-? Onoions at Rs. 60/- etc.?

The AP CM, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy promised Rice at Re.1/-Kg through the PDS for certain categories of Ration Card –holders. Is he joking? If the strike continues and goods transport is hit, will a rupee buy a few grains of rice?

Wake up Delhi, before everything spirals out of control. Act now.Manmohan ji, your composure is actually obscene now.