Shaken n stirred

We sang, “The future’s in the air, can feel it everywhere, it’s blowing with the winds of change.”

 One might say that could be Bihar’s theme of the moment, but after two weeks of being on the road, in the opposite direction of the Bihar Chief Minister’s ‘Chariot of Development’, I am beginning to wonder. Are we really getting excited about the window dressing, while most of the dirt is being hastily swept under the carpet?

True, I’ve been travelling on fairly smooth roads that actually lead somewhere for a change. Travel by road is no longer the nightmare it once was. There have been scores of populist programmes and schemes that have seen the light of day in recent times, but half-baked and hastily implemented schemes don’t hold water in the long run.

I’d like to believe that things are changing for the better, but I’m not so sure. The way the administration and vested interests work in tandem is amazing. I was in the Rohtas and Kaimur area recently, where illegal stone quarrying happens in broad daylight, and where the stone quarrying Mafia murdered an upright forest officer not many years ago. A week before the Chief Minister’s visit in his ‘Chariot of Development’, these illegal mines have been ‘shut down’ by the administration. This was achieved by clearing the area of the poor disposed daily labourers who are practically the slaves of the illegal quarry bosses, and telling the Mafia to put a hold on destroying the hills until the much touted ‘Nitish Chariot’ disappears into the distance. Neat job. The CM will see evil, hear no evil, and of course won’t speak about evil. Neat job.

Sigh. A gin and tonic. Single malt. Bloody Mary. Unlike James Bond’s famous Martini, I’m shaken. And Stirred. Take me to the magic of the moment on the glory night where the children of tomorrow dream away, in the wind of change.