THE SPECTRE OF COMPETITIVE STATUEISM - IF THE STATUES COULD SPEAK

I have seen Mahatma Gandhi in my dreams only twice. Once he was alighting from a train in my dream and hundreds of admirers were chanting "Mahatma Gandhiki Jay". The second time was many decades later, Bapu leading a march with some followers walking behind him. What made this dream special was the extraordinarily rapid pace of Gandhiji's walk. It was unbelievable, but has remained in my mind ever since. Dreams being the manifestation of subconscious thoughts I think on both the occasions I must have read something which triggered the dreams. Or I might have seen one of his many statues on the day of the dream.

I was born four and half years after the Mahatma fell to the bullets of a misguided person. I could not meet him, but I have seen his statue in hundreds of places all over the country, in cities, towns and villages, in school premises and in the compound of non-descript government offices, municipal bungalows, market places, bus stands and of course the Parliament. If we take a count, the Mahatma's statue will outnumber any other leader's in our country. It is as if this grateful nation is devoted to the exceptional human being and his ideals. Unfortunately, the spate of violence in the name of religion, mutual accusations of corruption by leaders, and indiscipline in public life, however, tell a different story. It is obvious that the innumerable statues of Mahatma have done nothing to sow the seeds of purity and nobility in the minds of our countrymen, let alone the leaders and opinion-makers.

I have been fascinated by statues, big and small, from my childhood. Big sky-scraping statues of Hanumanji or Shivji have instilled a sense of awe and devotion in my feeble heart and I have bowed before them in rightful religious fervour. These statutes invariably assume the status of a regular deity and devotees worship them with flowers and Prasad. However like all statues in the open they also are left to the vagaries of nature such as high temperature, biting cold and torrential rain. I often wonder, whether they feel lonely and homeless in desolate places when darkness descends and the devotees go home. But being Gods with supernatural powers of endurance, kindness and patience they probably forgive us for our humble attempt to create an aura of stupendous proportions and show them as vast and gigantic. Gods and goddesses, presiding over the vast empire of seven billion human beings on this planet must have learnt to live with our idiosyncrasies and when they speak, it is only in the voice of infinite kindness and sublime forgiveness.

But what about the statues of human beings? The Gandhis, Nehrus and Patels and thousands of great souls who have adorned the pages of our glorious history? If the statues could speak, they would for sure lament the loneliness of the winter nights, the severity of the copious rains, the threat of lightning and the pain of scorching sunshine. Imagine the Sardar Patel statue wth a height of 182 metres at a desolate stretch of land. If the statue could speak will it not express its fear of the dizzying height and the loneliness of the desolate nights? And the numerous statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Chacha Nehru, Shastriji, MGR, Tilak, Malaviya or Rajiv Gandhi? Won't they complain about the horrendous pouring of white poops of the birds on their heads and shoulders, the dogs urinating at the pedestals with disdainful non-chalance and the occasional drunk forgetting his way home and spending the night leaning on them? If statues had souls they would have been drenched by now with the sorrow of millions of misdeeds perpetrated on the country and its billion plus citizens.

And yet we keep building more statues! In fact there is a distinct game of competitive statueism in the air. We want to show to the world that despite our pockets of abysmal poverty we have the largest number of statues and the highest of them all. If Patel's statue is 182 metres, some other leader wants to build a statue of Lord Rama at 221 metres. Tomorrow some group may build a statue of Ganga Maiya even higher. And since sky has no limit, height also has no limit. But the hard reality is, higher the statue greater is the loneliness, desolation and the incredible wastefulness!

Hasn't the time come to ask ourselves, is this the best way of honouring the great leaders of the country or the religious deities? Is it the most judicious way of spending our precious resources? Why not build a hospital of the highest excellence in the name of Sardar Patel? With 5000 beds, fully equipped with latest medical equipments and manned by competent doctors! If twenty thousand patients and their relatives visit this hospital every day and find some relief they will remember Sardar Patel with more fondness than seeing his statue at a far off place as a tourist attraction.

Or a world class multi disciplinary university in honour of some other celebrity like Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan or Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam whose name itself evokes the highest respect? The twenty thousand students graduating from such an university every year will carry the message of greatness of these intellectual giants all over the world.

Or, better still why not spend these resources in building a hundred dams and name them after local luminaries? The lakhs of farmers benefitting out of the irrigation potential of the dams will remember these worthy sons and daughters of the nation with passion and gratitude. The Hydel electricity generated from these dams will illuminate millions of homes!

I am sure if the statues could speak they will gently nudge our leaders and tell them to treat the wealth of the nation with greater prudence and build schools, colleges, hospitals, primary health centres and dams and not waste our precious resources in multiplying more statues.

And I do wish the Gods appear in the dream of our leaders and say, Son, enough of your competitive statueism. We are happy in your existing temples. Don't build more temples, don't erect statues for us. Serve the poor and the needy, that will be service to us.