Dil Se

Finally, it has rained and a scorching Delhi has had a 10° Celsius respite from the relentless heat it had been simmering under for more than 20 days. Last year, the onset of summers was a delight. It would get hot for a day or two and then thunder showers would get going. In fact, the talk this time round was how the summers never really arrived in the Capital last year. Summers being brittle are welcome. But, any sign of a weakening monsoon generally comes with a whole lot of issues. Not only do the ailments pile up (like conjunctivitis for example this season) at an individual level but also the dry heat leaves a lasting impact on the winters. This, of course, is true for urban centres. In the countryside, delay means huge financial issues and a crippling delay in cropping timings. This year, by agriculture standards, the rain has got delayed by over a fortnight. The corn crop in the Himachal Pradesh, for example, needs to be sown in mid-June but was awaiting the rains till n...

The national outrage and tears over four-year-old Mahi’s death due to a borewell fall in Gurgaon has since subsided. But, it will be worth our nation’s while to not bury itself in the depths of general disregard for human life. The very fact that Mahi is not the first but 20th such reported death is reason enough to introspect on where we, as a population, as a political force, as a social  mahadesh , are heading. Mahi died for a deadly cocktail of reasons that our befuddled democracy is too disregardful of, or should we say, doesn’t have the time to tackle. Besides the fact that Government has, over the years, turned a consistent blind eye to illegal digging for illegal tubewells over the length and breadth of the country, there is also this huge issue of the water tanker mafia supervising the proceedings. Water experts insist that illegal borewelling is a huge issue which no one is looking into even as the water mafia grows unhindered both in callosity and power. Governmen...