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Not being a civil engineer, I just sat listening to the discussion on-line on Assam roads which I found to be adequate and appropiate, illuminating and stimulating, pragmatic and self-searching; lastly it was delightful. What remains for me to do is to offer profuse congratulations to the participants, Chandan, Mridul, Rajen, Kamal, Anjan, Umesh and the others whose names slip from my memory. Rajen presented an item of ankiya nat. Such skits ought be a regular feature in all the cultural gatherings of our fellows. Chandan said that road building was one of the lowest of technologies. It is all executionââââIn Indian Government there is no such requirement of accountability. It all boils down to enforcement accountability. If Dhwdor Ali pavement that fails right after the first monsoon, s..t! Kamal summed up: In the end it all filters down to the people of Assam, the very âjono xadharanâ who can create change. Accountability is there. In a party government you account to your party; you respond to your opposition with numbers. Jono xadharan, say, in order to achieve social and economic amelioration, you do not have to change your religion en masse because religions is a matter of the soul; a matter of faith and conviction. But jano xadharan hope to attain liberation at the behest of their leaders. So you need the Lenins, Maos, Fidel Castros, Lincolns, Roosevelts, if not Tolstoy or Gandhi. But life is not logic. Life is expediency. You need charismatic leaders. Will the jano xadaharan lisen to the NRIs or NRAs? I doubt. But your optimism need not give way to my pessimism. Chandan cutely observed Florida climatic and soil conditions are NOTHING like Assam. Anjan found the Cherrapunji roads fronting a Road Research Laboratory in shipshape state although I would say it is a horrible little town shrouded in mist and made worse by the incessant rains. Anjanâs letter to Umesh referred to the numerous PWD engineers as well as members of the IAS and technological experts who go abroad for higher studies at the cost of public money. They return home laden with gifts for family and friends, but they fail to make use of their expertise. Mridul lamented that there is no civil engineer amongst the netters, even if there is, his or her voice is not being heard. I would say that although obviously there is no civil engineer amongst us, Chandan and Anjan have remarkably filled in the gap. Anjan has prided in his fatherâs achievement in that none of the bridges and roads built after 1926 by Raj Mohan Nath had collapsed or been washed away. Yet a brilliant man like late Mr R M Nath was passed over by a junior colleague when the position of Chief Engineer & Secretary, PWD, fell vacant. He was not only a talented engineer but also a widely known historian. Chandan continued: âPeople are Bad, the system is Fineâ âWhat would be the AMENDED theory of ââ?â Canât wait to hear that. Here
is the reply. I gave it before on another occasion, so brevity being the soul of
wit, allow me to put it laconically just with one word : SELF-HELP.
Bhuban
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