I have been reading the epic-sized novel 'A suitable boy' by Vikram Seth for months now. after owning it for a little over six years. it took great determination to start it, not because I did not want to read it - quite the opposite, but because I couldn't picture myself successfully finishing its 1350 or so pages. it is an amazing story though, that seems almost to take over and tell itself, creating images and emotions in the mind's eye, despite its long list of characters. its a good time too, to be reading this, as the world waits anxiously for Seth's sequel to it.

so I picked it up again today, anxious to get to more of the story, to work my way through this universe of people in newly independent India. and within minutes, after a slightly knit brow reading and wondering about the aftermath of the stampede and stabbings (by angry and trapped naga sadhus) in a suddenly stalled Pul Mela procession in the story, I put the heavy book down. there's this section in the story soon after the disaster, that describes the Indian condition and reaction (then and now) so well; I just had to pen it down:


"The newspapers, which had been consistently lauding the 'commendably high standard of the administrative arrangements' came down heavily on both the administration and the police. There were a great many explanations of what had happened. One theory was that a car which supported a float in the procession had overheated and stalled, and that this had started a chain reaction.

Another was that this car belonged not to a procession but to a VIP, and should never have been allowed on the Pul Mela sands in the first place, certainly not on the day of Jeth Purnima. The police, it was alleged, had no interest in pilgrims, only in high dignitaries. And high dignitaries had no interest in the people, only in the appurtenances of office. The Chief Minister had, it was true, made a moving statement to the press in response to the tragedy; but a banquet due to be held that same evening in Government House had not been cancelled. The Governor should at least have made up in discretion what he lacked in compassion.

A third said that the police should have cleared the path far ahead of the processions, and had failed to do so. Because of this lack of foresight the crowd at the bathing spots had been so dense that the sadhus had not been able to move forward. There had been bad coordination, poor communication, and under-staffing. The police had been manned by dictatorial but ineffectual junior officers in charge of groups of policemen from a large number of districts, a motley collection of men whom they did not know well and who were unresponsive to their orders. There had been less than a hundred constables and only two gazetted officers on duty on the bank, and only seven at the crucial juncture at the base of the ramp. The Superintendent of Police of the district had been nowhere in the vicinity of the Pul Mela at all.

A fourth account blamed the slippery condition of the ground after the previous night's storm for the large number of deaths, especially those that had taken place in the ditch on the edge of the ramp.

A fifth said that the administration should - when organizing the Mela in the first place - have used far more of the comparatively empty area on the northern shore of the Ganga for the various camps in order to relieve the predictably dangerous pressure on the southern shore.

A sixth blamed the nagas, and insisted that the criminally violent akharas should be disbanded forthwith or at any rate disallowed from all future Pul Melas.

A seventh blamed the 'faulty and haphazhard' training of the volunteers, whose loss of nerve and lack of experience precipitated the stampede.

An eighth blamed the national character.

Wherever the truth lay, if anywhere, everyone insisted on an Inquiry. The Brahmpur Chronicle demanded 'the appointment of a committee of experts chaired by a High Court Judge in order to investigate the causes of the ghastly tragedy and to prevent its recurrence'. The Advocates' Association and the District Bar Association criticized the government, in particular the Home Minister, and, in a strongly worded joint resolution, pronounced: 'Speed is of the essence. Let the axe fall where it will.'

A few days later it was announced in a Gazette Extraordinary that a Committee of Inquiry with broad terms of reference had been constituted, and that it had been requested to pursue its investigations with all due promptitude. "



Notice how the section is descriptive not only in its content, but also in its length - of just a page - describing accurately, the abrupt end of such post mortem discussion as it always happens in India, with a unanimous call for the capitalized 'Inquiry'. And the narrative of the story moves on, to other things.