Chalta Hai India... ALL IS WELL?

We groan and moan about it with much arm-wringing anguish, from the PM downwards, but truth is we do little about it.

Chalta hai!

Chaipani and baksheesh? Chalta hai.

An extra peg before the drive home? Chalta hai.

Give up smoking? Nyah, chalta hai.

Wear your helmet? Chuck it, chalta hai.

Toss an empty can anyplace? Chalta hai.

Harassing women not amiss? Sure, itna to chalta hai.

Wedding procession holding up traffic? Khub chalta hai.

Alongside, ironically, the nahi chalega murmurs…in speeches!!

Is this the way to go?

    Nowhere is the slip between the cup and the lip more evident than in our governance. Impatience over the chalta hai attitude has inspired heartfelt speeches, from the prime minister and his cabinet, asking India to snap out of its ‘chalta hai’ attitide. The finger’s pointed at them, though, in headlines that report the government’s chalta hai attitude. Just a few days ago, the Supreme Court said the Centre’s not serious — or is chalta hai — about black money, and all the scams only show it’s all chalta hai. Even Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR’s death in a copter crash was blamed on the ‘chalta hai’ attitude. 

    Irresponsibility about our own lives, our cities, our world, drives much of India’s chalta hai attitude and much as Indians deride themselves for it, we simply shake our heads about it and move on. Chalta hai. Too much hassle, man, to change attitudes. Which may be why the buzz over six sigma quality controls in corporate circles a decade ago was greeted with much mirth. There’s no putting down the average Indian — he’s confident chalta hai has more to do with being tolerant than being thoughtless. 

    Is there a point there? For indeed, looked at in another way, chalta hai does span the entire gamut from insensitivity to sensitivity. So it’s pointed out, hey look at the bigger India. It’s saying chalta hai to inter-caste marriage, to romancing in public, to flunking that engineering exam, to not following the beaten track. Is chalta hai also about expanding the bandwidth of tolerance? Is new India talking about a different chalta hai to old India? Nahi chalega to callousness, but tolerant of different values? Of individual freedom, and choice and merit.

Undoubtedly chalta hai has caused pain, but it has also, perhaps, allowed a whole lot of space for differences to survive.

TOI, 8 feb