It was a bright, sunny day. The environment was filled with pomp, pleasantries and extravaganza. The area was decorated with colourful flyers, banners, balloons and buntings. The facade of the venue was dominantly studded with an inaugural plaque, shadowed under the mottoes of discipline, faith and unity, beautifully inscribed on wooden slabs erected on three shining iron rods.
For the last many days, the local managerial hierarchy, in collaboration with various vulnerable segments of the society, was endeavouring hard to make the show a success. The whole fleet of official vehicles, tanks full with petrol, was made an invisible entity for public, as it was put at the disposal of high-ups to use it as per their whims and wisdom for the overt and covert preparations of the event. The nurseries fall in the vicinity were rounded up and numerous pot-plants were grabbed in the light of aesthetic priorities enjoyed by the feminine elite of the city bosses. The colourful flyers fluttering on the poles were courtesy of some poor footpath clothsellers with the promise made by the official danda force to connive at their encroachment in future.
The city price committee also sponsored a variety of edible items while, in legal terms, a non-entity beverage factory has borne the burden of supplying soft drinks as gratis. It was generally understood as the big success of the big boss who had won the cooperation of even all the fat-belly, big moustaches and greasy-hair pehalwaans, few of them with golden rings in their broken ears, for the safe and secure inaugural ceremony of a public park for the city in the backdrop of the forthcoming elections.
As the time came closer, almost all the begums, except one who could not availed her turn at the beauty parlour of a five-star hotel, attired in their colourful costumes and precious trinkets were engaged in gossip to the extent the official status of their respective spouses allowed. In an other carpeted corner, a few others sat on easy chairs with a visible sense of superiority, as they happened to be the better halves of the bigshots of federal agencies. The youngest and prettiest of them all, too conscious of her charms and gait, ran an NGO in the domain of environment protection.
All of a sudden, an irritating noise from near the gate caught the attention of the gathering. It was known that a great divide was running for sometime back between the two rival groups with regard to the allocation of their respective share in the covert benefits linked with the public park project. It also marred the meeting of the committee constituted for the arrangements of the inaugural ceremony. A hefty, oily-haired pehalwaan with terribly sprawling moustaches shouted full-throated “zindabad” slogans as his group leader surfaced in the mob. The volatile initiative met with instant reciprocation of firecrackers from the adversaries. It was enough to ignite the physical encounter amongst the rival elements. The scene was filled with filthy abuses along with the exchange of bricks, stones and soft-drink bottles. Two wounded loyalists outrageously pulled out the steel iron rods carrying the wooden slabs inscribed with the mottoes of discipline, unity and faith, as their weapon to strike their adversaries.
As the cavalcade of the chief guest arrived, the ongoing shouting submerged into welcoming slogans. Except for a few, most of the guests rampaged towards his limousine. The fighting gangs along with their supporters were again engaged in pulling and pushing each other with thrust to get hold of forefront positions. The personal secretary whispered the chief guest that the whole commotion was a manifestation of his unparallel popularity among the workers and masses alike. He nodded smilingly and proudly waved both his arms in response. The iron rods were still hovering around, not with the mottos inscribed on the wooden slabs but the portraits of the chief guest this time.
The gusto, pomp and warmth of reception were enough to captivate the heart and mind of the chief guest. He categorically lauded the services of those holding his portraits and welcoming banners.
He said, “I appreciate your sense of dedication, discipline and unity. It also shows your faith in the present leadership.” Referring to the public park, he made an emotionally charged promise: “We will make the land greener than the green colour itself.”
The chief guest, as a true member of the ruling club, in his formal speech traditionally punctuated with “shall do” and “will do” type of promises further showed his resolution regarding extension of green-net all over the country.
THREE YEARS LATER: On charges of minting money out of the public park project, two clerks were made scapegoats and transferred to other cities as reprimand; the smart and charming young lady was in some remote island in the South-east Asian region as a delegate to an international moot on the role of NGOs in the domain of environment; the then chief guest, though not in power anymore, was making his fortune as an entrepreneur in a big business; the scribe of this report was last seen standing near a mound of garbage.
In the middle, the upper part of the inaugural plaque, completely rusty, was stealthily peeping out. The new city bosses, lamenting the state of growing pollution, had announced the relaunching of the public park project in the best interest of the poor public and for which preparations were in ‘full swing’.
