Tuesday 20 August 2013

Hemantha Kalam - 3 Partition & Procrastination

My native state of Andhra Pradesh, in the southern portion of India, was established, with a capital city - Hyderabad, in the same year I was born. The state is 102 days younger than me, so to say! :-)

Though blessed with a mix of cultural variety, forests, flora and fauna, and many heritage interests for tourists, the state of Andhra Pradesh remained to be enigmatic to many.

For long, till late N. T. Rama Rao established his rule with 'Self Respect' in the state, all Andhraites were referred to as Madrasis in the northern portion of India which was blissfully unaware or did not bother to know or identify the South Indians otherwise.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the larger states of the country, comprising of 23 districts with a long and enviable sea coast, off Bay of Bengal, on the East also called the Coromandel coast. The state is the formation of three broad regions of "Kosta Andhra" (Coastal Andhra) with 9 districts, the "Rayala Seema" (Area of Rayala - ruled by the most respected Sri Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagara empire) with 4 districts and the 'Telangana' (Place of evidence of Telugu - to say in free translation) with 10 districts.

The Telangana portion of Andhra Pradesh bordering the southern part of the Dandakaranya Forests, forms mostly of the Deccan Plateau which was under the rule of Nizam before being 'annexed' into India after the independence of the country. Ever since this portion was made part of Andhra Pradesh, there has been frequent bickering on its annexure. During the mid '70s there were agitations for a separate 'Telangana' as well as a separate 'Andhra' under the banners 'Jai Andhra' and 'Jai Telangana' which became quite violent and somehow quelled with a firm hand.

Every time this problem kept raising its head, the decision for separating the state was postponed, nay procrastinated. Now, the demand for a separate 'Telangana' has come to a head and it appears that the powers be felt the time as ripe (for whom really, is very evident - to the ruling party at the centre) for another partition.

And the Andhra side is now protesting as, much investment by all people in the state has been done in Hyderabad, the capital city which is now in the eye of the storm of the separation as Hyderabad is in the Telangana region.

Every day there are endless protests - some in serious and some in novel and hilarious forms - demanding for a 'United Districts of Andhra Pradesh' or 'Unified Andhra' ('Samaikyandhra' in Telugu, the language of the state).

Meantime, the Rayalaseema part is agitating with a motive of either a United Andhra Pradesh or if partition is inevitable, Rayalaseema also should be partitioned off as a separate state.

The governments both at the Centre and at the State are in a predicament that arose due to this long procrastination.

But my predicament is due to my own procrastination. 

Though Andhra Pradesh is my native state, ever since I was a toddler, I have domiciled in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, with occasional visits to Andhra Pradesh during vacations to visit friends and relatives over there. 

As I wished to learn more deeply about my native state, I had spent the best part of my age, energies and time and most part of my earnings on re-discovering Andhra Pradesh, especially the lesser known places. I, probably, am one of the very few who had single-handedly collected such a wealth of content supported by photographs shot by me (on film and by prints), books and other related paraphernalia.

Interested in making this knowledge available to others through a web-portal I had registered a website (have been paying the annual domain retaining fee too) and wished to launch the same on my 50th birthday - almost 8 years ago.

As I had spent all my earnings and savings on these exciting visits and photography, I could not do it immediately as I needed seed money. later I needed to continue working to have money. So the real predicament was when I had some money I did not have time and today when I am jobless and have time, I have no money.

Thus the effect of procrastination of my not launching the website in time, is looming large on my head. If I now launch the website it may be just a few months before I need to re-design it if the state is partitioned. If I procrastinate and wait for some more time till a decision on the state/s is taken, I may again not have so much time.

So what should be done? :-)

Has it been good that I waited all these years? Or is it time that I should pull my act together fast and pronto?

You tell me!


Krutagjnatalu, Nanri, Dhanyavaadagalu, Nanni, Dhanyavaad, Thanks, Dhonyabaad, Gracias, Grazie, Danke Schon, Obrigado, Shukraan, Shukriya, Aw-koon, Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai.

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy
Chennai, India

No comments:

Post a Comment