How much do we contribute?

It was a nonchalant discussion that heated up as the power failed at office the other day. Power failure, an AC chamber and a debate! Could it get any hotter than that? The topic of discussion: individual contributions of “us” outsiders to the city of our destiny, Bangalore.

For one, there is a hysterical passion inside me towards this city which has given me so much, figuratively and literally!

The chamber was a perfect halo of diversity. One from the capital, one from the economical capital, one from the land of Godhra, err.. Gandhi and myself a self proclaimed lover of this city! So that makes me a guy from Bangalore, right!

People who have been an agent in stuffs like debate would well agree that it may start taking opinions from the group as a whole but after sometime the onus of continuing it further lies on the shoulders of only two individuals.
As it happens in casual debates, the germ of the topic arose from somewhere which nobody in the group could fathom. But because we had started it, so it continued.

The topic – the contribution of outsiders to this city

This opened up a box of bees. The noise started buzzing frantically. Me pointing out that most of us coming from outside have been selfish enough in our contributions towards the city, which apparently is our karma bhoomi.
The guy from the capital popped first “ Arree yaar what do you talk about contribution? The whole point that I have been working here itself is a contribution to the city from my side.” A typical style from one of the parts of our country!

The guy from the financial capital asked me, “You tell me what has been your contribution to this city?” “You talk about feeling proud and contributing towards the city, can you elucidate something that you have contributed?” A very nice question!

Having belled, and afraid to be given a politician tag, blurted a few areas where I had utilized my physical energy and personal time. Ending the sentence with ‘ feel proud that there has been some contribution from my side towards the positive development of the city”.
“So even we are paying taxes? Are we not contributing towards the city?”, blurted the guy from the money capital of India.

“You may be, but that contribution is by default. Everyone who’s working here has to pay that,” I justified back. “Moreover the money that you say goes to all the litter we do around the streets. Throwing garbage, pissing around trees, spitting in public places, throwing soft drinks bottles wherever we want… whatever “professional tax” we say that we are contributing goes for cleaning all the literal rubbish we do in this city… Maybe that was not a valid point but the bottom line definitely hit somebody’s head.

“Who said I do all these here?” spoke the capital city guy. It must have hit him real hard.
“Nah, please do not take it subjectively but objectively. This might not be the case of us but the larger part of the influx does this. We are bloody selfish,” I remarked.

“Chal pagal… let me do some work”, said the guy from the financial capital and started
fidgeting with his mobile. In the meanwhile the guy from the land of the Gandhi quietly stepped out of the discussion. Now who’s left? An adopted Bangalorian and another from the heart of the Hindi heartland!

The topic had not yet got a final farewell when all of a sudden the debate of north and the south sprung out from somewhere. Casual debating at its best!

The north felt offended with the attitude of the south and the south decried the arrogance and narcissism of the north. Issues rose from both the sides. Of north being the bread bowl and with it south would have been in a soup, south being spoilt to a certain extent by the influx of the culturally spastic north…both the sides had our own point to defend.

That the recognition of this city is all because of the people who have come from the north to work and my justification that the state was better without people from outside…all formed the jamboree of our discussion.

The culture of wearing a shirt worth thousands apparently bringing the social in thing to the south (an apparent contribution of the north. And what a contribution it has been;) was shredded in this potboiler of a debate.

Power still seemed miles away. No body questioned me on that, at least!!

The debate went on and on. Voices started getting louder. The chamber belonged to the guy from the financial capital, so he played the good moderator and put water on the fire by suggesting that the debate would go till eternity.

But the question still remained unanswered “How much are we contributing towards the city? Is paying a default professional tax enough a contribution to the city?”

The debate did not get a fair conclusion with too many things coming in between. Maybe we are too selfish in our contributions or am I to jingoistic about this city?

Am a little confused on this?