A thousand years in the making!

Raman Kannan
It took almost 1500 years to destroy the town planning that resulted in
this quaint village, known as Saturvedhi in the past, and currently known
as Uttiramerur. Uttiramerur is a growing community as evidenced by
population growth [1], from 21568 in 1991 to 25194 in 2011 [1].
As seen here, Uttiramerur is located near Kancheepuram, a
temple town in TamilNadu. The Uttiramerur lakes, shown
in this graph [6], are imposing.
Village Governance since 750 AD
Uttiramerur, township governance and planning are world
reknown due to the world famous inscriptions here on early
democracy predating Magna Carta [2]. It is a planned
settlement within a rectangular grid with streets criss-
crossing at right angles as shown here in google maps [3].
According to the TheHindu article [2], the town even had a
Tank Supervisory committee. This rich tradition and the
water tanks they nurtured a 1000 years before lasted till
about 1960-70s. Then the ravenous and mindless corrupt
mentality took India by a storm. Public property which did not belong to any particular individual were
the first to be exploited, neglected and eventually lost.
It is still very vivid in my mind how I learned swimming in these tanks. There were as many as 13 [4]
tanks in this community, listed below dimensions are approximate.
1)WATER TANK near temple 100mt*200mt
2)THAMARI KULAM back side of water tank 100mt*140 mtrs
3)PILLAYAR KULAM near south side endathur road 100mts*150mts
4)MATHARIAMMANKULAM near east side on kanchipuram road opp to vetenari hospital
5) MUNUKANUU VAIKAL NEAR ONE PILIYAR KULAM 100mts*80 mts
6)THICKAKULAM ON NORTH SIDE 100mts*100mts
7) Ayanar Kuttai near our street 100mts*80mts
8) PERUMAL KOIL KULAM 80mts*60mts
9)SUBRAMANIYASWAMY KOIL KULAM 80mts*80mts
10)NANGARI KULAM NEAR WEST side of our village 120mts*100mts
11)Nangarikulam kutti adj side of nangarikulam 40mts *60mts
12)Sudukadu kuttai adj our sudakadu (buriyal ground)
13)AP CHADARAM KULAM 140mts *120mts
The genius of this planning is in the simple and elegant properties of liquid. Liquids find level. If
vertical columns are connected and we pour any liquid in any column, the liquid will rise upto
the same level in all the vertical columns. This is a basic property of all liquids. As a direct
consequence, tanks and ponds collected water and the wells in and around these tanks got water to
the same level, as neighboring wells are connected through a porus earth. If there was water in the
lank, there was water in the wells, which then permitted greenery in and around residence. Thus, lakes
and water supported an entire eco-system. We must marvel at the foresight those ancestoral
communities who saw and maintained a ready supply of water in an otherwise barren land. There are
no rivers near by and the only source of water for these communities, were these tanks and ponds,
which made a big difference.
How did this come to be contributing factors
Corruption at all the levels, lack of knowledge and lack of appreciation for community water
resources, are in my opinion the primary cause. Just as frogs get cooked unaware in slowly
warmed pots, people benefitting from these resources did not immediately see the multi-year
consequence of the exploitation, neglect and improper upkeep. When money is allocated, corrupt
practicians and a systemic insatiable greed for money, siphoned of the money to personal gain rather
than much needed maintenance.
Risk of corrupt practices has always existed in human societies. In this town that risk was managed by
good and transparent governance, even during the 700 AD. However, since 1960, the successive
regimes that governed this state were crooks and looters and there was no governance. In the name of
governance, there was legalized looting, plundering and personal enrichment.
Social apathy and inaction is another factor, where the well meaning few always left the
tough task of demanding correction to someone other than themselves. Given the state of these
public utilities, it is evident that no one cared or spared any personal time to a common cause.
In an indirect way population explosion, urbanization all over India has created an environment where
it is no longer viable to live in rural communities, which we saw highlighted in the course. Many
people left these settlements seeking better economic returns in the immediate. If we classified the
people in these areas into the following orthogonal groups: deserters like me who left, corrupt who
mindlessly exploit and destroy any resource, the industrious who live in earnest and those who suffer
chronic apathy, we can see the long-term effect of adverse selection here.. only the corrupt and the
apathy stayed behind. The earnest left for the urban communities. Deserters, dont exist. Besides, we do
not know, what they would have become, had they not deserted! Corrupt, earnest or the apathy?. Cant
tell. I am glad they deserted. Indians outside India appear to be better contributors.
Neglect and apathy is rampant in Indian societies. It is not isolated to water resources in a tiny remote
village. Most Indian communities are not well kept. Uncollected Garbage, neglected resources is
everywhere. There are sanitation workers, who do not work. There are supervisors who do not ensure
work is done. In the North, the great fresh water river Yamuna is a 800 km river of endless dry sand.
Mindless and uncontrolled vehicular traffic in garhwal region
(http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/uttaranchal/districts/garhwal.htm) is depressing. River Palar and
River Cheyyar near Uttiramerur is also dry as a bone. These are not easily replaced or built utilities. A
sea change in attitude and understanding of what it means to live as a society is required.
India must take risk, engaging in transformative and gainful projects, such as the Indian River System,
connecting the flooded perennial snow-melt fed rivers in the North with the perennially dry monsoon
fed rivers elsewhere. For common good, some sacrifices have to be made. Most importantly, such
multi-decade projects have to be run corruption free, to succeed.
The course highlighted social net programs such as NREGA [7]. Such programs in combination with
NREGA can bring about transformative changes to all people living in India.
Please allow me to end my essay calling attention to a new movement in India called TheUglyIndian.
Please visit http://theuglyindian.com/ for a refreshing account of their mission. Social change is
happening in India, now. It is very encouraging these young people who stand to suffer the most
damage are taking this into hand, and doing something beyond writing essays with colorful imagery!,
consistent with a Life of Purposeful Action. It would be an interesting exercise for Indians to dust off
their ancient text Gita [8] and understand action, inaction and in particular, the cost of inaction.
References
[1] http://www.citypopulation.de/India-TamilNadu.html
[2] http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2003/10/10/stories/2003101001421200.htm
[3] http://www.onefivenine.com/map.dont?method=loadVillagePhotos
[4] Private conversations with elders from the village, Mr. Ranganathan Venkatachariar, B.E.
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttiramerur
[6] http://www.onefivenine.com/india/villages/Kanchipuram/Uttiramerur/Uttiramerur
[7] http://nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita