Downsizing Mohenjo Daro

OCTOBER 1997 - It is a welcome sign that successive governments led by visionary bureaucrats have been successful in destroying Mohenjo Daro, that old city we hit upon by chance in 1922. Since 1950, when the excavations took place, we have quickly established and implemented policies which have ensured that the ruins will not survive more than a few years. In other words, if we try a little harder, we should be able to get rid of that troublesome old dump in no time at all.

Frankly the country doesn’t need Mohenjo Daro. A city which proves that proper drainage once existed here, has no place in our ideology which regards drainage as a Zionist plot aimed at destabilizing the country. Similarly, there are strong suspicions that the city was organized and well run, which is a crime that carries the maximum penalties these days and is in direct conflict with the agenda of all duly elected governments. Then, Mohenjo Daro sounds very weird and alien. It’s probably a secret site planted by our enemies of which number there are man. For another, even if we have Mohenjo Daro intact so to speak, what use can we put it to ? We can’t expect it to solve the Kashmir problem or integrate the provinces and neither can the old city provide housing to any impressive number of people. Quite rightly we don’t have much time or sympathy for old things and this city is far too old. It is very extremely inconveniently located somewhere in Sindh or Baluchistan and pretty hard to reach. There has been some irresponsible talk about the place having some tourism potential but then our potential has always been legendary. The rest of the world has tourism and we have potential so who needs Mohenjo Daro ? In any event, there is little point in dragging reluctant tourists to show them what is, in effect, a very old and boring city. Just as well that each government has tried very hard to obliterate the eyesore altogether. After almost four decades, we are at last safe and the city is fast on its way to oblivion. A footnote in old, forgotten text books. This task has not been easy and one hopes that the government will confer suitable awards on all those whose vision will help us get rid of this old fossil. After all since awards in these days of falling values are rather accessible (ask Dilip Kumar), surely the brilliant bureaucrats disguised as archaeologists, deserve the highest.

Understandably, the world has wondered how we have managed to destroy a city that had resisted all such attempts since the times when Egypt reigned supreme. When the first signs of salt penetrating the structures were apparent, our authorities quickly got to work. They built spurs along the Indus to keep the flood waters away from Mohenjo Daro and are still building them. This was a very clever move since it was pretty common knowledge that the site had not been flooded in two thousand years. The planners were brilliant. Since the last thing the old city needed was spurs, it was spurs that were built. As for removing the salt or maintaining the structures, quite rightly, no attention was paid since none was required. Next, the Authority to Save Mohenjo Daro (a red herring if ever there was one), cleverly dug dozens of tube wells around the old site. The seepage through the sub-soil had a knock out effect on the salt-eroded structures which started to crumble and disappear, amidst scenes of wild rejoicing and jubilation by the concerned departments. The government’s enlightened policy was paying off. Meanwhile, the saline water pumped up by the hard working tube wells rapidly evaporated to salt through a reaction too complex to explain here and this in turn came down like rain and finished off useless structures like the Stupa Mound and the Great Bath (what’s great about a bath, I ask you ?). As soon as the Authority had recovered from the revelries which followed the successful erosion of bricks, walls and floors, it quickly banned plantation of any kind around the city to ensure that the declining environmental atmosphere around the city would be maintained till the last wall was down. A stroke of genius for which the self effacing Authority takes no credit.

Sadly while archaeologists have praised us all over the world for the sterling performance we have put in to eradicate Mohenjo Daro, not everyone at home has been appreciative of the good work put in by the Authority or the many officials who have been inspired to achieve this noblest of tasks. Some dissenting and troublesome old timers like Dr Dani and other misguided elements have been critical of what has been going on. Mercifully, no one has given their bleating the slightest attention. In fact it has only spurred the dedicated and selfless officials to step up their efforts so that the site can be quickly cleared for a commercial plaza or other such popular establishment. So brilliant is this thinking that there are many who hope that all the decaying and ugly monuments that are somehow still surviving will soon be put where they belong- in the dust. Personally I think that this kind of thinking needs our fullest support. Perhaps the day is not far of when we can pull down the Shalimar Gardens and build an amusement park complete with dodgem cars for the pleasure of the people. It’s a dream but thank God we are headed in the right direction.