Winning Mantra

 Gleaming  into Chaos

What the city's inhabitants are allowed to do with the city?  A turbulent societal structure to attract world attention?

All persons who live in the city either permanently or in transit are citizens. 

We call Thiruvananthapuram as a city, and the people  who live here are citizens.  And our  citizens are privileged to wait at the Bus Stops, to drive their cars and bikes through the gutters and trenches, to throw away garbage indiscriminately at places of their own choice …. 

Remember, all the city’s inhabitants are not able to claim that it is their own city. Being the capital city, lot of people are migrated to the city from different parts of the State for employment. Those who  are able to find their livelihood are settled here as their second-home.  And recently workers from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Orissa, etc  are seen migrating in bulk to Thiruvananathapuram.  A lot of construction work is going in and around the city, as part of development. We are becoming a metro, trying to compete with Bangaluru or Mumbai, in all its chaos.   

Every city is a mere locality, which accommodates nomads, travelers, strangers, visitors etc. We also are not an exception.  As in the case of other cities, Thiruvnanthapuram  has failed  from detaining the illegal immigrants. Thanks (?) to our cultural heritage, which boasts ‘athidhi devo bhava!’. 

During 2002 World Social Forum had sponsored a ‘Seminar for the Human Right to the City.’  And in  early 2003,  their contentions were documented entitled World Charter for the Human Right to the City.  According to the 2003 document, cities represent much more than physical space distinguished by a higher density of living space.  We agree that Thiruvananthapuram is becoming much more than a physical space distinguished by the higher density of population.  We need more chaos, disorder, turmoil, and anarchy  … To make our city equivalent to any advanced cities in the world, let us  reduce our mental spaces.