Dear Pradhan Mantri Vajpayeeji,

Let me first congratulate you on completing five years as Prime Minister. In spite of the unceasing campaign of the terrorists in some parts of the country, this has been a period of much accomplishment. India has progressed on many fronts. It is now the world's fourth largest economy and a powerhouse in information and biotechnology. Even in manufacturing it has become a major player.

I commend you on the highway initiative and the plan to build underground train systems in several cities. I am much heartened by the steady progress of the Delhi metro project. The strengthening of the armed forces is another major achievement. We are in a better position to defend our borders and our freedoms than was the case five years ago.

Admittedly, there are spheres in which the government has not done well. But my objective is not to provide a balance sheet. I am sure you are well aware where your government has come up short.

I write this note to raise the question of freedom and development. To my mind, these are not measured by political arrangement or economic indicators alone. Freedom and development go hand in hand. A people are free if they have the capacity to identify problems and come up with solutions. Freedom and beauty are also related. Since you are a poet you would agree that one is happiest if able to experience beauty, which lies at the basis of the rasas of love, humour, heroism, wonder and serenity.

It seems to me that we haven't done so well in enlarging the circle of our freedoms (with its attendant obligations). I will illustrate this by means of two examples:

1. 1. The railway station is to a city what the living room is to a home. The only homeowner who would let his living room be filthy with an open toilet is one who is living in a dungeon or jail without the capacity to change the environment. Now consider the New Delhi Railway Station. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a blot on Delhi and India. Can't something be done to make it clean?

   Could we not ask the Railway Ministry to include sanitation on its property as one of its missions? If the trash must be picked up by hand, let that be done. If new machines need to be designed to do so automatically, let the process begin.

2. 2. The sight of cows and bulls sitting in the dividing space between opposite lanes of traffic on many Delhi streets is one of the more bizarre spectacles anywhere in the world. Isn't it cruelty to the cattle to let them be so dangerously perched on the verge between onrushing traffic? We don't honour animal life (if that is our intention) by letting stray cattle roam busy streets. It is not only a hazard, but a loud proclamation that we are not free enough to solve this minor problem.

I speak of only these two issues because they are symptomatic of a lot that is not going right. If we cannot make one railway station in India clean -- to become a model for other stations elsewhere in the country -- how can we identify and solve problems to send a spacecraft to moon, or defeat terrorists in Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir, or fight the next pandemic that sweeps across our land?

The transportation system in a city tells us something about the way systems are organized. Why can't the poor cattle be removed from the streets and put in a pound? I spoke to people in Delhi and they put the blame on Chaudhari Devi Lal, the deputy Prime Minister in the V. P. Singh government. But whatever Devi Lal did to encourage irresponsible dairy owners in the city, it happened almost 15 years ago. There are others who blame the administrative system that the British bequeathed us, but that took place over 55 years ago! Why doesn't the government have the ingenuity to draft laws or create administrative procedures to solve this problem?

These two problems are a part of the progressive uglification of Indian public spaces, buildings, and life. Their solution does not require new technology or investment. Just determination, and willingness to look around and see ourselves with fresh eyes.

Pradhan Mantriji, to go with the highway and the metro initiatives, could we not have a new initiative for beauty? Let each public organization know that their mission includes public sanitation and civic order. Let this become a part of a new push for effective government and education.

As I conclude, I must speak of another matter. In your recent speech in Srinagar, you said that you were ready to have talks with Pakistan on Kashmir. I say that as long as Musharraf leads Pakistan, we cannot do business with it. Musharraf is the author of the terror strategy of Pakistan. He has blood on his hands. Let's not violate the memory of the victims of the Nadimarg and other massacres. To make peace with a tyrant is to let ugliness into the heart of one's being.

Respectfully,
Subhash Kak