Dear Prime Minister,
Sceptics might say that writing to you is a waste of time, but I beg to differ.
You are known to be a PM who reaches out to the world via social media - hey, you even sent me a personal Twitter message, which was pretty thrilling. (And thank you very much, by the way).
Recently you have asked us all to submit lovely photos of India for your latest "Incredible India" campaign. I forget the exact words of your Tweet, but it's along the lines of if I share my photo with you, you will then share it with the world.. That's also a pretty thrilling concept.
So yes, you are clearly a man who knows the reach of social media and the importance of the visual image, and it is in this spirit that I am writing to you.
You see, Sir, I go for a run every morning in Lutyens Delhi, the centre-piece of my run being - inevitably - India Gate to Rashtrapti Bhavan. However jaded one might be by life, that vista down Rajpath at dawn is sublime enough to quicken every heart. To tell the truth, I sometimes used to tear up in the early days, so fabulous was the view and the adrenalin rush of sprinting down such an impressive avenue.
Over the last week, Rajpath has been slowly and inexorably taken over by preparations for your big Yoga Day on the 21st. One by one the roads were closed off, first to drivers and now, sadly, to us pedestrians. The many policemen and soldiers on duty are charming and unfailingly polite, but little by little the area is being sealed off.
The preparations do look pretty impressive. A vaulted kind of tent-y contraption has gone up at the Rashtrapati Bhavan end, which I imagine will be for you, and there are fancy looking smaller tents close by on the lawns. Footbridges over the water ways, OB vans, loads of bomb disposal dogs with their handlers sweeping the area morning after morning.
I'm sure it will all look absolutely splendid on the day. Large screens were going up the other morning, so presumably the whole visual treat is going to be broadcast to India and the world.
Incredible India indeed.
But, please might I be so bold as to offer you one small piece of well-meant advice?
Mr. Prime Minister, I strongly advise you to tell the camera-walhahs not to focus too closely on India Gate, despite it being the obvious backdrop to all this activity, because right behind India Gate, not a stone's throw from our country's beautiful war memorial, there are mounds of stinking rubbish lying, strewn all over the patchy grass. In fact, if the truth be told, most of the arterial roads leading to India Gate are strewn with rubbish, day after day after day, but that huge dump on the lawn is one big smelly eyesore, and I would hate a pesky camera to catch it on film, and ruin the International Yoga Day image.
Of course what would be super brilliant would be if you could get all the garbage removed. For ever. For Yoga Day, obviously, but for ever afterwards would be marvellous.
Failing that (and, boy, do you have your work cut out, Sir, with your Swacch Bharat campaign) so yes, failing the permanent removal of the ugly mounds of rubbish from such a hallowed part of our country...can you just ensure that it doesn't spoil the imagery on Sunday?
It would really be too tragic if all that work, putting up tents, and setting up screens and suchlike, came to naught because of mounds of garbage, now, wouldn't it?
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Christine Pemberton is a writer-blogger living in Delhi.
