The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining

Post-Independence India was going through a turmoil in terms of hostile neighbours. Our first PM Pt. Nehru, back then, decided to go with the Panchsheel principle. Meaning 5 principles of peace, a peaceful co-existence with the neighbours. In the meantime, India found attacked by China in 1962. The sun was shining but the roof was not repaired. In the meantime if military capabilities were built, India would not have been defeated by Chinese forces. Hence, imperative to repair the roof while the sun is shining.

In sports this is reflected at the core. The champions are decided by their rigorous training. Winning 2 medals back to back at  Olympics by Neeraj Chopra in Javelin throw is testament to that. In the span of 4 years between the competition, he had to constantly strive for better. He kept pushing his limits. Because he believed in the philosophy that roof has to built when the sun is shining. You'll not enough time one's the sun sets.

But why to repair the roof? Why while sun shines, it is the best time? What are the consequences if one does not repair the roof? Here, roof has to be repaired to save one self from unforeseen situations. From external shocks, storms, rains, so that the home you live in does not get destroyed. And when the sun shines it is easy to see the minute details that could be easily missed if the roof is repaired during dark.

If one has an approach of a reactive mindset, then the roof repairing will be done in hastily. Only a temporary solution. Indian loan waivers falls in this category. World Bank commented that temporary relief measures are good but in the long run the ill has to be treated. Infrastructural foresight is needed to built- irrigation centric so that it becomes less monsoon dependent, Soil Health Cards for suitable cultivation of crops, mechanization of farming equipments, insurance focus to tackle farmers loss in time.

From the time memorial it is said that 'Sticth in time saves nine'. Take immediate action when required to avoid unnecessary bigger trouble in future. History is ofcourse replete with such examples. Battle of Tarain 1 (1191) fought between Prithviraj Chouhan and Muhammad Ghori. Chouhan won and left the Ghori alive underestimating his ability. Ghori in the next year 1192 Battle of Tarain- defeated Prithviraj Chouhan. Eventually preparing India for a long rule of around 400 years of Sultanate period. Here, clearly when the sun was shining Chouhan failed to repair the loopholes (roof) in his armour.

You are destined to repeat the same mistake if you do not learn from the mistake. Clearly in 18th century CE British forces won the two very important battle of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764). This lead the Mughal Empire king to become merely a rubber stamp for British. They underestimated the prowess of English forces. Kept giving them concessions in the form of farmans, opening up of factories and allowing fortification. Again preparing India for a harsh looting regime of Britain.

Even today's world has similar economical scenarios. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. Their all eggs in one basket- US treasury bills, costed them heavily after the treasury bill became less lucrative. Causing panic among investors- eventually withdrawal of money, causing bankruptcy within less than 3 days. They did not take a corrective step (repairing roof) while they were in good phase (sun shining).

Many conflicts surround the world today. One such is Russia-Ukraine conflict. Causing refugee crisis, human rights violation, people struggling for food and water. What would have happened if Ukraine was a nuclear state? Russia might not have invaded Ukraine. Nor even occupied Crimean peninsula a decade back. Nuclear strength acts as a deterrence to such violent acts. However, Ukraine decided to bask the sunlight from the hole in the roof instead of repairing it.

Not only country's should be ready from human disturbances but also from natural disasters. Fukushima Nuclear disaster 2011 in Japan was one such havoc. Earthquake induced high Richter scale tremors, disturbing the nuclear plant. Prior to this erstwhile Soviet Union had a Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Key learnings were not incorporated from such disaster. It is very true that the nature of humans to act is only when one's own house is on fire.

Natural disasters do not come with a warning. They are very sudden and act with a devastating scale. December 2004 saw an earthquake near Indonesia in Indian ocean. This lead to Tsunami with high amplitude waves. Destroying many parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India's east coast. Only then nation got awake. Trying to repair roofs, quite literally, it started to repair its legislation towards disasters. Disasters Management Act 2005 was thus born.

From one natural disaster to another man-made disasters- Climate change. Today the world is awake from long sleep towards rising carbon in the atmosphere. Historic Paris Agreement 2015 finally committed to keep the global temperature below 2 degree Celsius before turning of the century. However, the developed nations are major contributors to the rising carbon level. Be it in the past or present. But still it only the lip service which they provide when it comes to financing to tackle climate change and reaching net zero target. They want to enjoy sun but not repair the roof.

The world has already started to witness the dark consequences of climate change. The Kedarnath landslide in 2013 was an eye opener. The tourism sector rather than becoming eco friendly has become more economical in nature. Such fragile mountains now bears the heavy weight of lavish 5 star hotels, high tourists density. It is more than their carrying and replenishing capacity. India should learn (repair the roof) from the best international practices such as Japan- how to be practice sustainable tourism.

The father of the nation- Mahatma Gandhi was practicing this in Indian freedom struggle. All the movements from NCM, CDM to QIM all were very well planned. Only then they were executed. Well planned means the roof was timely repaired to not allow further damage to the house. Non Cooperation movement was at its peak (sun is shining) when he called-off the movement after Chauri Chaura incident. He knew that time was to repair the roof the roof, because from here on the peaceful passive resistance has become violent. He quickly made the requisite amendments.

It is often said that 'the more you sweat during the battle, less you bleed during the war'. The preparatory phase has to be strong. Be it the exam, be it the sports, or be it the battlefield. It was General Manickshaw's intelligence that he suggested India-Pakistan war to be fought in december 1971 instead of monsoon season to PM Indira Gandhi. Because during monsoon Indian army would have been in strategic disadvantage due to heavy rains. Eventually this brilliance liberated Bangladesh. But unfortunately they did not took strong democratic measures (repaired roof) leading to collapse of the government (roof collapsed) in August 2024.

(a MisFit)