We are resilient by Force, not by Choice - A Wednesday.

Friday, December 12, 2008

WHY ARE WE ANGRY OVER AN ATTACK ON 5 STAR HOTELS, WHEN MOST OF US WON’T VISIT IT EVEN ONCE IN OUR LIVES?


This question now comes up everyday in my mind. Why do we care for anything rich and famous, why media is ever hungry to report on such happenings, when we don’t care about our own people even after knowing that people are starving, dying of diseases, and committing suicides in our own country?

Why do we care for camera flashes, diamond rings, expensive clothes and cars, when we don’t care about people living in Hell-like conditions just a couple of steps from our houses?

I hear voices from my childhood, ‘padh likhkar aage badhna hai, bada aadmi ban-na hai’, ‘netagiri me mat pado, ya to jail jaaoge ya ghaas chheeloge’, ‘netagiri kameeno aur bhrasht logon ka kaam hai na ki tumhara’. I now ask those voices ‘kya aaj jo ho raha hai uske zimmedar tum bhi nahi ho?’ Taking a bird’s eye view of our politics for past we can say that in three generations we have come to a point of total disintegration. The first generation, born before independence, could have relied on their leaders on a general basis or on an average. But the second generation should not have relied on them generally but specifically. What’s worse is that the tendency was passed on to our generation, when we need to question our leaders, watch their behavior constantly, logically evaluate their views and stand on various issues, we are sitting happily changing channels, erasing issues with each button press.

We are now building yet another excuse for our laziness, the excuse is ‘a person is killed or suffers simply due to his bad luck and nothing else. We are lucky to be alive and unhurt’. What we don’t realize is that this fatalistic approach on the surface gives us strength but like termites hollows us from inside, everything human inside us dies, we no longer feel the emotions and start believing that we are living in a jungle where each day is a battle for survival. What this thought reflects is complete failure of our society, as it can’t even give hope to someone.

Surprisingly the solution to it is very simple, as I have said before a couple of times. Devote a couple of hours daily to politics, not passive but active politics; it will not only help make people aware but also give you the satisfaction that you did not behave like Neroes of our country.. (‘jab Rome jal raha tha tab Nero baansuri baja raha tha’)