Hello, what follows was written by my brother- Arjun. He promised to give me a short story, but ended up giving me this. But I shall still pester him until he gives me a short story...
At a time when the whole world is reeling under the combined effect of climate change, recession, starvation, malnutrition and terrorism, it seems quite amusing that so many people find the time to make mountains out of seemingly non-existent mole hills.
Just the other day, a front page article in a supplementary newspaper waxed on endlessly about the commercialization of the ongoing IPL. The author seemed to have a big problem with the use of certain phrases, like “DLF Maximum” and “a CITI moment of success”, by the commentators; this, while the little boy collecting newspapers from homes, or his friend who cleans the tables at restaurants, seem to have escaped the authors hawk-like vision. Of course, child labour is boring and passé.
When the largest democracy in the world wakes up to vote, can controversy be far behind? The dirty face of politics obviously left an impression on the “Aam Admi” in the run up to the elections, and he felt duty-bound to put pen to paper. Just a day or two before Gujarat went to the polls, the “Letters To The Editor” section of a popular newspaper was flooded with the words of anxious citizens of the nation baying for the blood of one Mr. Modi. He was accused of being a criminal and the mastermind of a genocide. They went on to denounce Mr. Modi’s participation in the elections and demanded his immediate withdrawal from the race. So much for “innocent until proven guilty”. Another section of the Indian Public seemed to have a problem with Sonia Gandhi, arguably the most powerful woman in India, being of Italian birth. In the process, unfortunately, the big issues of farmer suicides, low voter turnout in many constituencies including the National Capital, poverty, heat waves, power cuts and crop failures don’t seem to be on the agenda.
I guess it is human nature to find the tiniest of flaws in any given situation. Consider this example. Nowadays, it seems to be the ‘in thing’ to hate politicians. If one is a politician, then one is written off as an overweight, under-educated and corrupt individual. We must learn to appreciate before we deliver our criticism. The entire nation runs on the will power of these very same politicians. We are ready to jump down their throats at the slightest hint of a mistake, yet, how many of us thank them when a new power plant is installed, or a stretch of road is repaired. Forget politicians. How many of us thank the auto-driver as we alight from his vehicle?
In spring 2008, the world was stunned by the Josef Fritzl case. Leading news channels all over the world broadcast the story. Recently, a case of similar nature, involving a man, his daughter, his wife and a ‘tantric’, was unraveled in Namma Bengalooru, but the story disappeared after just a short article in a newspaper.
Each day, thousands of animals face a gruesome death in China as they are skinned alive for their fur, and all we worry about is how poorly India was portrayed in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. However much we may dislike it, majority of Indians live below the poverty line. India does have the largest and the most number of slums. Instead of whining, how many of us actually tried to change that statistic? How many of us pocket a chocolate wrapper instead of littering the road?
It’s time we woke up and asked ourselves what our problem really is.
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