(This is an article I had once written to submit for a newspaper competition. I didn't hear from them, but have tried to publicize this: my starting line to my writing endeavors! This will also be listed on my blogger and wordpress sites.)
News in India is something that doesn't quite amaze the natives of the country. You get to see and read quite an interesting mix of happenings around the country, that you are not
overly amazed at the specific incidents that occur in other lands. I mean we, in India, got it all covered! No surprises here! You want a ethnic conflict, check! People being subjugated and ill-treated - page 4 of the daily newspaper. People with blinkers and horse-view opinions about nothing of international relevance - the press has a correspondent that travels along the countrysides talking to people who have no idea of what progress means and yet want to fool themselves into thinking that they have the solutions to elevating the country to superpower status. The latest development is that you get to find those beanies in the metro cities driving Pajeros and X5's, mingling with the superclass (a term i have borrowed from Paulo Coelho's book "The Winner Stands Alone"), getting snapped at movie premieres and book releases which we are sure neither the author knows why the beanie was invited, not does the beanie know (heck.. he wouldn't even comprehend the first line of the page, let alone the whole book.. if he gets to it) and getting invited to election campaign to "address" the public in making the right choice - Yeah, we have them in abundance. Political scandals..? mud-slinging..? Politicians putting their rivals down, and portraying themselves as the next best things after the Buddha..? We have 'em all! All you have to do is ask and you get a tub full of organic mulch that you can lap it all up when you don't have anything else to gossip about with your neighbor.
After that introduction into our news-making stories, the reason that this article has placed the spotlight on the political cage-match currently raging the Indian prime time airwaves is mainly because of the impending elections and in particular one outrageously publicized incident in the southern part of the country. An incident that is resultant of the situation in another country, that is making it a campaign directive for electing the government in an Indian state.
As many people are aware, our neighboring country - a tiny land mass south of the coast is having internal problems with their majority and minority populations. We also know that the problems are being settled with guns, tanks, and a whole other lot of big destructive objects, by both sides. So technically, it's a war. The kind of war that has been seen in Kosovo, in Bosnia, in Herzegovina, and to an extreme limit, in Rwanda. The whole international scene is focussed on it and all that jazz - as always. "Important" people mulling over the situation and offering their opinions and how it should be handled and how it should not, in short pushing their two-cents in for a situation that they do not have any power to change. But hey, whats the harm in having an opinion in today's world? We all know that we can not back up what we say, plus we're not losing money! That being said and getting back to the heart of the issue, note that this is happening in another country. A country with its own population, religion, tradition, culture, democratic values, constitution, legal system et al.
Assume that this narrative is supported by graphics from Google Maps, then it's time to zoom out and nudge the focus a little up north and into the Indian mainland. Headlines: "Chief Minister begins an indefinite fast to end the plight of displaced minorities." Wow, the CM of a state! an Indian state! and imagine his plight.. a man well into his final yards in the race of life. The newspapers capture him lying on a bed, with a sheet covering him, on the beach, two air-coolers to keep the heat away, members of the press reporting live, taking millions of snaps to capture the right frame of the emotional trauma that the poor man must be going through - at least at some point in the day! A shamiana covering the little group of people sitting around him trying to look concerned about the "martyr's" health, but its more like they want to be in the swing area of the air-coolers, people trying to look important holding Nokia N95's and Blackberry's, and apparently its left for us to assume that they are emotionally blackmailing the advancing army to excercise restraint or the old man goes kaput! Probably if we were closer we would have heard them placing order for lunch from some home delivery bistro. Well, we'll never know! But, the heart of the matter is that it's a sacrifice for the greater good of people. Oh yeah, with the kind of publicity that this gimmick has garnered, we will have to look back into the past and decide for ourselves pretty obviously which is a scam and which is a sacrifice.
If we had to rewind the film reel by approximately 60 years and place it somewhere around the vicinity of the 1940's, a period of real turmoil - worldwide, we will come across quite a few names of great relevance who changed the course of history and determined the life we lead today. One name would stand out and in contention for global news-space with the rest of the world leaders of the day. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
This gentleman was the one who pioneered and made the world take a stand and notice the injustice to, and struggles of the common Indian. Note that I didn't say Gujrati, Sindhi, Tamil, Bengali or Punjabi. He stood for Indians. A frail man, who ate the simplest of meals, wore the simplest of clothes, mingled with the commonest of people like they were his neighbors, who actually spun yarn on his spinning wheel and inspired a whole nation to take up to it and discard the "imported" fabrics. His fast unto deaths were symbolic and true to the essence. He fasted in jail cells, on the streets, with out even the shade of an umbrella most of the time, sitting quietly in protest of what was happening INSIDE the country and how it affected the people. His efforts were directed to the benefit of the people. Now, that was a fast!
If we had to compare the scene in the '40s and the one witnessed in the past few months, well.. do they even warrant a comparison? Nevertheless, I wish to point out that Mr. Chief-Minister-who-took-the-fast has not reached a saturation point in the affairs of his state that would warrant him to be concerned about the internal affairs of a neighboring country. The citizens of the state are reeling from frequent power cuts, exorbitant rates of retail goods, lack of business and trade due to recession, outbreak of diseases, poverty, unemployment, ethnic disputes and more to think about. In ages of the past, if a king were to involve himself in the affairs or battle of an ally, they would first settle the proceedings of their own country before venturing to involve in another conflict, diplomatic rhetoric or declarations of war. Does he think that a country would be bothered if a politician of another country died in protest of the actions of the government? heck, a lot of people die - so what?
Gimmicks like this leave a sour note in the spread. Makes you think that the world has come to this, that we are more bothered about other people's backyards without even weeding out our own. If you are so determined to do something about the neighboring yard, make sure you have the gall to go there yourself and weed it, rather than sit here and lament on the plight of the plants that are not even in your own territory. Look at our neighbors in the Northwest for inspiration! They have mastered the routine :-)
News in India is something that doesn't quite amaze the natives of the country. You get to see and read quite an interesting mix of happenings around the country, that you are not
overly amazed at the specific incidents that occur in other lands. I mean we, in India, got it all covered! No surprises here! You want a ethnic conflict, check! People being subjugated and ill-treated - page 4 of the daily newspaper. People with blinkers and horse-view opinions about nothing of international relevance - the press has a correspondent that travels along the countrysides talking to people who have no idea of what progress means and yet want to fool themselves into thinking that they have the solutions to elevating the country to superpower status. The latest development is that you get to find those beanies in the metro cities driving Pajeros and X5's, mingling with the superclass (a term i have borrowed from Paulo Coelho's book "The Winner Stands Alone"), getting snapped at movie premieres and book releases which we are sure neither the author knows why the beanie was invited, not does the beanie know (heck.. he wouldn't even comprehend the first line of the page, let alone the whole book.. if he gets to it) and getting invited to election campaign to "address" the public in making the right choice - Yeah, we have them in abundance. Political scandals..? mud-slinging..? Politicians putting their rivals down, and portraying themselves as the next best things after the Buddha..? We have 'em all! All you have to do is ask and you get a tub full of organic mulch that you can lap it all up when you don't have anything else to gossip about with your neighbor.
After that introduction into our news-making stories, the reason that this article has placed the spotlight on the political cage-match currently raging the Indian prime time airwaves is mainly because of the impending elections and in particular one outrageously publicized incident in the southern part of the country. An incident that is resultant of the situation in another country, that is making it a campaign directive for electing the government in an Indian state.
As many people are aware, our neighboring country - a tiny land mass south of the coast is having internal problems with their majority and minority populations. We also know that the problems are being settled with guns, tanks, and a whole other lot of big destructive objects, by both sides. So technically, it's a war. The kind of war that has been seen in Kosovo, in Bosnia, in Herzegovina, and to an extreme limit, in Rwanda. The whole international scene is focussed on it and all that jazz - as always. "Important" people mulling over the situation and offering their opinions and how it should be handled and how it should not, in short pushing their two-cents in for a situation that they do not have any power to change. But hey, whats the harm in having an opinion in today's world? We all know that we can not back up what we say, plus we're not losing money! That being said and getting back to the heart of the issue, note that this is happening in another country. A country with its own population, religion, tradition, culture, democratic values, constitution, legal system et al.
Assume that this narrative is supported by graphics from Google Maps, then it's time to zoom out and nudge the focus a little up north and into the Indian mainland. Headlines: "Chief Minister begins an indefinite fast to end the plight of displaced minorities." Wow, the CM of a state! an Indian state! and imagine his plight.. a man well into his final yards in the race of life. The newspapers capture him lying on a bed, with a sheet covering him, on the beach, two air-coolers to keep the heat away, members of the press reporting live, taking millions of snaps to capture the right frame of the emotional trauma that the poor man must be going through - at least at some point in the day! A shamiana covering the little group of people sitting around him trying to look concerned about the "martyr's" health, but its more like they want to be in the swing area of the air-coolers, people trying to look important holding Nokia N95's and Blackberry's, and apparently its left for us to assume that they are emotionally blackmailing the advancing army to excercise restraint or the old man goes kaput! Probably if we were closer we would have heard them placing order for lunch from some home delivery bistro. Well, we'll never know! But, the heart of the matter is that it's a sacrifice for the greater good of people. Oh yeah, with the kind of publicity that this gimmick has garnered, we will have to look back into the past and decide for ourselves pretty obviously which is a scam and which is a sacrifice.
If we had to rewind the film reel by approximately 60 years and place it somewhere around the vicinity of the 1940's, a period of real turmoil - worldwide, we will come across quite a few names of great relevance who changed the course of history and determined the life we lead today. One name would stand out and in contention for global news-space with the rest of the world leaders of the day. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
This gentleman was the one who pioneered and made the world take a stand and notice the injustice to, and struggles of the common Indian. Note that I didn't say Gujrati, Sindhi, Tamil, Bengali or Punjabi. He stood for Indians. A frail man, who ate the simplest of meals, wore the simplest of clothes, mingled with the commonest of people like they were his neighbors, who actually spun yarn on his spinning wheel and inspired a whole nation to take up to it and discard the "imported" fabrics. His fast unto deaths were symbolic and true to the essence. He fasted in jail cells, on the streets, with out even the shade of an umbrella most of the time, sitting quietly in protest of what was happening INSIDE the country and how it affected the people. His efforts were directed to the benefit of the people. Now, that was a fast!
If we had to compare the scene in the '40s and the one witnessed in the past few months, well.. do they even warrant a comparison? Nevertheless, I wish to point out that Mr. Chief-Minister-who-took-the-fast has not reached a saturation point in the affairs of his state that would warrant him to be concerned about the internal affairs of a neighboring country. The citizens of the state are reeling from frequent power cuts, exorbitant rates of retail goods, lack of business and trade due to recession, outbreak of diseases, poverty, unemployment, ethnic disputes and more to think about. In ages of the past, if a king were to involve himself in the affairs or battle of an ally, they would first settle the proceedings of their own country before venturing to involve in another conflict, diplomatic rhetoric or declarations of war. Does he think that a country would be bothered if a politician of another country died in protest of the actions of the government? heck, a lot of people die - so what?
Gimmicks like this leave a sour note in the spread. Makes you think that the world has come to this, that we are more bothered about other people's backyards without even weeding out our own. If you are so determined to do something about the neighboring yard, make sure you have the gall to go there yourself and weed it, rather than sit here and lament on the plight of the plants that are not even in your own territory. Look at our neighbors in the Northwest for inspiration! They have mastered the routine :-)
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