Monthly Archives: May 2009

Water – An Enemy

Yes, water can act as an enemy. Yesterday, I saw a tele-serial which dealt with the issue. It was a story of a doctor and her fight, set up on the backdrop of a temple. The doctor witnessed a peculiar trend of people being admitted to her hospital with similar symptoms at a particular point of the week. She found out that people visiting the nearby temple, known for its miracles, and consuming the ‘charanamrita‘ were the ones with the symptoms of the fatal disease. With more probing, she came to the conclusion that the charanamrita water, being polluted, was the main culprit. From here started her fight against superstition and stigma. She tried to convince the management of the temple as also the people, but without any success. She proposed to shut down the temple for a few days in order to clean the water. The management took offense to it. The local system was also of no help. She received a little help from the media initially, but found herself alone at the end. Eventually, she had to give up her life to prove herself correct.

The story, for me, is nothing new. Satyajit Ray, in his movie, Ganashatru made in 1989, has already dealt with the crisis. The phenomenon of people consuming polluted water in a temple and still considering it holy shows how glaring the problem is. In India, Ganges, the holy river has a large number of temples at its banks. As we visit these places of worship, we are alarmed to see the amount of waste floating in the water which people use. Religious fanaticism and superstition do not deter people from referring that water as ‘holy’ and which can cause miracles ! It is understandable in a country where a large segment of the people are illiterate.

The actual problem lies with the management, who take advantage of such superstition and fanaticism. India is a land of temples where many of them have been pronounced as tourist spots. We can actually witness a lot of foreigners thronging here and there along the threshold of the temples and the areas surrounding it. Being a tourist spot the temples draw a huge amount of money as donation. Hence, the management does not want to close a temple for even a single day. Here, comes to the forefront the perils of greed even when the place is on the verge of an epidemic. It is the media which can play an active role in unmasking the voracity of the management during such times. On the contrary, what we generally witness is the collusion of the media and the bureaucracy.

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To Be or Not To Be A Mother !

To become a mother is a dream that almost all women nourish and cherish. From the day of conceiving to the day of delivery to being a first time mother to nurturing a baby to a fully grown person, motherhood is an experience which gives a woman sense of fulfillment. Eastern culture of Western culture, the joys, sorrows and struggles of motherhood remain the same.

However, we also keep on hearing about incidences of abortions, or leaving a baby just after birth and even neglecting a child’s upbringing. There might be several reasons for these incidences, though they are unwarranted. Patriarchy, caste and religion and segregation of people due to them, play a significant role in many such occurrences. Sometimes some unavoidable circumstances also lead to termination of pregnancy, but we are not going to discuss them in this post.

This post is about my friend – a friend who wants to be a mother but is facing opposition for no apparent reasons. My friend married her boyfriend after courtship of nearly 8 years.  There were hiccups regarding the marriage, but their love for each other and their will power had the last laugh. It’s been two years now and they have understood the real meaning of ‘married life’. They never had problems with each other, but things were made difficult by the people surrounding them.  My friend, though somewhat unhappy with her life, found some happiness from the fact that she is going to be a mother. Here, again, she faced the opposition from none other than her in-laws. They are against her pregnancy, for no apparent reasons and even asked her to undergo MTP. This friend of mine, already facing health issues, spent a week or so crying and sobbing, not knowing what to do. Finally, everything was solved when her husband and brother-in-law intervened.

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Human Emotions and Actions – Confusing

Yes there has been days when I get really confused by the manner in which a person acts or reacts. A couple of days ago I came to the conclusion that even a simple game of Dumb C can evoke so many emotions.

A beginner of the game is utterly confused of how to enact what is given to her! She is also concerned about what others will say about her or her inability to enact her topic properly. This was making things difficult.  Adding to it was the presence of some over-confident people. They were able to properly enact their scenes. It was all right till then. And then they started to make fun of the new person playing.

It may be a playful friendly act, but the effect of it may be somewhat different. Maybe the new player will loose all confidence in him/herself, become all the more embarrassed. When we were kids our parents always taught us not to make fun of anyone’s inability or disability. People like me, sensitive and emotional, do take those words seriously and never resort to mockery or fun to belittle others. At times, mockery and fun with friends, within limits, is good. It actually deepens the friendship. But there are situations when such fun may hurt someone’s ego and confidence.

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A Democracy of Unsubstantial Votes

The General Election in India, in every sense of the term, is a game. It is a game of money and power along with politics. With uncertainties prevailing everywhere and with terrorists taking all measures to disrupt the peace and security of the country, this year the election was seen as a movement for drastic changes.

Every political party as well as the media was of the idea that, with the Mumbai attacks fresh in the mind, people in large number will participate in this years election. There was a mass outcry after the terror attacks on Mumbai. People in large numbers stepped outside of their secure lives at home and held the government responsible for the attacks. The news channels were fighting with each other over getting the maximum TRP’s by providing every possible detail, which were best avoided under such a situation. Celebrities were all over the places, putting forth their views and candlelight vigil became a random sight. So, the general election was thought to be the place where all these angry and disillusioned people will make use of their democratic right to give India a better future. The actual outcome showed a different picture. In Mumbai the voting percentage, surprisingly decreased by 3%. In the 2004 elections, the participation of the citizens of Mumbai was 47%. This year it was a mere 44%. On the whole, it was quite a dismal show throughout India after the first three rounds of voting.

Now my question lies, what happened to all the people who retorted the words “Enough is Enough”. Voting is your democratic right and is best when majority of the people exercise it. Whether you like politics or not, it is the base of any country. You can create a hullabaloo when a crisis situation occurs, but when you can do your share to stop such situations, you simply ignore it. Excuses galore for absenteeism in elections and one such is the weather and the heat wave. Here I want to put forth that my mother, who is at the wrong side of 60 with several health issues, was concerned how will she go out and vote in this extreme weather. I, being more concerned about her health, told her not to strain herself. In case of this extreme weather, it is better to avoid going out, at least at her age. But then what she told me can be an eye opener for a lot of people. For her it is more of a moral issue, when you have the right of voting why abstain from it? It’s only a matter of couple of hours of difficulties which afterwards gives you the pleasure of doing your bit for the country. How I wished the people across the length and breadth of the country shared similar feelings!

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