Where are we heading.....
With dusk on 03 May 2006, three families were left weeping, with happiness far away from them at least for some time in the near future, the day that proved to be the last one for 3 humans. They were humans with names Pramod Mahajan, Viren Shah and Rafiq Vohra. I think it’s useless to introduce Pramod Mahajan(a known politician in India), but not many would know who Viren and Rafiq were. Rafiq, a resident of Vadodara was a contractor by profession while Viren living on the other side of the same city was a 25 year old who owned a provision store in Vadodara. With no fault of their own, apart from one being a hindu and other being a muslim, were killed. While Pramod was a victim of sibling rivalry, these two innocents were a victim of communal rivalry, which broke out on 01 May after the demolition of a dargah. For some the dargah is a place of worship, for some it's demolition is a reason for agitation but, for some it proved to be a matter of life and death. Reasons may have been any but it leaves behind three families in grief. With Pramod's brother Pravin already in police custody and admiting his crime, all the three families would be hoping justice from the slow paced judicial system of the country.
This comes in the same week when 32 humans were killed in Jammu and Kashmir. These were again 32 innocents who were gunned down by people who wanted to show their power, which I fail to understand to whom. I fail to understand where humanity is. Where one human is ready to kill another for no reason or reason which humanity has no relation with. Killing others for money, power, piece of land, in the name of religion, to extend political boundaries is not a big deal anymore.
This reminds me one a very interesting email which I once received. Excerpts from the email are as follows
"My sincere request is to vote for Karunya so that he can become the Indian Idol. He is competing with Sandeep in the final.
The advantages of him are :
1. His excellent voice.
2. He is from Andhra Pradesh.
The disadvantages of him are:
1. Sandeep is from North
2. Since, many people from North watch the program and they will give vote on the favour of Sandeep.
I would like to share one more thing as the situation arised now. A couple of months back, Hemchander from Hyderabad got into Saregamapa Semi-finals and had to quit from that stage only because he is from South(A.P). He also has excellent voice, and all the judges were in favor of him. Only because of votes he has lost it."
Here we are, drawing lines between north and south India and for what, a stupid reality T.V. show. My naive friend did not realize that this act of his may give new ideas to people who want to divide this country further. Is it another criterion after religion, land and river water?
This brings me back to the very question with which I started writing this blog. Where are we heading to? What do we have in mind to achieve in this small life which we have got? Should I be frightened from my near and dear ones, or should I start avoiding places where the municipal corporation is carrying out demolitions, or I being a north Indian should not go to south India. Can we still say that we are proud to be an Indian or even proud to be a human being? If not can we change some things so that we are again proud to be and Indian and human beings? The questions in mind are a plenty and the answers are blurred. Being the young blood of this country only we can answer these questions. It only requires a certain amount of introspection on our part.
I dedicate this blog to the three deceased. May their souls rest in peace and god bless their families and give them the courage to fight the hardships of life.
My whole purpose of writing this was to create some thoughts in your mind. If I was able to do it , I would consider this attempt of mine as successful. I would like if you would share your thoughts with me and everyone else reading this blog. If you liked it then please share it with your friends because I want to reach out to as many people as possible.
This comes in the same week when 32 humans were killed in Jammu and Kashmir. These were again 32 innocents who were gunned down by people who wanted to show their power, which I fail to understand to whom. I fail to understand where humanity is. Where one human is ready to kill another for no reason or reason which humanity has no relation with. Killing others for money, power, piece of land, in the name of religion, to extend political boundaries is not a big deal anymore.
This reminds me one a very interesting email which I once received. Excerpts from the email are as follows
"My sincere request is to vote for Karunya so that he can become the Indian Idol. He is competing with Sandeep in the final.
The advantages of him are :
1. His excellent voice.
2. He is from Andhra Pradesh.
The disadvantages of him are:
1. Sandeep is from North
2. Since, many people from North watch the program and they will give vote on the favour of Sandeep.
I would like to share one more thing as the situation arised now. A couple of months back, Hemchander from Hyderabad got into Saregamapa Semi-finals and had to quit from that stage only because he is from South(A.P). He also has excellent voice, and all the judges were in favor of him. Only because of votes he has lost it."
Here we are, drawing lines between north and south India and for what, a stupid reality T.V. show. My naive friend did not realize that this act of his may give new ideas to people who want to divide this country further. Is it another criterion after religion, land and river water?
This brings me back to the very question with which I started writing this blog. Where are we heading to? What do we have in mind to achieve in this small life which we have got? Should I be frightened from my near and dear ones, or should I start avoiding places where the municipal corporation is carrying out demolitions, or I being a north Indian should not go to south India. Can we still say that we are proud to be an Indian or even proud to be a human being? If not can we change some things so that we are again proud to be and Indian and human beings? The questions in mind are a plenty and the answers are blurred. Being the young blood of this country only we can answer these questions. It only requires a certain amount of introspection on our part.
I dedicate this blog to the three deceased. May their souls rest in peace and god bless their families and give them the courage to fight the hardships of life.
My whole purpose of writing this was to create some thoughts in your mind. If I was able to do it , I would consider this attempt of mine as successful. I would like if you would share your thoughts with me and everyone else reading this blog. If you liked it then please share it with your friends because I want to reach out to as many people as possible.
posted by Ash at 11:41 AM
3 Comments:
According to historians, the Big Bang happened about 14 billion years ago. Dinosaurs disappered 65 million years ago. The first bipedal hominid appered 1 million years ago and the modern man is only few thousand years ago. Man on average lives for 70 years and during that period he thinks he is king of the world and plans, prepares and executes as if he is going to be around forever. He kills for money, bears hatred in his heart, competes and becomes jealous to end up dead one day. What hindu? what muslim? what north? what south? When you are dead you are dead. So the message is live and let live and rejoice as long as this body is in good shape. I totally agree with Ashish. This realization comes onl with education and time. It has been said many times but cannot be said in a more meaningful way - "I did not bring anything and will not take anything from this world".
-Lalit
@Ash,
Well, what you said in your post is very true!!
When I was a child and saw that people used to kill each other in the name of religion, I was of the opinion that religion should be banned. As, I grew I started understanding that religion is not the root cause. People keep finding ways to kill each other.
One day, it might be region,tomorrow it might be religion,then language. We definitely can be creative in finding different ways to hurt each other and then attribute different reasons to them.
Hence, I think we should start discouraging violence at the very base level. Starting from when a child is small, the qualities of non-violence should be inculcated in him/her.
I might be sounding a little jumbled up and all. But, I think non-violence and compassaion is the only way out for our human race.
Cheers,
HP
This is indeed a matter to think about... innocent ppl being killed with no fault of theirs...
there is so much hatred now in this world that one region has been divided into castes & religions and what not. In today's world its only money which is uniting 2 ppl, everything else is becoming a cause of rivalry & hatred!!
We are definitely heading towards doomsday (thts for sure) & tht too at an accelerating speed.
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