By  Sethulekshmy  Menon

Today, we Hindustanis may wonder aloud on very “crucial” matters  like whether  an Arvind Kejriwal would really make a difference,   the Foreign Direct Investment is here to stay to lesser
important things like why “Gangnam Style”  is  such a big hit.

Ok!  After reading the introduction, don’t feel like ‘now she’s going to reload a year’s worth of newspaper content and I don’t have time for that!’  Because, what I’m going to tell you is a random array of events from across our country which makes you wonder if time has travelled in reverse and we landed up in the Stone Age, and our hearts turn into stone!

After all the scientific advancements and technological progress the mankind acquired in many millenniums, we are still socially challenged. Take a look at this posh private school, situated in the garden city of Bengeluru, which boasts of a very modern, progressive vision.  The management of this institution, trimmed to the minimum the hair of the underprivileged children admitted to first standard under the Right to Education (RTE) quota. This outrageous act was to discern and hence discriminate the little souls from those belonging to the “elite” class. So much for progress!

Now, if the South scores a few points can the North be far behind?  The Panchayati Raj of a spot in Bhopal, graffitied the walls of those categorized under BPL, with the line ‘Mein Ghareeb Hoon ‘ (I am Penniless!) in big, bold letters to ensure that the benefits entitled to them are not enjoyed outside the ‘line’.

Acts of inhumanity comes in varying degrees. Some do it out of desperation, some out of lunacy and some, simply because they feel that they are authorized to do so. If Tenali Raman were alive , he would find the next incident ,quite amusing. A candidate who lost the Panchayat elections of a locale in Northern Gujarat and his cronies forced villagers to dip their fingers inboiling oil, asserting if they voted for him, they wouldn’t get burned. Talk about the delusional disorder.

Poverty could be the key cause for most of the wrong deeds in our country. But how far can someone blame their action in the name of poverty? The shocking behaviour of a Bihari mother,who sold her 4-month old son for Rs.65,which is as revolting as the case of the Bengali mother ,who sold her 3 young daughters ,for Rs.155, proves that not all mothers know best.

And under the same sun, we have folks like Ambanis and their purposelessly large house with different floors, for different family members with different moods, making quite the difference!
On the economic front, we have loads of unaccounted money pouring in from nowhere and loads of people claiming it, who have no idea, whatsoever on what to do with it.

In this confusing, crazy, callous scenario, as GreenDay sang “You are your own sight!”. As the world is growing irrational by the minute, devoid of purpose and mercy, the good that is left should be
spread at twice the rate. Because,  at the end of the day, being a human is what we’re designed for.

(Author is a  BTech student at TKM College of Eng: Kollam)