On the verge of a quarter life crisis (thanks to my friend Guru who reminded me about it) I was thinking about whether I had prioritized the right things at the right moments in life. Only then did I realize that it was not only me who had faltered in setting right priorities. We have a government at the centre which has spent close to a thousand crore on a stadium which at it's best will be used only for a fortnightly spectacle. In total, in excess of 70k crores will be spent in what has been touted as the most expensive CWG in the history so far. The same government has been magnanimous enough to allocate 125 crores for the destruction caused in Leh. This is not just a one off incident. I am currently very close to a place where we have a temple plated with gold.
Do we really need a monument of worship to be made of gold?
What difference will it make to the eventual outcome if we have a monument that is very simple?
How much of a difference could that money make even if a fraction of it reaches the people who strive so hard just to make sure that they don't sleep with empty stomach every night ?
What difference could it make if a fraction of it is spent for improving the literacy rate of the country ?
The other incident that comes to my mind is spending huge amount of money for promoting a language. What difference would a language make for so many people who live below the poverty line? Language as such is supposed to evolve over time and nothing can be done about it.
In all these incidents that I have cited we have not given humanity the due priority it deserves. Will this change ? It's a difficult one to answer. It has to come from people within. When I myself feel that I have faltered in prioritizing things which were totally in my control how can I expect someone to take decision for the sake of the society at large? As usual it's easy to ask questions but it's very difficult to answer questions like these ... I m taking the easy way out ;)
By the way, in a couple of days one of my friend whom we call as Mr Legal will be walking down the aisle. My hearty wishes to the couple. Let all their dreams come true ;) and my condolences for losing their bachelorhood ;-)
PS : I m completely apolitical ;)
Best of All Times
17 years ago
4 comments:
I accept most of your comments except the one on promoting language. Previously what did you mean by promoting literacy? Is it just read/write? Read/Write for what purpose? To promote what kind of literacy? Scientific or political or social or .. ? Language is an important tool in understanding the world around us and gaining knowledge. Not all languages are equally useful when you need to gain a particular kind of knowledge. Each language has its own uniqueness in its contributions for promoting certain variety of knowledge. Say in case of Tamil, it has its own epics/grammars written in it which could provide you with certain kind of knowledge. Even emotional intelligence is equally important as analytical/logical intelligence. :)
Probably what should have been avoided is 'politicizing of the language conferences '. Probably People should avoid bragging as if they are the owners and originators of a language!
@Sudarshan : Thanks for your comments.
My complain is about promoting language at what cost ? And when I say cost I merely mean the financial burden. When there are people dying of starvation , when there are shelterless people dying I don't feel promoting a language (or even saving it from disappearing is not a must)
And my take on literacy has nothing to do with read/write. To me a literacy is a skill building exercise which should help people to settle down.
I too agree. Actually I feel promoting a language does not require that much money. It should be just a formal international gathering of scholars in that field. And that does not warrant huge amounts of funding. But what happened was it was made into a platform to showcase political strength and campaign for further elections. So most of the money went into beautification of cities, that too, just for one week. (I was there at that time) Well, my point is promoting language is not a costly affair !!
I feel basic human needs are FOOD, SHELTER and EDUCATION and it is a complex relationship between them. We need to focus on all the three and Promoting one has its effects on others.
Well said Master :)
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