Is Sonia Gandhi really kind to the disadvantaged? Will you vote for Congress or Telugu Desam again? Is Dr.Rajasekar Reddy really committed for the poor and distressed? Does Chandrababu Naidu or Ramoji Rao of Eenadu act with social responsibility? Is a highly-placed celebrity like Sonia Gandhi or Dr.A.P.J.Abul Kalam or Governor or Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh or the Chief Editor of Eenadu or Times of India or Deccan Chronicle kind to a fellow citizen and help a person caught in a distress? Do you think these modern legends always look for some information or clue about how they are ruling, what lacunae they have in their rule, and how the citizens by chance are at the receiving end? Do you think President of India or Sonia Gandhi or Chief Minister go out in the night masquerading as an ordinary traveler and discreetly enquire about what kind of hardships their citizens are facing in their rule-like Kings of yore such as Krishnadevaraya or Vikramarka or Bhoja used to do? Will he or she act socially responsibly? But when you happen to listen to a celebrity on a public forum on taking care of the poor or grief-stricken, your heart will melt at the way a celebrity expresses his or her strong sentiments for the poor. Political leaders like Indira Gandhi mastered the art of displaying sympathy for a grief-stricken mob: they cry, wail and whine over dead bodies or survivors more dramatically than the kith and kin of the dead. Do you think they are honest and always look for some clues about where they are wrong and how their rule should improve? But I have strong reasons to suspect the sanctity of their goals in sympathizing the affected.
Similarly when you observe the way mass media espouse calamity-victims or grief-stricken group by filling pages in newspaper or stuffing the channel with images or interviews, you will certainly feel that the medium is doing yeomen’s service to the poor and unlucky. You will also contribute your might to the newspaper which invites you to do so. Is it real or just hypocrisy? I have a personal experience corroborating ‘media hypocrisy theory’.
Can a common man have any other opinion except that such a celebrity or a newspaper organization will definitely come to the rescue of somebody in an emergency or trauma? Are we- the humankind as symbolized by these celebrities- kind to our fellowmen? If somebody is trapped in a crisis – like being raped or robbed or disrobed or beaten- is crying for help, is our humankind human enough or kind enough to take a look at the victim and do something? Let us find out if helping others is an inherent trait of humanity or self-centeredness replaced altruism. I want to give here three cases, of which one is mine.
A 30- year old woman was lying unconscious with no clothes on her body in a first class ladies compartment of CST-Titwala ( Mumbai) local train ( reported in Times India-September 10,2007) throughout the journey of 65 kilometers and nobody cared to, at least, to make out her condition, leave aside admitting her in a hospital or reporting to a police station. A police constable too who was informed of the scene by a passenger disappeared from there as if he should not concern himself with such incidents. In such a situation, can a celebrity behave differently-with compassion and social responsibility? If a political celebrity like President of India or a CM or Governor witnesses such a scene, will he or she -who typically cries before mob about calamity-victims and announces special packages of relief- admit the victim into a hospital or at least report the fact to the police or public authority?
On
I was in the severest distress and hardship in 2004 and wrote to Sonia, APJ Abdul Kalam, Rajasekar Reddy, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ramoji Rao of Eenadu, and the Editors of Deccan Chronicle and Times Of India in August 2004. To give you some background, I was forcibly relieved of my job and on the top of it my separation benefits were withheld for wrong reasons. I was a victim of Chandrababunaidu’s reforms so I lost my 20-year-long held job which is labelled as Voluntary Retirement Scheme though. It is nothing but a forcible retirement but with some severance package. I was at that time a patient of multiple diseases-rheumatoid arthritis, indigestion, duodenitis, gastritis, sinusitis and candidiasis and unable to run errands to the concerned offices for release of my separation benefits. Though I was not bed-ridden, I have all the discomforts of a bed-ridden patients. While my defaulted, monthly installments of home loans taken while in service are accumulating in monster-like proportions, my two college-going children required bigger money to pursue their engineering courses. While this was the sordid state of my career and finances, the officers who were supposed to release my separation benefits on the day of being relieved from the job were either basking in the rules or rejoicing in apathy or leaving affairs to my fate even after 7 months of my retirement. At this point, I wrote to the aforesaid big people. But two months later while ending my desperate wait, I realized that they had consigned my letter to their dust bin. Surely, nothing was done on my letter even till now which is three and half years later - when I started writing about this celebrities in these pages.
Never ever think that these great leaders and newspapers who speak a lot about the country, the poor and oppressed and who cry over the dead bodies with overflowing sympathy really mean it.
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