INDIGENCE:-THE MOST HEINOUS CRIME

I still remember my first day in Calcutta (now Kolkata). The city described as "The city of Joy" by Dominique LaPierre. The city which gave us our first "miss universe" and "the most successful Test Cricket captain ever." A truly cosmopolitan city by any standards. Gorgeously structured and adorned buildings, Trams, Howrah Bridge, Eden Gardens, St.Xavier's and above all hot girls. It was awesome. I was enjoying every bit of it. Then suddenly I came across arguably the biggest ever shock of my life!

I was wandering casually somewhere in Kolkata. The street there was immensely wide with an equally immensely narrow divider which partitioned the left and right sides. On the divider lied a creature who closely resembled a human body and seemed to have taken a bath, eaten some form of food or even lived only a million years ago. The cars were passing fast on both sides of the street and one roll of his body could have provided him with a place in heaven.

To me he looked the ugliest corpse i had ever seen. The only nuance being this corpse was breathing!

I was simply shattered. But as every moderately sensitive, moderately ignorant person does, I, after getting a bit moved, moved on. Then came a woman of around thirtyfive dragging her body through the air which was nothing more than a thin film of skin covering a few even thinner bones. Shockingly she was only a bit more scantily clad than "Mallika Sherawat" (hope we all know who she is!). Again the nuance being she was not being paid for her professed shamelessness.

These are only a couple of examples of those extermely underprivileged people who are not even aware of the name of the city they are in. The city described as the "The City of Joy" by some moron.

Across a country which is desperately boasting of its ever improving economy and international relations and ever proliferating nuclear arms, thousands of such human structures are waiting for their expiry. I dont know whether to call them even mendicants. How can anyone expect them to get aware of govt. policies to eradicate poverty if they are not even sure of two meals ? How can they live with peace and harmony if they are not even able to live? This can only lead to criminalisations and prostitution.

My earlier post said our sufferings are simply the consequences of our previous actions. If this is so, indigence has to be the most heinous crime.

CATHARSIS


Someone once said" there are no rewards or punishments; accolades or chagrins; successes or failures; destiny or coincidences. There are only consequences." To me this is as true and as reasonable (or rather as arguable) as the existence of God or the power of truth and all that. Though you don't need the guts of a Gandhi or a Mandela to oppose or rather dissent from this concept, there are times when you find things happening around you are explicable if you take your past actions or behaviors into account. All we do comes back to us in some form or the other. How often do we find people who cheat others getting away without being cheated? I've never seen a student neglecting studies, defying teachers and using unfair means in exams (if at all they get away with all this) during their academic career and ultimately achieving paradigmatic professional success or going on to build a respectable teaching career.

God (if there exists any) has made a few rules which even God himself can't evade and that's why he can't treat two of us differently. This is like some supercomputer processed to yield a particular output to a particular set of inputs. There are people who talk uselessly about something called "social responsibility". Even if you are not socially that responsible you'll have to keep yourself restricted to "right tracks" to make your career, relationships and entire life as cherishable as you want to or can. It is mandatory for you to beautify the lives of people around you if you really want your life to look beautiful. It's not a choice, it’s a necessity. There is nothing called "magnanimity". You can’t be benevolent enough to serve others because you are too indolent to serve your own life. Now the question is what exactly these "right tracks" are. The answer is too simple. Just let people have the things you want in your own life. Does this mean giving away your coveted job to an underperformer who doesn’t deserve it or letting your friend marry the pretty girl you wanted to marry? That is fatuous. The point I want to make is we should always be prepared to give people the room to exult. If you can't let people go ahead at your own expense, at least don't drag them back to get ahead and learn to live the life in a fair manner. If you really want to be looked up to, learn to look up to others. Derision for others can't get you a respectable status in society. Love and respect breed themselves.
For those fatalistic people who really believe their future are already determined and they are powerless to change them, the concept might sound unacceptable. But once they start thinking and acting responsibly, they can handle the entire course of their life. Because we are the best shapers of our life.