Independence Day SOTN

A few random thoughts on the state of the nation this 61st Independence Day: -

• A country of 1 billion and we win only one medal at the Olympics. The good news is its a gold. The bad news is we haven’t got even a single silver or bronze. God, that makes the gold sound like a fluke! Hope the situation changes before the end of the games.

• On TV yesterday, a CNN-IBN survey on prevalent urban Indian mindset on marriage presented the following results:
o 87 per cent Indians feel that life is incomplete without marriage.
o 76 per cent single people in metros believe in marriage.
o Only 9% say that life can be complete without marriage
o Only 32% young metro men & 22% small town women think pre-marital sex is acceptable. Remaining obviously consider it taboo.

So, correct me if I guessed wrong, but one can safely conclude that we are country teeming with virgins whose overwhelming goal in life is to get married.

But here's the irony - A good 48 per cent urban Indians favor divorce if a couple is incompatible. (So much for all that hankering after marriage..almost half of us are ready to quit at the drop of a hat!)

And here's the shocker - 69% feel marital infidelity is not the end of a marriage. (Yeah, I have a feeling these 69 were the ones who had cheated!)

• After 60 years, Kashmir is still burning. In the latest Amarnath row, the tension has spilled over to other parts of the country. The VHP organized a chakka jam and in Ambala a heart patient died because the ambulance carrying him to hospital got stuck in the jam. Take a moment and think how nightmarish the situation would be if it was happening to you.

• In the last two months alone, consider the casualties at places of worship across the country.
o About 150 pilgrims died in a stampede on the steps of the Naina Devi temple.
o 135 pilgrims plunged along with a collapsing stairway at a Kota temple.
o 6 pilgrims died in the stampede at the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra.

I can’t help thinking that the faithful in this country really get a bad deal. They go to the Lord's doorstep with such belief in their hearts and then lose their lives so tragically there. What does that do to human faith?

Comments

Anonymous said…
MUMUKSHU,
IT's really good thought:

Worth to watch:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tom_honey_on_god_and_the_tsunami.html

rgds,
abi antony
Let's widen the perspective. Mankind carries the curse of intelligence. And civilisation is a zero-sum game. Every gain is compensated with an equal amount of loss. Every automobile purchased somehow alters the earth's atmosphere. There is a network of butterfly effects. Having said that, I will say that India's development (if we know what development means) would come at a necessary price. We haven't come far on the development ladder. India is just 61 years old. Give her a break! US is 200 years old! And they're still learning not to be arrogant. In some ways we were unlucky. But being a democracy, we're vastly lucky. Considering how complex a construct India is, it is amazing that we can call ourselves a nation-state even after 61 years! In due course of time, many things will get fixed, but many other problems will arise. There will be no one under the poverty line, but there would be many who might get killed in a school shooting or might get tumours because of living under a high voltage transmission cable. Since early 1990s, we've done pretty well for ourselves. We've come a long way despite the depth of the rot. You can't cure cancer by popping a pill. Rome was not built in a day.
Mumukshu said…
Thanks for that dose of optimism, Anupam..

Abi, I cannot seem to access the URL you sent

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