Calling Humanity

Once upon a time, there existed a land of Gods. The emblem of an ancient civilization, it was the kernel of culture with enormous values. That country was where love dwelt, the art grew, and harmony existed among people of different tastes. Its rare spices added an unforgettable flavor throughout the world.

But then there came an epidemic. An epidemic which diseased more than half of the population of that country. Gods had already departed from their homeland long ago, they left the remaining humans to trample in the waves of epidemic. Many waves came, and they kept spoiling the population. With consecutive spoliation, the ancient glory started to fade off. Love, harmony, peace, and humanity, they all started to pine away. That country now is at the verge where humanity ceases to exist inside people and their ruthless facets rule. The epidemic is killing us with its effects. A new culture has evolved which is the manifestation of this epidemic.

Today’s politics, the corrupt leaders, and their corrupt governance, these come much later. Before we comment on this why shouldn’t we contemplate where has the humanity at each individual level gone? Is it now a mistake to expect a person to behave humanly, and should we apologize for expecting this? Whatever views you may lay upon this, I personally believe that indeed that’s a mistake to expect of some humanity. From big cities to small towns, the new culture dominates now. Lets not talk of what big portion of the country has gone affected by the waves of this inhuman epidemic, and try to realize how less is left from being affected. In this epidemic what not is coming up on the population as its effects. Rape, abortion, child abuse, child abandonment and what not. Daily newspapers after advertising the Lotus and the common man’s hand, only mentions of these effects on the people. By the people, on the people, each day there is a new ruthless tale to read. Read, sympathize, and forget.

Like the way waves of this epidemic comes, waves to stand up for change and bring a revolution comes too. The only difference is that the epidemic’s waves never leave but waves to stand up for change and bring a revolution come and go. The churn to speak out on this issue came inside me after having watched 'Thanks Maa', directed by Irfan Kamal. I know the churn will subside soon, because like many I have grown a tendency to get used to and to move on. But I will never forget the inhuman sides of people now.

I own a very little knowledge about politics and the way it works, but I get to have at least the feel of what’s going on good and what’s not. And this post is not about the politics, it’s about social evils created by the people that exist around us. Those who have watched ‘Thanks Maa’, they would relate to this post quite easily. The movie focuses on the issue of child abandonment. One can easily make out from the movie that how much degradation has incurred to humans, and how they have been adding other evil as well into the society. At many scenes I kept saying to myself, ‘Oh God, no not this.’ Irfan Kamal through his movie has made his audience shiver terribly by some brutal depictions of truth published in the newspapers. Having watched those scenes in the movie was atrocious. It has been rightly said by someone that both heaven and hell exists on this earth.

If we try to mend our own localized holes, slowly we would find that the whole of the unified garment has been restored. The garment which covers all of us its underneath, needs to be refurbished. We can’t survive in the nakedness. The humanity is expected from each one of us. And to expect this should never be a mistake.

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Heroes of an Unjust Story

I have seen him cleaning dishes. He is the one who picks up leftovers scattered on and around the dining table, and stacks our used plates before handing them over to the elderly lady who cleans them. Yesterday morning I saw him assisting one of the only two adult guys in the kitchen. He might not have known cooking, cleaning, and to bear up with crude words of people, before he stepped into this college. Unluckily he didn’t come here to study but came here in search of work. He now works here in our hostel mess, and is the youngest one among other children here like him who once came in search of work too. Our hostel mess runs through these people. Only two or three adult guys are here, and the rest bunch comprise of kids like him who as per looks seem not to have crossed the age of 12. And they run the entire mess and serve people staying in both of our hostels, First year hostel and Senior hostel. I forgot to mention, our hero manages the catering of our food too. He is the one who carries basket of puris from kitchen to our senior hostel’s dining hall. A kid of his age, with bitterness of luck we can never imagine to taste, roams before my eyes and I thank God for whatever he gave me. All of us should thank God for what they gave to us. And probably the kid thanks the God as well, who knows. People exist on this earth, you call it heaven or hell you say, with sorts of struggle in their lives that one can never imagine. Shivers come up when I recall of some stories deplorable even more than that of our hero’s. I have always called the luck as the ‘God’. Initially, it’s the luck ( what I call the God) decides our starting inning. Actions of that very individual then takes the charge and stride towards betterment. 

The hero talks with me in the dialect of his hometown. I reply in the same dialect as well. He smiles every time I see him, and I observe the innocence on his face. I want to be honest. I get emotional quickly, but I tell you that you will get melted too once you look into his eyes for a few seconds. I am afraid, but very less people would consider it worth for taking it seriously even when I say just for a few seconds only. That’s how the majority of people have been keeping themselves away from the unjust that’s breeding around us. We don’t consider it worth to seek our attention. And why don’t we believe so? It’s the money what matters to most, and that accounts degree of worthiness for such people. Will it be wrong if I say that our Educational Institution too practices such an ideology? Employing kids cost far less than employing adults. Maximize the profit, and may be in the process, help underprivileged people who are in urgent need of money; this can be another viewpoint of our College Authorities. Whatever be the case, one thing can be asserted for sure that kids are being deprived of their childhood and are somewhere being forced to turn into adults too early. Further, I see the whole matter in a way where I find that unjust in society stays as it is. 

I end up with a conclusion in my head that I draw in my own specific way, pardon me if I judge wrongly, ‘Unjustness is conserved. It can only be changed from one form to another’.  

Image courtesy : www.moma.org 

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