Monday, January 13, 2014

Loudspeakers – A nuisance

Loudspeakers – A nuisance

I live amidst noise. The major contribution is by the menacing loudspeakers.
Every year, every festival comes once. Terminal examinations, the unstoppable threatens every child at the end of every year. Each festival has its unique food. The same way, annual exams are filled with songs from the loudspeakers. Too much noise in the streets during the exams distracts us. Usually, learning is very difficult for us because they feel that it is boring. When songs enter this arena, our interest to learn is found nowhere.
When cine songs hit the molecules of air, books are found to be closed. We get attracted towards these magnetic songs. I find this loudspeaker devil rising to its extreme during examinations.
Whether it is the birth/ death anniversary of a political leader or a meeting held by a political party, loudspeakers are put to work throughout the day. Political parties accumulate their energy and shout in the mikes at their maximum level.
If not this problem, the nearby marriage halls roar. Luckily if there were no marriages we have the temple functions. But, why don’t they try to avoid songs during exam days? I don’t know if God had asked them to disturb and interrupt the learning process of young children. Sometimes, people go in vehicles advertising for shops and industries. Even they play songs that can be of great disturbance to the public. Everything joining together makes the environment perfectly unfit for learning.
Lovely songs become jarring when played during exams. Amidst this noise chaos, we have to learn and write our exams. But, the residuary fact is that we cannot write the exams properly. We don’t remember all the points that we have read as we had not taken them into our long term memory.

The survival amidst this song horror is exam – threatening and has a devastating effect on our marks. It deactivates our brain cells.
The Government must take strict steps to ban loud speakers during examinations.
Even now, there are rules that permit people to use loudspeakers only after getting an approval from the nearby police station .But, bribe makes this easily possible.

Can you think of a world without loudspeakers! How pleasant it would be?!
I would enjoy living in one such.

Frankly speaking I am one of the most affected students of this problem.

How can we develop villages?

               How can we develop villages?
Villages!The word creates in our mind a view of primitive areas in a country. Indian villages! Poverty, hunger, hardship, revolt, illiteracy- so they are. Some villages are worse while the others are worst. Such villages need to be developed. Primely, different ways to induce more employment must be installed. Employment is the precondition for eradication of poverty. For employment, there is a necessity for industries to emerge in this arena. Government must show interest in developing industries in rural and remote areas. Private companies/Individuals who begin factories here can be given extra funds as a token of encouragement. Better implementation of schemes and policies like the 100 day employment scheme will have a great impact on the rapid development of villages. Transport is the backbone of economic development. Constructing all seasonal motorable roads will make the transport process of goods easier, quicker and better. Looking into road development schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana which makes it compulsory for every village to be connected to a major city in the country by better roads and their better functioning can raise the standards of our villages. Yet another important thing to be eradicated by traditional villages is illiteracy. Government schools which give good education must be opened. Private schools too must come up. Child labour, more common in villages must disappear. Banks and cooperatives need to lend more. Only then will people get timely loans for all purposes, right from starting an enterprise to education. Rich people and companies can adopt villages. Even middle class families can help develop villages by supporting NGO’s that support villagers. Villagers are  mostly dependent on agriculture. Increasing subsidy rates have the capacity to see the cash income of farmers increase. Educating young children in these regions is another major step to launch the underdeveloped villages forward. When crops fail due to pests or lack of rainfall then, the government must provide the peasants with money which equals the value of the actual produce.

Pitiable condition of slums

Pitiable condition of slums
Slums are the sign of negative development of our cities. The more slums we see, the more badly the city progresses. There are a number of slums in my city. These slums are the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, houseflies and form the arena for outbursts of epidemics like cholera, typhoid, plague, etc… Here, houses are located just a few feet away from open drainages. These slums fall in the sight of the government only during elections and at all other times they are left helpless. Hygiene is the biggest worry in such areas. Even surveyors find it difficult to enter such places. The atmosphere is itself stinky. People of these slums are too poor to clean their area by themselves.  It is not just the slums that are not being maintained well. Even the people of these slums don’t have enough food to eat or money to buy important commodities.  Slums in my city are in a condition that people who see it would feel sympathetic and they try to help those people living there. No one is ready to take up the responsibility of maintaining slums in a better way.

            The funds that central and state government allocate to build slums don’t reach the needy. Mediators in the middle store money in their pockets and when the fund reaches the bottom most people of the society, nothing is left for them. Highly backward slums are a black mark to developing countries like India and I feel that the government must immediately act on this problem. Government must make sure that all subsidies primely reach such economically backward people.

3...2...1..... Why don't we wait ??...

3… 2… 1….. Why don’t we Wait ??...
Today, traffic is a major problem in our country. Everyone wants to lead a luxurious life. As a result, the number of vehicles under usage is consistently seeing a sharp hike. Further, this overpopulation of vehicles leads to life threatening accidents. To avoid such unnecessary loss of lives, traffic signals and traffic police are brought into work. But the biggest doubt is that do we follow the instruction of the traffic police department or do we at least follow the traffic signals? The ultimate answer is ‘NO’. I have seen people who wait for about 57 seconds for the green light to glow, but cannot stop for the final 3 seconds. They accelerate their vehicles and so do the others following them. This activity has become very common now-a-days. Aren’t there chances of facing accident during those final seconds? The probability is high and there have been such cases reported in the past as well. This shows our poor sense of patience. Have our lives become so cheap to be lost in seconds? Moreover, everyone today rides his bike with high momentum that one hit to a post closes his life. Some people don’t look at traffic signals. They break traffic rules, irritate other riders and finally destroy their own lives. Stupid, isn’t?

Let’s try to be safe!   

Do Indian films enhance young minds?

Do Indian films enhance young minds?
                        - By an Young Indian….

Films have become a part of our lives. At present, everyone watches films not just for entertainment. But, have you ever wondered if such films enhance our life? Had you analysed, you wouldn’t have watched a film the next time because films are an obstacle to our development. Just think about…When you take into account the last 20 Tamil films that were released, there is not a single film that gives a beneficial advice to people. The so called heroes of these films have been depicted as youth who drink as soon as the day begins and as chain smokers who are unemployed. They fall in love with the heroine. As their parents don’t agree, they run away from their house. Is there a bit of good idea one can derive from such films?  As such heroes drink and smoke in films, young fickle minded brains consider such activities as inevitable ones to become a hero and they indulge in activities that might be fatal. Youngsters are traced as people who the world doesn’t require. Young minds which rose to fight for the Srilankan Tamils remain silent even after looking at these films.
Periyar, Rajaji and Gandhi  have called films as a ‘Blackmark  on Indian society’. I would like to ask the directors if they feel satisfied in giving such rubbish films. Moreover, most directors try their level best to increase the profit for the produces but don’t work with a sense of responsibility they are assigned with.
From where does gang rapes arise?. How do youth know that there are such criminal ways……No doubt, it’s root lies in films. Young people are ready to kill others for petty issues. Such murders can be seen only in films. Thus, it is only films that induce such violence in the hearts of young Indians. Usage of vulgar words by young India is also a negative impact of films.
In a year, we have around 5 film fare awards. But is there one to encourage the new inventions of developing people? If such great minds are awarded, it would be an encouragement for every other Indian to find something new. Why don’t we try that?
 So, how do we change?
Let directors produce films that have a positive impact on society. Films in which youngsters take the charge to lead forward must enter the arena. I do accept that 80% of film fanatics will be against it. But on the other hand, I have belief on film stars that they can ‘change’ this scenario.
The necessity for ‘change’ is felt. It’s time to pull Indian cinema back and put it to the top of its glory. 

Privy Purses

Privy Purses – The necessity to redeem it

Privy purses were indeed a fair deal. Had Sardar Vallabai Patel not introduced the idea of Privy purses, not a single princely state ruler who have opted to integrate their land, wealth and people with the rest of the nation. If the princely states weren’t united, India would have been a fragile country that easily exposes itself to attacks from other ambitious countries. Moreover, I don’t think a country named ‘India’ would have existed if this unity did not take place. Now, we call ourselves as a country that has ‘Unity in diversity’. The Indian government must understand that it was only the ‘Privy purses’ that made way for this integrity we experience now. By spending money to give those rulers who have agreed to ‘Privy Purses’, the country is neither going to lose all its wealth nor will its treasury get emptied. It’s just 4 crores that India would spend annually for Privy Purses. This amount is nothing when compared to the money that is being corrupted everyday by our politicians. Privy Purses was a peaceful treaty between India and its princely rulers. Now that being violated, who knows when the successors of the rulers are going to trouble the government to redeem it. With Patel’s dream having failed, I don’t think there’s any use in spending 2500 crores to build his statue. If Patel had been living now, he would have been even happier if this 2500 crores were used for the Privy Purses.  

Ideas to minimise wastage of food

Ideas to minimise wastage of food

Yes, I do agree that a large quantity of food is wasted and the fact is that we cannot afford to loose it. Wasting food must be primely reduced in our houses. People in rich and middle class families mustn’t waste large quantities of food saying that they don’t like it stating a number of reasons. Every time they waste food, they will have to remember all those people who have nothing to eat but simply fill their tummies with water before going to bed. School going children don’t eat the food given to them completely. Their parents will have to counsel them and insist them the importance of not wasting food.  Sometimes, raw vegetables get smashed off when they are being transported from one place to the other. I feel that that the people involved in this transportation must ensure the safe travel of vegetables without being destroyed. Raw grains are also being wasted just because of the unavailability of storage silos. In marriages, canteens and hotels, surplus food is being thrown out into the dustbin. If this food is given to the poor in their respective districts, there would be no hunger in our country.  Every of us must realize that food is a valuable source of energy and that it must not be wasted. 

School uniforms

     School uniforms – Mobile prisons

School uniforms have become an important subject of debate today. This is because many children and their parents complain against this system which has been in practice in our country right from the day our ancestors established schools. School uniforms are mobile prisons, prisons that let you do everything, but never let you go free. Uniforms were purposefully brought in to establish equality among children. But, is it necessary to ensure this equality with full hand shirts that hamper the movement of your hands, socks that make your skin frail, shoe that induces itching and tie that puffs up heat within your body? Educational institutions must understand that such uniform practices are practically good for colder countries and not for countries that lie in the tropics and sub-tropics like that of ours. I don’t think schools have met the real necessity for uniforms. In schools today, entering the campus with no proper uniform is a crime. Moreover, random checking to catch all those who come without proper uniform happens in schools frequently. Such children are punished.  Now-a-days, uniforms have become an integral component of ’Discipline’. He who doesn’t make it to the school with proper uniform is ’Indisciplined’. Schools have also wrongly started thinking that uniforms make children smart. Uniforms really aren’t a bad idea. But the uniform that we wear matters. If Indian schools issue uniforms without ties, socks, shoes and full hand shirts, uniforms will have their real necessity satisfied. Indian children look like perfect Indians just with a shirt and a pant. It’s not necessary to add English components to show ourselves modernized and that’s not what modernization actually means.

Life of an Indian farmer

Life of an Indian farmer
I was to a village along with my parents. Seeing the diligent farmers working in their fields, I felt the need to interview them. I asked them about their life. Deeply inspired by their answer, I have written the following.
An Indian farmer is one of the most hardworking people in the world. He gets up early in the morning even before the hens’ call, takes his plough and with his cattle walks briskly towards his field. He cares for nothing- may it be winter, summer or rain…It is all the same for him. He works with his muscles aching and his legs struck in mud. He doesn’t care for the snakes wandering around him. With the sun’s scorching heat disturbing him and his sweat rolling down his face , he takes a torn towel and puts it over his head to prevent strokes. After ceaseless work, at noon, his wife or his children bring him his midday meal. With his rough hands cleaned, he takes his meager food under the shade of some tree. Like a clock, he resumes his work. Sometimes, he sings a song to break the monotony of his hardwork. He returns home only when daylight is out and the atmosphere becomes unfit for farming. At the door of his hut, he is greeted by his timid children. He rests a while and this is the happiest time of the day for him. At night, he enjoys the sight of his children having enough food and if something remains, he eats it to fill his stomach. Often so poor to afford a cup of milk, he drinks water and goes to sleep without a pillow or a bed. So is his life.
Although farmers don’t take in nutritious and hygienic food, they are stronger and healthier than the people living in cities! No villager wears a spectacle…But how?
Fresh air and sunshine are the two great blessing of god found in villages. These might be the reasons for their extreme wellness.
Despite such hardwork and sacrifice, farmers still lives amidst poverty. When pests destroy their crops, the condition becomes the worst.

We eat plenty of modern food. We ‘buy diseases by giving money’. Every modern food has its origin and its raw materials from the farmers produce. Imagine what would happen if all farmers go on a strike and reap crops for their own usage. All of us would be forced to go on a ‘Hunger strike’!!!     

Why to live ?

Why to live?
Why to live in a polluted environment?
Why to live in a corruption- full surrounding?
Why to live in a society that identifies itself by the name of the caste?
Why to live in a universe where everyone wants bribe?
Why to live in a place of constant conflicts?
Why to live in a world guided by religion?
Why to live in a planet dipped in diseases?
Why to live in site that is filled with enmity?
Why to live in a cosmos that runs behind money?
Why to live as a citizen among deforesters?
Why to live amidst a huge population?
Why to live in a place jammed with poverty?
Why to live in a globe influenced by anger? 
Why to live, as the ultimate end is death?

But,
     Life is something for us to achieve impossible things and inscribe our name in the hearts of people!