VOX POPULI
by
by
S KamatasAam AdmiIssue: 219 Date: 18.09.2017Contents:
1. Get Rid Of Stray Dogs
2. Bullet Train Not Wanted, Need For Safer Rail Services Is Paramount
3. Do We Have An Indian Prime Minister of the US of A In Narendra Modi?
4. Improper Content In The Media & On The Net
Get Rid Of Stray Dogs
We will never have the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan become successful unless we also decide to rid our villages, towns and cities of stray dogs. Our roads and streets are today full of dog pooh (excreta) randomly distributed. This is disgusting and fills one with nausea when one comes across this mess. Thus you cannot have a Swachha Bharat unless stray dogs are removed from our environs. This will then also save people from being attacked by these dogs and reduce the incidence of rabies by way of dog bites. As for pet dogs, this practice by owners to have them shit on the streets should also be banned. One cannot understand why the owners cannot toilet train their dogs or have them shit in their own houses. Some cities one is told like Mumbai particularly South Bombay has instituted fines for people having their dogs shit on the streets which should be expanded and like abroad owners should be forced to pick up their pet's pooh and dump into streetside garbage bins. Pet owners mostly have their dogs shit near the entrances of houses of neighbours they most dislike and the above rule of picking your dog's pooh will foster improved understanding and brotherhood in our society!
Bullet Train Not Wanted, Need For Safer Rail Services Is Paramount
The RSS has correctly gauged the public sentiment of disappointment with the incumbent BJP-led NDA government at their conclave at Mathura. The present government is going on the same lines as the earler NDA government and polishing the India Shining platform by launching the Bullet Train project among others. As far as the Railways are concerned with derailments being the order of the day which very soon will average 1 per day, we just do not need high speed trains like the Bullet Train. It is obvious though that it will run on dedicated separate tracks and will cater only to hi-end customers and curious other passengers. In the same manner the Railways are planning to introduce coaches with plexiglass dome roofs on some of the scenic routes around India with the first starting on the Goa-Mumbai route. Such facilities are completely out of context since the need of the hour is safety, convenience and cleanliness of our train services. With the creaking infrastructure of tracks, rolling stock and signalling, the emphasis for the Railways should have been on safer and slower trains until such time as improvements are implemented and progressively move up to higher speed trains and the frills like Wi-Fi, LCD screens and chef-created meals.
Do We Have An Indian Prime Minister of the US of A In Narendra Modi?
What's with our Prime Minister? Have we become a permanent member of the US fan club? This is being stated since Narendra Modi thought it fit to remember the 9/11 terror incident at New York but one does not recall him making any mention at the anniversaries of the 1993 blasts, the 2006 & 2008 train bombings and the attacks in 2011 on the Taj Hotel, the CST terminus made infamous by Ajmal Kasab and all in Mumbai. There have been other terror attacks across the country including on Parliament with varying number of fatalities and our Prime Minister remembers only 9/11in the US of A. We need to restore some balance of judgment here since are the lives of Indians that were lost not worth recalling as those that were lost in 9/11.
The balance of judgment issue as far as Narendra Modi is concerned comes to the fore again in this context since he relates to another 9/11 when Swami Vivekananda had made his famous speech in Chicago and surmises that if the 9/11 terror incident perpetrators had read the Swamiji's speech then things could have been different. First the 9/11 similarity in dates is what is called happenstance while Modi needs to read up more on the Taliban & IS ideologies and their indoctrination methods as well as expectation of action from their members to understand that they come from a diametrically opposite world than Swami Vivekananda. The Swamiji's words and thinking would be akin to pouring water on a rock as far as the radical Muslim movement is concerned. It is said that the Taliban chose the date 9/11 to send across the message to Western civilisations led by the US to get down on bended knees and seek help by dialling 911.
In the same comment Modi in trying to score brownie points with Bengalis, credited Rabindranath Tagore with the national anthem of three nations - India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. While being correct in the first two, Modi was wrong on Sri Lanka since though there was a connection that the Sri Lankan poet had studied in Shantiniketan and was greatly influenced by Tagore, the latter had nothing to with the Sri Lankan national anthem. The issue here is one of being correct and the credibility of the Indian Prime Minister. Modi should realise that it is one thing to make election speeches and yet another to make statements as PM since the latter will be weighed internationally and anything incorrect will erode the image of Modi as well as the office of the Indian PM.
Improper Content In The Media & On The Net
In our adolescence in the 1960's as is natural pornography was very much on the top of our minds. In Calcutta where one grew up it was difficult to get pornography and you had to sheepishly stand looking the other way after having whispered to the book-stall owner opposite the New Empire cinema adjoining New Market that you wanted pictures of girls - naked! Then you would be given hurriedly and surreptitiously an issue of the German photo magazine Kamera or some such or an old, tattered copy of Playboy, being assured that the centre-spread was intact. Money would change hands and the deed was done. Since we were then in hostel in a college located some 120 Km. from Calcutta accessible by train, this buying had to be done on our way back to college after a visit home for reasons as you can understand of tact, diplomacy and unwanted beration. Thus while on the train back to the hostel one could hardly wait for the two hour journey to end so that one could look at the 'goodies'! The same was true for any of the bestseller books that were coming out one after another at that time like that of Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 on his escapades or shall we say sex-capades, since there would be surely a couple of pages describing Bond with the girls. It was only later that Bond films came with famous scenes like Ursula Andress (we used to say Undress) emerging from the surf in her bikini as a sea-goddess. There were also soft porn books of authors like Ted Mark which was again a series with many titles describing the spy hero who like Bond was more into his sex-capades that were exotic as well as exciting. One of these books had to just come into the hostel and word would spread like wildfire amon close group of friends and sometimes other hostelmates also queuing up for their turn to read. The person who was the owner of the book or had bought the book would be treated like a lord and treated to free tea & pakoras and cigarettes at the hostel's favourite tea shop - Chedis, by those in the queue for out-of-turn allotments. Those were the days when pornography was in demand because it was hard to get and in short supply.
But nowadays the scene is completely different, since you have to only open the newspapers to see ads of Jockey innerwear or Enamor brassieres to get a more than normal view of the anatomy of both sexes. Apart from the Internet where you can access both soft and hard porn, even if you are reading newspapers on-line you will have the ads of sites of koov.com or stalkbuylove.com disturbing you with pics of girls in various stages of dress to undress! It's a difficult world out there for young parents who have children going to middle school and above, what with papers carrying pics with exposure, porn on the Net and to deal with games like Blue Whale. The explosion of communication and its rapid movement to the cellular phone is not necessarily a boon and can be traumatic at times for those families who have to face tragedy because of the free access of content that is now available. Nothing can be done in terms of control of this kind of content unless it is voluntary and done by those putting out the content within the country recognising the mores and values of our society. As far as Net content coming from abroad, you have less options except to censor porn sites and maybe even ban them. But overall with society being driven by the money motive, the attitude is generally to get on with it and those that do not like what we do, can stay away or face the consequences since we are not directly responsible for the consequence of our actions. Times were better when pornography was less available and accessible since there was a charm to it, an excitement in the furtiveness and the feeling that is aptly described for the female form is that what is hidden is more exciting than what is bared. One hopes we learn on these matters as we go along.
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