NavDharmyug

Tragedy brings out the best and worst of human beings. They take away the veneer of sophistication and morality stands in its nakedness for all to see. Nepal had one of the worst earthquake of the century, with thousands dead. Tragedies of such magnitude have in them the capability to unclothe us of all the  pretensions  of larger human good that we have. We are all fair-weather gentlemen (and ladies) when things are going good. It is easier to adhere to gracious dignity when you are fed well and your life is not in jeopardy. Even more important is the well-being of those around you. You do not take advantage of people when you are not in a position to take advantage of them, or rather they are not in a position to allow you to take advantage of them. That is what defines morality. When we are kind to people who we cannot afford to be unkind to that is nothing but animal self-protection. It is when we are kind to people with whom we have no reason to be kind, people ...

We live our lives in kind of mixed reality. It is a world of illusions and smoke-screens. There are people whose only purpose is to act as props for people who sit in the background. They make a nice picture- that of a kind, ethical doctor, the hardworking engineer, the moral teacher and the latest media darling- the poor farmer. The very purpose that these props are carefully cultivated by the media is because they make us emotion and throttle the reasoning. You cannot talk much to a reasonable man. He will see the reason together with you, if it exists. He cannot be persuaded by your literary skills. If you cannot talk much to a reasonable man, you can, as well, not much write to him and as a media entity, if you cannot write much, what do you do then? So what you need is a prop that elicits emotions, thereby impacts reason and then create an outrage around that image which, even if untrue, brings forth human feelings. That is what is happening to what is being termed a...