Road safety

The recent accident involving the Bollywood actress Hema Malini and the poor family that lost their two year old daughter and the media coverage of the same alongwith the social media has exposed various flaws in our system. For one, the media coverage of the film star is much great as compared to the ordinary citizens. Secondly, stars use social media to play the blame game and shift responsibility. Thirdly, stars get better and expedite medical facilities as compared to the ordinary citizens involved  in the same accident. Fourthly, social media has also helped in public bashing. Fifthly, some people even started indulging in the conspiracy theories.
The fact remains that emergency medical facilities are lacking in India and numerous lives are lost because of the same. People are afraid of getting involved in accident cases because of police harassment inspite of the Supreme Court ruling to protect them. There are number of things that need to be done like;
(1) establishing better emergency care units. Ambulances should be dispatched immediately and first aid as well as emergency treatment should be provided on the spot to improve the chances of survival.
(2) using checks for speed and better implementation of traffic rules to curb the chances of accidents
(3) providing immediate medical attention on the priority of injury and not of social status
(4) implementing traffic rules like use of seat belts, not letting small children ride in front seat, use of car seats for infants
(5) condition of roads including lighting should be improved to improve visibility at night.
(6) public should be encouraged to take accident victims to the hospital and be assurance that they will not be involved in police cases and unnecessary harassment.
While the life that has been lost cannot be returned, and the parents are going to grieve all their life, it is important that steps are taken to ensure that no other family has to end up in a similar situation.

A Jewish al baghdadi

There have been reports claiming that the head and self proclaimed caliph of the Islamic state is a man of Jewish background and is a part of israel's plan of taking over the Middle East. Even if these reports are true how do they matter in the current scenario. Even if the head of the organization is a non Muslim, those following him, supporting him, entering a blood bath at his call are Muslims. Those who accept him as their leader are Muslims. Those who consider his barbaric ways right are Muslims.
While it is true that the Islamic state has harmed Islam and Muslims more than anything else, both by making the world despise them as well as by directly killing innocent Muslims. A large number of lives and property is being lost in this battle. Countries are being destroyed and men, women and children are victims of evil designs.
The need of the hour is that the true meaning of Islam is spread by the true followers of the religion. A need is that message of love, peace, equality and brotherhood is spread. Hate cannot defeat hate. We need people to come out and defend the ethical and moral structure of the religions. 

Terrorism across the globe

Friday morning began with the news of 120 bombed in a village in Syria, 1 beheaded outside a gas factory in France, 27 shot dead in a beach resort in Tunisia and more than 13 killed in suicide bombing in a Shia mosque in Kuwait. Violence across three continents, carried out by the same terrorist organization speaks volumes about how evil that group of individuals is. The organization Islamic state does not follow any religion for no religion is devoid of humanity. These are barbaric people who hate every good thing in the world. They are against freedom, against equality, they are against humanity, against tolerance, they are against love, against brotherhood, they are against religion, they are against God.
Killing innocents can never be a way towards God. Instead it is a way towards evil. When they bombed worshipper a during Friday prayers while fasting on a hot summer day in the month of Ramadan, when they bombed innocents in their village, when they beheaded a man and tried to bomb a gas factory hoping to cause greater damage, when they shot dead people vacationing in a holiday resort, they gave out just one message, a message of their oppressive nature. They showed that they are shameless creatures who attack unarmed innocent men, women and children. They are cowards who want to rule this world by spreading fear. They call others unbelievers while they themselves don't believe that God is merciful. These people hate God, they love power and bloodshed. They are the enemies of God, they are the enemies of mankind.

Racism in the modern society

In the present day world, we want to believe that we live in an equal society, in a free world. We want to feel that racism is a thing of past. But the current event of the shooting and mass murder at an African church in charleston has brought back the question that does racism still exist in a nation as free as the United States? The truth is that racism is very much prevalent here. The neighborhood inhabited by mostly African American is considered to be not a good neighborhood. The public schools in such areas are not good. It is considered to be better to avoid such areas. Similarly, the areas designated as Seminole reserves are better to be avoided. People may show a little smirk, a little change in facial expression or voice tone around people who are not white. There is a hidden implication of fear, disgust and superiority. Yes, hate crimes have increased in the recent times. They have increased because the mindset has not changed, the feeling of racial superiority still exists.


Prayers for the victims, their families and the survivors of the charleston attack.

Freedoms in a democracy

The Constitution of India has given the citizen of India the freedoms of speech and expression, of association, movement, peaceful assembly, the right to life and liberty, the freedom of religion, of equality. The preamble to the constitution even declares that the citizens are sovereign. In such circumstances the government has got no right to dictate of how the citizens should exercise, what they eat, how they gather, and so on. The only restrictions laid down are those of public health, order and morality and these are the only grounds on which the government may restrict certain freedoms but under no circumstance can it force the people to live their life in a particular manner. A person may or may not choose to eat certain foods, he may or may not exercise in a certain manner or attend an assembly, the government cannot force him and cannot call him anti national if he states religious reasons for acting in a certain fashion. The right to profess, practice and propagate religion has been protected by the constitution itself and the exercise of such a right does not make a person any less patriotic.

Infinite

Last night I read about a person being infinite and lasting forever, from the beginning till the end of time. And it reminded me of my uncle, who six years back after my mom passed away talked about philosophy of life at a function. He spoke about a person being immortal as in going on even before death or rather he talked of death not being the end of a human person. Now more than a year after he has passed away I think of him and his being still present. Life starts even before a baby is born, the heart beats even before the first breath has been taken, then can life end with the last breath? A person leaves behind his impact on those around him. And someone remembers him, someone misses him, someone calls him back.  Love remains behind and love keeps going. Love is infinite, maybe so is life.

Prayers for Nepal

I had been meaning to write about the victims and survivors of the Nepal earthquake for a long time but my heart couldn't let me express what all I wanted to say. What can you say for a tragedy that is of natural occurrence and man has not played any role in its occurrence. Thousands lost their lives in Nepal and in India, millions effected by loss. Millions lost their homes, schools, hospitals. Children orphaned, villages destroyed. Yes, foreign aid started pouring but of course, the dead can't come back. And then there are the stories of miraculous survival after days of being buried under the rubble. All we can do is to say a little prayer for the dead and the living. May the hearts mend and the wounds heal. May the memories be less painful. May they overcome their fears, their anguish, their traumas. May they find peace in life and in death.