The Two Eyed Visual Impairment

Visual impairment reminds us of physically blind people but when you actually think of it, then you’ll realise that they are not blind, rather it is we who are blind in every sense of the word, with two eyes intact!! We should not call physically blind people as visually challenged. Let us not mix the words visually challenged with physical blindness. Blind people are not visually challenged, rather we are. In fact, we need to protect and preserve such people, because in its true sense, “humanity” is stored in them only. I feel they are the storehouses of humanity world-wide!! They are the people who should be protected if we want to preserve humanity.
There are umpteen reasons for this. I will try to put forth some. They are the people who can never discriminate – racially; on looks or in other physical sense for them physical beauty holds no meaning. They can relate beauty only to a beautiful mind or a beautiful heart. In fact, we should consult them for the purpose of judging a person.
They are not ,handicapped; in fact they make us handicapped, because no matter how hard we try, we can never deceive them by our looks.
They don’t know how a Brahmin looks like, how a Dalit person looks like, how an Afro-american looks like. For them all are at the same footing. They do not even know how a shadow looks like so they cannot discriminate between a Brahmin’s shadow and a Dalit’s shadow. Hence, a Dalit person’s shadow would make no difference to them, as it might make to some people who disapprove of them and consider their shadow as the befalling of misfortune.
They can never tease a girl, irrespective of her appearances, who walks past them. They do not know what is vulgar or obscene. For them a girl would be a girl no matter how she looks.
They know a cat only by its softness and sound and therefore for them black cat as a bad omen holds no ground. They do not know how back looks like and what does it signify, until and unless we feed it in their minds. Thankfully they can be saved from so many superstitions!! They can escape many complexes as well, that our visual capacity leads us to. It is said that even Krishna, the “Lord” could not escape such a complex and sang a song, saying,”Radha kyon gori, main kyon kala” (why is Radha fair and why am I dark.). It seems only blind people have the potential of rising above such complexes!
They remain the purest of the souls until and unless we feed in their minds and make them aware of all sorts of negative meanings and differences. We, who think of ourselves as complete human beings, with two eyes and all organs intact, are the most defected of the lot. It is we, who think of ourselves to be high on intelligence, have taken away the purity of human kind. It is we, who have divided the world into binary opposites like – good Vs bad; beautiful Vs ugly; male Vs female; upper caste Vs lower caste; black Vs white, and the list seems endless. We have given so much power to our visual senses that we have lost all “vision”. We have become visionless people. We are so much blinded by our own eyes that we have stopped thinking at all.
So, are not blind people, amazingly beautiful souls? So don’t we need to protect them? So from the next time when you see a blind person crossing the road, slow down your vehicle, if you think you are not visually challenged. Next instance is that, if you see a seat in the bus, which a blind person is not ale to locate, then please make them sit so that you do not prove yourself to be visually challenged. Next time if you see them in trouble or being fooled, then immediately do something about it if you really think you are not visually challenged.
Make this world a better place to live so that when they get eyes and are able to see at any point of their life, they do not feel disappointed. And please do donate your eyes.

The Ailing Indian journalism

Indian journalism is in an ailing state. This statement should not be taken in any way as a diparaging one, rather it is an exigency to brood over such statements and not act like our politicians who seem to be so sensitive that they get hurt by almost anything and try to trap the people by their uselessly flowery language, packed with jargon.
Indian journalism is suffering from the paucity of thoughts, wisdom and most of all, vision! It has to come out of its delerium in order to delineate the real sensible and sensitive picture, which just gets lost in the process of vying for controversial news items. In this virulent process and intention, everything becomes and remains just another story. Every issue gets reduced to just a story as any other soap opera story. Every issue, every misahp, every tragedy is seen, heard and forgotten, not even as a drea, because dreams are still pursued, but these issues are never pursued, atleast never with a wholehearted intension to trigger off some necessary changes, which is very much needed.

India seems to be producing simply mechanical reporting machines instead of journalists in the true sense of the word. Journalism has become just another job. It seems who cannot do anything can become a lawyer or a journalist. Media houses and news channels have just become irresponsible profit making business houses.

This is the reason why journalism in India is losing its worth and is being kicked around by any tom, dick and harry.

Right now it is in a very shameful state, indeed!!

Social Construction of Femininity

This topic has been dealt with, a number of times and is always one of the most talked about issues, but still it has not got ingrained in the people’s minds and is not making landmark effects which it should be making. Till date, most of us seem to be conforming to the cultural edicts which we should be challenging, rather vehemently.
Many a times the staunchest of feminists happen to be conforming and adhering to the stereotypes and cultural traits associated with “females”, quite possibly unconsciously! This made me inquisitive about the female psychology and the elements that go into the making of it. It also rang the bell in my mind regarding the female stereotypes, most of the times, which are even endorsed by the psychoanalysts. I wondered that for the stereotypes to have made such a strong hold there has to be some authentication. Sometimes I found myself also saying and believing certain stereotypes like ‘females are bad drivers’ or ‘girls are gossip mongers’ or ‘girls do not have a philosophical bent of mind’ or ‘politics and news does not interest them’ or that ‘shopping is synonymous to females’. I looked around and realised that today also in the wake of modernity, these traits are very much existent even among the most educated breed of the gender that is referred to as “female”. Then I mulled over it and read some books and realised that why would not be there such traits with specificity to females? Why would not be women lagging behind? The point to be noted here is that they are not lagging behind in anything else but in a very basic thing – lagging behind in the race of becoming a human being!
I realised that females, if, are lagging behind in certain things, then this can be the only reason that females happen to be the late entrants in everything created and invented in man’s world by the men, for the men and of the men!
The concluding line could be the statement made by Simone De Beauvoir regarding females, “As long as she still has to struggle to become a human being, she cannot become a creator.”

The great Indain midlle class tamasha

What to say about the great Indian middle class and it's orientations! where is the ever burgeoning middle class and its ever increasing consumerist attitude, heading toward? It looks as if we are reliving the past!! the middle class of India was born during the coclonial period but it seems it could never come out of the role that it was expected to play during those times - the role of an "assisting class"! but one cannot blatantly repudiate the fact that there was a time when the middle class used to be a bit more human and sensitive. there was a time when people used to think that how could they live in luxury when the majority of the people are living in misery!! there was a period of sensitivity; there was a epriod of humanity! What has happened to it?? what are todays people eating that such people are not produced anymore. It sounds quite hilarious though. The new Indian middle class is definitely growing quantitatively but there are major doubts about it's qualitative growth!! it seems to be still living upto it's image of the assisting class. It's orienatations are also embedded in quantity rather than quality. There was a time when the middle class used to be responsible for bringing anout changes in the society. now there seems a stark contrast- now the new middle class just sees the happenings in the society silently and passively. It hurts when one has to describe the new Indian middle class as just the money making class and not the thinker creating class; it hurts when one realises that the new middle class is the biggest perpetrator of the "culture of silence"!! IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!!!