"Right Selucas, how wonderfull is this Country!" Seventh Wonder That day, after I had shade tears knowing the condition of the elderly in India, when I returned home my wife was pleased to see that I was looking better. I think after a long time, as my internal emotion was aroused and I wept, it helped to subside some of my flattened affect which she saw on my face. Sometime crying is a good remedy for lunatics like me. So, I was allowed to have my regular stroll in the evenings. During our next meeting, my friend asked me, “Tell me what did you see in those western countries that you wondered in last thirty years vis –a-vis the old aged people.” I was much composed and explained, “Look my friend, in western countries the parents do not spend every penny for their children. They keep a good sum for their old age as they wish to maintain their independence from the shackle of “Our son will take care of us “syndrome. The children also knows that, when their parents will get old, they will have less time to spend with them as they will be working very hard to earn money. So, there are plenty of well organised private and Government run old age home. At a time when the parents are old enough and the children are very busy, together they find a ‘Golden Home’ where their parents can have their independency, privacy and also company of the same age group. The children visits their parents almost every week ends, spend a quality time, take them along for a picnic sometimes , some time on special occasions they bring their parents at home. These old age homes are professionally run by well trained persons with compassion. No one mistreats them; if that happen the home authority will be sued by the children. I think it works well.” “Did you visit any old age home in the west?” “Yes, I did. Only two years ago when we went to the USA, to spend time with our daughter and Granddaughter, one evening my wife and I visited a home nearby. Our experience was marvelous. Every resident had his or her own one bedroom apartment. Both husband and wife also can live there. The manager took us to see one sample apartment. It was a very nice, well decorated apartment. It had one separate sitting room with a small kitchenette, if any resident wishes to cook anything or make a cup of coffee. The bathroom was specially designed to suit the elderly. There was community restaurant with set menu that changes for each lunch and dinner. We saw a well stocked library, a recreation room where the resident can play indoor games, a big prayer room where every Sunday the priest comes and a hall where the resident can see cultural shows and enjoy musical program. The home’s car takes the resident to the doctor for routine checkups. There was a parking space for the residents who still wish to drive their own car. We met and talk to some residents and they are very happy and also witnessed some of them having a nice time with their visiting children or family members. What more someone as old as I am can expect from life?’ My friend remained silent for a while. I was looking at the small children playing on the ground of Marina Park with their parents. My brain was functioning very well and I was really enjoying. Suddenly my friend changed everything by asking, “Don’t you feel proud that ours is the largest democracy in the world?” I got surprised. He was not as lunatic as me and I thought he has some grey matter left in his brain. When I was in my best form of my mind why the hell he brought about this controversial political talk again which is none of our business? I became very angry as he insinuated in my tranquility by bringing a topic which I do not wish to get engaged with. I started shouting on top of my voice, “As far as my knowledge goes, democracy is "By the people, of the people and for the people”. Now, ours is the second largest population of the world and we are a democratic nation that is true. So in that regards we can claim that, ours is the largest democracy of the world as the other competitor in demography; China, is a Communist country. Till to date, in the enlightened century of twenty-first, there are many countries that are governed by different kind of system. There are Kingdoms-ruled by the Kings and Queens; there are country belongs to one family and whatever the one person says and does that is final. Everyone of that country is at the mercy of one person. There are countries ruled by the Communists. In this system, the Country is governed by only one political party. The members of that Communist party elect their leader and then he has the absolute power to rule. He can do or not do anything that he thinks fit. In my opinion, that system is the dictatorship of the party leader and far away from anything to do with “by the people and of the people". Now, there are countries that are ruled by military Junta. That is another form of Dictatorship. It is the same, in a way, with the Kingdoms and communist ruled countries. Some of the Kingdoms have a system where the democratically elected Government usually is solely responsible and empowered to rule and the Kings and Queens are just symbolic; like the United Kingdom. This type of democracy is usually known as Westminster type of democracy-because this is invented by the parliament in the UK, which is situated in an area in London that is known as Westminster. The democracy that is followed by some Communist regime is known as ‘Democratic Communism” as was invented by our late Comrade Mr. Joyti Basu. I have never understood this, as communism and democracy are two totally opposing ideology. It is almost like trying to mix water and oil. If I say that, that theory of Mr.Basu was nothing but Hypocrisy; my communist friends will be up in arms. We have adopted a Westminster type of democracy. But again we have no King or Queen. The one hundred and odd big and small kings that we had, we have already done away with them. So we have now the President, who is elected not by the people but by the elected legislators; and then he usually be elected by the party who has the majority legislator in his favour. This is so much complicated a system that I have never understood; but again, I need to have some grey matter in brain which I think is in short supply. Now, I fully cannot blame my shortage of grey matter, as when I drive in front of the Government quarter of the head administrator of the Andaman and Nicober administration; my little brain with small amount of grey matter simply stop functioning. Because, I cannot understand how the name of the Government quarter can be “Raj Niwas”, means residence of a Raja. Is it that we are still under the administration of a Raja or the British Raj or a democratically elected government? It is difficult to understand how a servant of a democratic Government can be a Raja? Is that a democracy or hypocrisy? Hearing my tone of voice and the fluency of my speech my friend got nervous and thought that I will have another nervous breakdown. So, he said, “OK, my friend I understand and please stop this.” I said, “No, as you started you must hear what I say and for that matter if my wife sends me to the asylum I don’t mind, as I have been there for many years. Now listen, - we are still the largest democracy of the world and we are proud for that. But when I think it is “by the people, of the people and for the people”, I start to get confused seeing what is going on in my country. Some of the truly democratic country of the world that I have lived and worked, I have seen a different scenario. Most of the inhabitants of those countries are highly educated and fully understand the meaning of democracy and the right of the people who lives in a democratic country. So, when they cast their ballot paper they are fully conscious about whom they are voting for. Before casting their votes, they make sure the person has the ability and can or at least try to solve some of their problems and devote his/her whole time for the people. They fully know that in a democratic system one can chose a person whom he/she thinks most suitable to be their representative in the law making house. Laws made in the legislative houses Govern the whole masses of the country. Now, in the largest democracy of the world how many people are actually educated? We are told that, even after 65 years of independence almost 50% of our population cannot read or write. Now, a person who is totally ignorant about democratic system, its value and right, how he/she may understand who will genuinely work for the common people? Another problem is that, in the developed democratic countries; means, in the countries where most people has more grey matter than me; I mean, the people with proper education, usually make sure that they exercise their right of votes. But, in my country it is opposite. The educated ones mostly feel that, going to the booths for casting their votes is a waste of time. For most of them, that day is a holiday; which means to go for a picnic with family in a flashy car. For them, politics is a dirty thing and the politicians are corrupted. I fully cannot blame them, as India is very high in the list of the countries where most of the corruption takes place and this corruption trickles down to the ordinary level through the corrupted politicians. Now, it is really difficult to comprehend, if the educated and wise people shy away from the arena of the politics then who should fill up the blanks? It must be by the people, who are notorious criminals, who have no sense of responsibility to the electorates, who only want to make money through political power, who will like to orchestrate old scams like Bofors, fodder scamp, as recent as 2G scamps, coal scams and many many scams that have given plenty retired Justices jobs after retirement. The small number of educated and wise people of our motherland does not want to be a politician and also do not wish to vote. So, this Herculean task to maintain our largest democracy on the planet earth has fallen on the hands of the (mostly) illiterate and semi-literate politicians and the (mostly) same type of voters. None of these two groups understand what is the meaning of democracy (by the people, of the people and for the people). The other problem that arises from this lack of understanding in democracy is that, the politicians take the help of muscle power and money to buy votes. Bribing the voters by giving small amount of money or a bottle of liquor has become the usual norms before any election. As a result, only the ‘men of straw ‘and not the competent ones are getting elected. Now, the law of nature is, nothing can remain void. So, if the educated and wise do not like to take care of our motherland and the democracy, then Hypocrisy must fill the blanks and the whole society suffers from the ill effect of the hypocrites and not by the democrats. Once we are engulfed by the hypocritical rules we must prepare to dispense with Democratic rules and norms. We must prepare our mind to be ruled by one family and its descendants, the power hungry- money oriented politicians, unscrupulous government servants and the hooligans. That is where our destiny lies; isn’t it? The time has come to change the dictum of “by the people, of the people and for the people” by “by the hooligans, of the hooligans and for the hooligans”. I was exhausted after saying so much in one go and in loud voice. Some of the people in the park heard my voice and laughed as they already knew us as two most notorious lunatics at large of the Island. I took some deep breath to cool myself. My friend was relieved as I stopped and he murmured, “yes, my friend, now I can understand why Alexander said, “-“Right, Selucus, what a wonderful county is this!”.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 05:09:44 +0000
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