Introduction:
The out of sync actions of politicos enrage the suffering masses. What ever be the reason, they come out with a standard message as exciting and thought provoking as an obituary! Though not directly facing the difficulties, some minds get ignited at the thoughtlessness and gets agitated.
When Tom showed a print out containing a few paragraphs, Muser was a little perplexed. After reading it once, Muser got the idea that some how Tom wanted to link the adage to the weather, to the multiple sources of information with his disillusionment over political happenings. One thing he was sure about was, Tom wanted a helping hand in finishing it.
Muser wanted to tell him not to begin a writing career on the footsteps of another struggling writer. But refrained, from saying it and hurt a willing inspiration. Instead, he asked,” What you want me to do?”
Tom said, “To complete the write up, using the ideas I have put in the paper. Will you?”
Muser said, “Yes, but give me an hour or two. Pray tell me, why?”
“To understand how you work!” said Tom with an eager face.
Muser had no “to do or not to do” dilemma and straight away went to work on the draft. Tom sat by his side and watched the process of extempore writing.
Sentences were framed, grouped in to paragraphs; grouped paragraphs were then dismantled and re-appropriated; a whole paragraph was mercilessly cut and removed. In between, a dictionary or a reference diary was consulted. After an hour and half, Tom got the full text, neatly dove-tailing with his initial paragraphs.
Tom’s points:
“There is this saying “To look at the injury on the hand, you don’t need a mirror”. But there are a lot of people who would want to do the same thing. Such people are our lawmakers and even the several general elections have failed to alter this composition, of such people in representing the vox populi”
“In the historic times, chroniclers have recorded it. In the modern times Nobel laureates and old hands living in the villages have talked about it. The phenomenon, El Nino, itself has been whispering about the fall in rain fall – in to our deaf ears every now and then”.
“Print and electronic media vie with each other to bring out analyses that touch our every day life. With today’s connectivity and portability what all needs to be done is to sit calmly, mine the data, absorb and act on it- however small these steps might be – will it not be a ‘net’ gain?”
“There is no need to get a hands-on experience to put off a local fire – any one with a bucket on hand and willingness to do something about it, is the need of the hour. Tomes don’t bring about alleviation but people can! ”.
Muser’s draft for Tom:
But the elected representatives consider it inferior either to listen to themselves or to others. They only want to see with their very own eyes what it all means.
Some one must have told them a foreign tour helps limbering up, widens one’s vision. That must be the only time when the ear drums of these netas must have vibrated to another voice. Acting on this tip off, from day one, the netas plan for a ‘study tour’. The Names are drawn, erased and redrawn, keeping the purpose of the study tour in suspense till the nth day!
Like general elections, invariably falling in the summer months, the waving of the green flag for the ‘study tour’ coincides with drought conditions in that part of the state or in some parts of the country.
El Nino and La Nina are foreign to them and what other compelling reason could there for embarking on a ‘study tour’, which does not mean going back to school for the first time or for a refresher course.
The study tour gets hastily renamed as “drought management in other countries of the world”. Being a member of the Common wealth, NAM, BRIC etc. opens up the world, wide, for such a tour. For all the acumen they have in possession, their timing comes unstuck.
Suddenly, a murmur of protest starts and snowballs in to a controversy managing to cloud the ‘study’ tour. Even the netas are not spared the uncertainty of last minute cancellation, just like the monsoon clouds ditching the farmers.
Whatever be the case, they have a responsibility to the public, is it not? The consummate spin doctors command media space extolling the bleeding hearts of our netas for that supreme sacrifice, solely to express solidarity with the drought stricken people.
If the drought is wide spread and severe, even the spin doctors bleed, alongside the netas to add weight to the show of solidarity. Off the media glare, the spin doctors, along with the bleeding hearts retire to a hill station not to recuperate but to plan succour for the drought hit countrymen, secretly cursing the ‘foreign’ hands of “El Nino” & “La Nina”!
Undaunted, the netas plan to submit a resolution that:
(1) Elections can be either advanced or delayed to avoid the summer season.
(2) Planned study tours should see no last minute cancellation and
(3) In case of protest, a representative from the protesting group should be taken along, giving an equal opportunity.
Frustrated with these types of confabulations, over sumptuous lunch or dinner, the anger of the hungry stomachs swell to dare the netas- to undertake a padayatra in the drought hit regions to meet with drought face to face and then plan for alleviation, from the poor dwellings of these farmers.
Having gone through a practical demonstration on converting sentences into a draft, Tom took leave, with a mighty pleased look on his face, leaving a perplexed Muser wondering - “Why he is in a hurry raring to join the ranks of boiling Bystander?”
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