Though Corona brought so many blessings in disguise beginning from the environment, still it failed to bring the needed change among the politicians as they continue to politicize even this pandemic. This is not limited to India but becomes a global phenomenon. In America both the Republican and Democratic parties keep the forthcoming election in mind and not mind the death of so many people who try to play politics in it. They now release videos to prove who first opposed China and who supported it. But the worst scenario in this is that those who demonstrate against lock down, want only to have their personal freedom and pleasure in life. Even one white woman said that it is her body and her choice. Their healthy body and vitamin C also will resist any Coronavirus. But that White woman forgot that her freedom ends at the beginning of another person’s nose. Her body might be her choice but it is not others choice to carry the virus which might affect those who are weak. I am not sure why in the West people always think about their personal needs and freedom alone in life. Is this limited only to this woman or is it part of American or Western civilization (though Gandhi commented that ‘it would be a good idea’ viz., Civilization in the west! @). But when Raychaudhuri narrated about his experience in America I am forced to believe that it is part of their worldview or even CIVILIZATION:
…Another day I found a young man stretched on the floor of my class playing with a gas balloon which kept going up and down. I asked him what he supposed he was doing. He was merely doing his own thing, he said. I told him that I also had my own little thing to do, namely lecture, and that the two things could not really coexist. He had not thought of that, he informed me, picked up his balloon and left-presumably to find some other location where he could continue doing his own thing. Evidently, these fighters for a freer and nobler way of life had not lost their regard for individual liberty….’ (Tapan Raychaudhuri, The World in Our Time: A Memoir, Noida, 2011, p. 298)
But what Raychaudhuri further share is really too much for people like us in the name of Individuality:
…Girls came to the class in bikinis with surfboards under their arms. But they did not neglect to take notes from my lectures. I got the feeling that they attended lectures and went surfing with an equal degree of seriousness.’ (ibid.)
But one Indian who worked in America once told me that they can go to the office even in Bermudas but going to the classes in college in bikinis is unthinkable. What a CIVILIZATION!!!!$
Already the BBC brought racial issues in this as more and more Black Americans are dying. In India as usual both Rahul in the centre and Stalin in (Tamilnadhu) state level make all kinds of foolish statements criticising the government to politicise this pandemic. Their action and reaction more irritates common people than supports them. As I heard all these kinds of reports I wrote this song [Secular Song 546] to release my anger against politicians.
@ ‘It reminds me of one of Gandhi’s famous comments on Western civilization—that it would be a good idea’—Raychaudhuri, op. Cit. P. 350
$ …As I said, Europe lost some of its “cosmological moment”. In exchange a flowering of individuality arose in Europe which certainly has been amazing and which has not gone without its benefits. It remains to be seen, however, whether a secularized culture is able to produce a civilization. Within a span of fifty years Europe burnt out twice.— Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, p. 10
Though Corona brought so many blessings in disguise beginning from the environment, still it failed to bring the needed change among the politicians as they continue to politicize even this pandemic. This is not limited to India but becomes a global phenomenon. In America both the Republican and Democratic parties keep the forthcoming election in mind and not mind the death of so many people who try to play politics in it. They now release videos to prove who first opposed China and who supported it. But the worst scenario in this is that those who demonstrate against lock down, want only to have their personal freedom and pleasure in life. Even one white woman said that it is her body and her choice. Their healthy body and vitamin C also will resist any Coronavirus. But that White woman forgot that her freedom ends at the beginning of another person’s nose. Her body might be her choice but it is not others choice to carry the virus which might affect those who are weak. I am not sure why in the West people always think about their personal needs and freedom alone in life. Is this limited only to this woman or is it part of American or Western civilization (though Gandhi commented that ‘it would be a good idea’ viz., Civilization in the west! @). But when Raychaudhuri narrated about his experience in America I am forced to believe that it is part of their worldview or even CIVILIZATION:
…Another day I found a young man stretched on the floor of my class playing with a gas balloon which kept going up and down. I asked him what he supposed he was doing. He was merely doing his own thing, he said. I told him that I also had my own little thing to do, namely lecture, and that the two things could not really coexist. He had not thought of that, he informed me, picked up his balloon and left-presumably to find some other location where he could continue doing his own thing. Evidently, these fighters for a freer and nobler way of life had not lost their regard for individual liberty….’ (Tapan Raychaudhuri, The World in Our Time: A Memoir, Noida, 2011, p. 298)
But what Raychaudhuri further share is really too much for people like us in the name of Individuality:
…Girls came to the class in bikinis with surfboards under their arms. But they did not neglect to take notes from my lectures. I got the feeling that they attended lectures and went surfing with an equal degree of seriousness.’ (ibid.)
But one Indian who worked in America once told me that they can go to the office even in Bermudas but going to the classes in college in bikinis is unthinkable. What a CIVILIZATION!!!!$
Already the BBC brought racial issues in this as more and more Black Americans are dying. In India as usual both Rahul in the centre and Stalin in (Tamilnadhu) state level make all kinds of foolish statements criticising the government to politicise this pandemic. Their action and reaction more irritates common people than supports them. As I heard all these kinds of reports I wrote this song [Secular Song 546] to release my anger against politicians.
@ ‘It reminds me of one of Gandhi’s famous comments on Western civilization—that it would be a good idea’—Raychaudhuri, op. Cit. P. 350
$ …As I said, Europe lost some of its “cosmological moment”. In exchange a flowering of individuality arose in Europe which certainly has been amazing and which has not gone without its benefits. It remains to be seen, however, whether a secularized culture is able to produce a civilization. Within a span of fifty years Europe burnt out twice.— Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, p. 10
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