9 WEDNESDAY, 21 OCTOBER, 2009. BANGALORE
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MY Too much money doesn’t mean you burn it! ON TWITTER
VIEW B Y INVITE the morning. The newly redeveloped apartment
owner, who was having a wham-bang party got RYAN SEACREST,
angry, “What’s your problem?” he retorted.
O N LY “If I have money to burn I’ll burn it where I
anchor and RJ
please. This is not your grand-father’s road. The Just got word from
L ROMAL M SINGH Municipal Garden is a public garden… So e-news that Sarah Palin’s
romal.singh@mid-day.com what’s your problem?” gonna be on Oprah on Nov
elromal@gmail.com 16... Can’t wait to hear
PETER COLACO My problem is having reasonable limits to
viamedia@vsnl.net public disturbances. Realising, how to what she has to say...
differentiate between celebrating a public
To forgive and forget festival and not allowing it to become a public
orn in a typical Protestant family with I HAD a nightmare last night. From 7 pm nuisance. The government should do
B all the perfect Christian ways of life
imbibed in me from a very young age,
it’s no surprise that forgiveness has often
onwards loud crackers started detonating all
over the road. I reassured myself, ‘So what, it
will soon be over, after all it is Diwali. It only
something to maintain law and order.
I retreated, wondering ‘what can the
government do, without infringing on the
MAILBAG
been a virtue I held in high regard. I still do.
I lived more than 20 years of my life, trying
happens once a year.’
Actually I was mistaken. The loud noises
freedom of celebration?’
Many simple public regulations, I think. Can
Diwali for joy, not
really hard to be the selfless, pure, perfect and
almost Christ-like being that every young
continued and as the night progressed, the
explosions just got louder. Finally, I took a pill
there be regulations on the type and quantity of
fireworks crackers sold? Limits on the explosive
pollution!
child I knew aspired to be. I grew up looking and fell asleep after midnight. strength of loud crackers? Time limits on chain EACH year at Diwali, we see a massive surge
at the world through this all-forgiving I presumed it was just a nightmare. Nothing bombs of the 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 variety? in air pollution levels, causing a great deal of
perspective and while it worked in many as bizarre as this could have happened in real Fireworks should be restricted to private misery to those with respiratory disorders
ways, I was often left feeling inept to be this life. The whole evening the entire road lined spaces like residential compounds or notified and also adversely affecting the already
person I so wanted to be. I strived and kept with new apartments and new cars — the public commons. There could be a limit to the struggling ecology by augmenting the levels
striving every single day. I still do, but with a sounds of partying ran amok. It was like being timings at which loud noises can be made (as it of toxic gases. The bursting of high-decibel
small difference. at the centre of a battlefield. I went out and is done for the use of public address systems crackers continue well past midnight,
This difference was almost life changing; it tried to protest and after a while I was burning and loudspeakers). disturbing infants, patients and the elderly.
in no way announced its arrival and I didn’t with anger instead. I felt like screaming, ‘If you But one thing which the government cannot Is it not high time that we make this
know it would mean so much, before it have money to burn please don’t burn it here!’ do is to enforce sensitivity against attitudes like festival of lights a pleasant and mellow one?
actually sank in. It all happened just a few When I woke up in the morning, I realised, it “If I have money to burn…” What sort of a celebration is it when it mars
days ago. I was still in a strange city, which I was not a bad dream. Unbelievably loud bombs Can we do away with vulgar and the joys of others? Surely Diwali does not
disliked immensely for several reasons, and in chains of thousands and exploding rockets in ostentatious displays of wealth (often ill-gotten teach us to make merry at the cost of our
the loneliness that was eating into my unbelievable numbers shattering the silence of wealth) and not just limit it to government environment. Let’s make it a festival that
existence had got the worst of me. I woke up the evening and night had continued way into resolutions about austerity. leaves behind good memories and makes
that morning deciding to be more pro-active. everyone long for its return each year.
I called a friend and asked him to get me in MOHAMMAD JAVED KHAN, Andheri, Mumbai
touch with someone who ‘would have the
C O N TA C T
time.’ Most of my friends have been really
busy with their own lives and one can’t blame
Are we guinea pigs?
them for being like that, especially when you
SHEET THIS is with reference to news reports that
live in a city that demands so much. the Genetic Engineering Approval
The friend did exactly what I had asked Committee and the Food Safety and
him to and in no time I had a number on my VINOD KUMAR T Standards Authority of India have approved
phone. A number of a complete stranger — the release of Bt brinjal. Bt brinjal could
whose name, for some strange reason, rang a become a serious health risk. While some
bell in my mind. I was in desperate need for developed countries do not approve
company and so I called the person up and genetically modified crops (GMC) as safe for
asked him all that I had to and we began human consumption, and do not grow any
chatting. A week later, we met. He was GMC, we have colluded with the GM food
interesting, yes! He was proud of what he industry, against public interest.
was, yes! He was older to me, YES! It seems when it comes to GMCs, Indians
He was Harish Iyer, a young and fabulous will continue to be used as guinea pigs.
young Mumbaikar with a story that shook the Where is our freedom of choice?
very core of my existence. He showed me V V VIJAYAN, Chembur, Mumbai
around town, took me exactly to where I’d
enjoy going and spent the whole evening with
me. It was a fabulous time and by far the best
No bias in blast probe
time I’d had in the city. AFTER hounding minority communities
Amidst all that energy and fun every time there is a terror attack, now the
conversations however, there was this one government is pointing fingers at a Hindu
statement he made, that provoked me to organisation for the Madgaon blast even
rethink my life. While he told me about his life before investigations are complete.
with such conviction about his future, he said A young girl runs with a plastic At a time when terrorism has posed a
something to the likes of: “Why would you vessel to collect potable water for threat to the sovereignty of the country,
want to give someone enough attention to her family. In a city of lakes, the dealing with it in such a casual manner is
even deserve your hatred? If they’ve done highly deplorable. The government should
something wrong and you know they have,
reality is that drinking water is investigate the gory incident without favour,
you need to move on and forget their presence still a major problem in certain fear or bias.
in your life.” lower income areas ARVIND D TAPKIRE, via email
This was like a magic formula being
suddenly thrown at my face. For someone like
me, forgetting only came with forgiving. But
what if you came across deeds that could not VOICES DO YOU THINK INDIA WILL BE READY TO HOST THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES ON TIME?
be forgiven. What if those deeds were so vile
that the only healing was time and you still
They might just be They’ll host it for Of course we’ll be
desperately needed to move on?
able to do so, but sure, but the quality able to do it. We still
All that thinking made me realise that
there will always be will not be up to have enough time to
we’re all just human beings at the end of the
issues like security. everyone’s prepare for the big
day. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and
It’s also the first expectations. The event. There is a lot
be bigger people. We should, but we ought to
time, so they’ll have quality of work is of work, yes, but we
give ourselves the time to do so.
to plan really well. going to be bad. will manage.
If someone has hurt you so much that you
can’t forgive the person just then, you should
try and forget it and move on. The forgiving AJMAL POYA ANUSHA HARSH NANDAN
will come on its own when the time is right. Student Software engineer Software engineer
You needn’t even wait for it. Koramangala Basaveshwaranagar BTM Layout