Article published in One India, a fortnightly from Irinjalakuda in 2010

1. SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
Nimal C Namboodiripad
The world is changing at a fast pace. What held good yesterday does no more so
today. In fact we can go so far as to say that the only unchanging thing in the
world as of now is that it constantly changes. Since that is so isn’t it time that we
Indians especially relooked at some of the age old values of society? To me it
definitely seems so. A few examples of them I will quote below:
1. Humility is no more a virtue. Bragging is.
In olden days to be humble was a great virtue. Even if you were the
acknowledged expert in the field you left it to the others to talk about you. Now
it is no more so. You have to sell your own skills and knowledge. Marketing of
your skills is more important than the skills you have. The main reason for this is
that people are not able to judge others properly or they are afraid to trust their
own instincts. They have to be told how they should perceive you!
2. Higher education reduces social consciousness
Higher the education your knowledge levels are supposed to go up and your
character and qualities to improve. These days it doesn’t seem to be so. The
better the education the better the job, the higher the pay, the tighter the
working time and less time to think about others less fortunate than you in the
world. You become so narrow in your thinking that selfishness is the result. Once
in a while you may pop out of your cocoon and put in a few hours of community
service or some money but the heart is in the tax cut rather than the satisfaction
that you get out of your actions.
3. Helping others is against the law of nature
Can you see a tiger helping out an elephant in need? If you see one that is so
rare that it proves to be an exception rather than the rule. So why do people
help out others even so far as going to help animals! This is especially true in the
case of lending money or materials. You find that those who you thought were
your friends going out of their way to avoid you once you have loaned them
some money.
4. The more you read the less original ideas you have
There is something called a surfeit of information. In this communication era this
is going to be almost like a disease. The more you read and the more
information you have it creates a sort of indigestion in your mind so much so
that you are completely drained of original ideas and can only parrot what others
say. Academics and so called scholars beware!

2. 5. Killing and eating somebody who speaks a different language is
permissible
If killing and eating animals and birds are permitted so should killing and eating
people who speaks a different language. Logically speaking there is no difference
between the two. All are living organisms. All talk but differently. Monkeys walk
on two legs, an inebriated man or a small kid on four. All cry out in pain. All
come from the God of beautiful things.
6. Marriage contracts should have specific time periods
Marriages come with a clause that says that until death do we part. But marriage
is a contract and any legal person would agree that the ‘until death do we part’ is
a bit vague in terms of specifying the time period. Isn’t it time that even the
marriage vows came with a proper time period or an expiry date?
7. Is love marriage a misnomer?
Love is either used as a noun or a verb. So is marriage. How can then we use
love as an adjective or adverb for the term marriage? Besides many an arranged
marriage is a self arranged one. So is the so called love marriage. There is love
in many an arranged marriage, there are love marriages without love.
8. And lastly but not the least after seeing all the hullabaloo over the hanging of
Dhananjay Chakravarty should the law be changed to even if thousands of
innocents are convicted one culprit should not be let free?
There are so many people supporting the cause of a rapist of a school girl and
murderer even after he was proved guilty on all counts beyond any reasonable
doubt you get the feeling that the country’s crime rate and problems will go
down only if the above is implemented.
After all in our country killing one person is a crime but killing twenty is OK as
long as you organize a party and have the support of a thousand foolish citizens!
(Published in One India)