View of The Ganges From Chunar Fort

It’s indicative of dark age when righteousness gets marginalized and the glory of real people gets eclipsed by the gestures of fake people.  It’s often too late when truth comes to make its presence felt.  Often the picture is quite murkier when truth strikes its authority.  Let’s realize that promotion of good values cannot take place if we have nothing substantial to offer people dealing in virtues.  The customary gestures are not suffice to ensure the survival of good souls.  How come people with bad reputation emerge as kingmaker while the people with clean reputation remain trapped in ironies of life as sufferers ? I am going to narrate two grim episodes which highlight this aspect.

The previous week I took short break from my writing, making myself get lost in the beauty of nature. The Ghats of Ganges, the long stretches of fields occupied with wheat crop ready to be harvested, the touch of cool wave flowing under the huge Peepal tree, the smiles of naughty village kids and the scent of green mangoes which fills inside the nostrils as we pass through the mango-laden branches are some of the fascinating scenes still moving inside the corridors of my mind.  However,  something unwanted happened which tainted the blissful episodes which occurred in short break.

Some kids who were playing on Ghat close to my place of stay in Chunar-my maternal grandmother’s town famous for its ancient fort built by Maharaja Vikrmaditya the King of Ujjain- somehow slipped into the deep waters of Ganges in an attempt to get hold of the cricket ball which had fallen in the river. It was noon time so the Ghat bore a deserted look.  When three of them started crying for help once they found themselves trapped and started drowning it was obvious that their cries failed to evoke response.  It was sheer luck that one person appeared on the scene and he dared to jump into the deep waters. He made his best efforts to save all the three kids but in the end all he could manage was to save one child from drowning. Two children went deep inside the waters becoming untraceable. When the news spread like wild fire, the Ghat was filled with sea of people in grip of sorrow. The administration acted in swift manner but all in vain. The high police officials and other senior officials were quick in making their presence felt but other than entering in face saving gestures they were no better than mute spectators.

The Chunar Fort Built By King Vikramaditya In Memory Of His Brother Bhartahari

They were supposed to arrive on the scene with proper net to locate the dead bodies.  However, they arrived on the scene without any rescue material. They manged to find a fishing net but it was pretty insufficient to trace the dead bodies. Meanwhile, the evening came closer, making tracing of the bodies a remote possibility.  The next day swollen dead bodies of the kids were found floating on the surface of the water.  The print media like always reported this incident the way it does, mentioning the lackadaisical role of administration and gathered some interviews so that city section does not remain vacant!! Ironically,  the dead bodies when reached to the mortuary, the doctors were found missing. The whole scenario is enough to suggest the role which government machinery comes to play in wake of a tragedy. It acts in same heartless manner the way it acted decades ago.  We have new generation in the administration but call it design they prefer to act like their worn out predecessors.  They find it safe to be coloured in deceptive traits of their previous officers.

Now let me state the actual reason which made me write this article.  I didn’t write it to highlight poor administration which is something so commonplace in India.  I was really hurt on noticing that man named Ram Bilas who saved life of one the children drowning did’t get any credit for this heroic gesture. What’s worse,  he was accused by the relatives of the drowned children that he didn’t make proper efforts in saving life of other two kids.  The reality was that this man made valiant efforts to save all the kids even as he found himself trapped in strong currents.  One of the kids came to hold him so tightly that he himself started drowning.  Meanwhile, the other two kids lost their grip amidst this dangerous struggle for survival.  Both media and administration neither bothered to mention the role of Ram Bilas nor they seemed interested in offering him suitable reward.  Is that’s the way to honour the saviour?

Look at the flow of money in IPL.  Huge money is being distributed as prize money each day.  However, we have no money to give to our real hero Ram Bilas who saved precious human life by putting at stake his own life.   It really hurts that our real heroes on most occasions remain unsung heroes.  And as I end this write-up I need to highlight another gross misrepresentation on part of media.  One of the small scale factories operating in my locality caught fire. That made all the residents of my locality took all possible steps to control the fire.  Someone promptly informed both fire brigade and police but like always they arrived when we had already nearly extinguished the fire. Media persons also arrived on the scene to click the perfect images. In fact,  some of them were frustrated on not arriving on time to get sensational image of huge flames!!!
 

Anyway, next day the news items in this regard reported that fire brigade officials after battling with flames for few hours managed to extinguish it totally. The role of localites went altogether missing. Doesn’t it raise doubt about the credibility of media ? After this incident, it became very clear to me that media is far away from the truth in our times. It depicts what sells not what really matters. It’s not interested in truth but only crass sensationalism.

Our Real Heroes Always Fade Into Oblivion

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Pic Three