Friday, July 26, 2013

Strange are the ways.....

I'm surprised at the things that are happening around me as gleaned from the day's newspapers. Why do they happen in the first place? Or is it that the so called checks and procedures that are in place, are bypassed without going into the ethos behind their evolution/existence? Let me go through a few that caught my eye:-

 (a) An unusual inclusion!

 An 'Ode to the Sea' is an unusual poem because its author is suspected Al Qaeda terrorist, Ibrahim
 al-Rubaish. The poem was included in the syllabus for the degree level studies by the Calicut
 University in 2011.

 A Saudi national and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, the author is reportedly active in the
 ranks of the Al Qaeda even to this day and his name is reportedly included on the Saudi Interior
 ministry's list of most wanted terrorists since 2009.

 Given the controversial background of its author, the poem has now been recommended for removal
 from the third semester textbook, 'Literature and Contemporary Issues' of the Varsity.

 (b) A strange request!

 About a year ago, 65 MPs seem to have written to US President, Barrack Obama asking him to
 refuse his country's visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. Though many of the MPs
 whose names figure in the list have said that their signatures have been forged, such a missive is
 in bad taste. The dynamics of political and ideological differences between people must remain
 within the country and the fraternity has to project itself as one single entity when it comes to
 projecting a national image outside the country.

 There can be no dilution on that front, otherwise we'd become a laughing stock and who knows,
 could also get to be vulnerable to exploitation/blackmail from outside.

 (c)An unnecessary feud!

 Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in Economics was expressing his point of view
 when he had said that he didn't want to see Narendra Modi as the country's PM since he lacked
 secular credentials. He'd gone on to add that he wasn't in favour of Modi's style of governance.
 It flows from his 'Right to freedom of expression' as a free citizen of this country.

 BJP MP, Chandan Mitra's call for stripping the economist off his 'Bharat Ratna' on account of his
 utterances is churlish and unreasonable. His call for such an outlandish act is because of his
 'possessiveness' of the award as it was given to Mr. Sen by the Vajpayee government. And rightly,
 his party has distanced itself from the MP's demand. A feud that could have best been avoided - in a democracy, there would be supporters as well as critics. All have to be taken along and the critics brought over to your side by your right deeds.


Tailpiece.

It's strange that we waste a lot of energy over non-issues while the important ones are missed out on - purposely, I often wonder - or conveniently glossed over!     

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