Bore-wells not for the water but for the blood!

Navanath. He is the new name who defeated the death which called him on when it was not supposed to knock his door so early and in a cruel manner. This five and half year boy from Gulbarga saw a new life when he was rescued from the open bore-well after the restless operation of eight hours.

The incident summons the similar misshapenness, some ended in tragedy and the other in sigh of big relief. Another boy who was fortunate enough to save his life after collapsing into the 53 feet deep open bore-well was Prince of Kurukshetra. Prince who struggled for 50 long hours to overcome from the clutches of death had hit the national headline. However in 2007, Sandeep, a boy from Raichur lost his live in the bore-well. The same tragic fate meted to 7 year old Kariya of Davanagere in 2000 and 6 years old Chitradurga boy Timma in 2003.
The government as usual, came up with a promise to closure of stinking bore wells which are left open. But it convinced no one as these promises are as dry as the stinking bore-wells. The time has arrived to think seriously about the craze of bore-wells. It is not only concerned with the life of the children playing in the field who are the potential victims but as a matter of fact, it has ruined so many lives beyond our imagination. We only look at the cases of slipping into the well. Apart from that, its ugly face is hidden in the death of innumerable formers who have committed suicide unable to remit their debts.
Unlike in the case of open well and other water sources, it lacks the refilling capacity. The evidences prove that couples of bore-wells near the other kind of water sources are enough to damage the whole system by making the latter suffer adversely. Thus it leading to make the water a private property while the other who badly needed it anyway suffer without alternatives. Initially when you get water from the very surface level itself, the system look smart. But soon one need to go deeper and deeper till it dries up. That is what generally happens with most of the bore-wells.

In this era of rain water harvesting, there need not be a hesitation to bid adieu to the bore-wells. The success stories of rain water harvesting are the answer to the dead and deadly bore-wells. According to the reports of a Kannada TV channel, there are some 60 bore-wells in a hazardous conditions can be seen in Koppala, the number raises to 200 in Bidar and if one goes to scrutinize such bore-wells across the nation it will perhaps cross six digits.
A reference to the article of P Sainath, a Magsassay awardees and the finest developmental journalist, says it all. He finds out with all the facts and figure that the debt for these bore-wells among farmers is the major cause for their suicide. He gives the example of Musampally of Andhra Pradesh in which bore-wells are more in number than the people! Out of 6000 bore-wells in the region, 85 percent are failed. He rightly points out that the huge amount as much as 6.52 crore would have been spend on other type of minor irrigation project, which might have turned the village prosperous. They invested a huge amount on digging the bore-wells and when it did not yield anything, they saw the solution in ending their life.

Bore-wells, they mean the license for exploiting the ground water beyond the limit. Take the example of Manerajuri village of Sangli, which once was prosperous enough to reap a good harvest thanks to its good water resource. Now the 11000 people of this village virtually live in the mercy of state sponsored water tanks. The craze for the bore-wells landed them in this plight. It has 5000 bore-wells, all dry. The land which ones boast of 2600 acre grape farm now reduced to 200 acres. The farmers of the region went deeper and deeper in the greed of water. Now they can not climb over.

Having more number of bore-wells has become a prestigious issue for a former like car craze to businessmen or to an actor. This must be broken. The state need to intensify its effort in taking the modern idea of water harvesting to the doorstep of the farmers.

But the politicians think otherwise in this regard. They have no time to educate the masses. The promise of giving new bore-wells remains one of the popular election gimmicks. In 2004 election TDP and Congress candidates sank 400 free bore-wells in Andhra, according to the media reports. No one bothers to know how many bore-wells met with failure. After the Kurukshetra incident, the Mysore district administration had initiated a rough estimation. The estimation had revealed that there were 12000 bore-wells falls into Mysore jurisdiction. If this is the case of a single district, God only knows how many bore-wells we have in this country and of them how many are in a hazardous condition; and how many are indirectly claimed the lives of poor farmers.

Is this not the right time for bid adieu to the bore-wells and welcome the modern techniques of irrigation?

Life is moving, where is the destination?

Life has become more and more uncertain. You can’t judge it. A motorbike came from the wrong side when you are crossing the one way is enough to take your life. A terrorist may have fixed the bomb in the train you are commuting. Despite of the fact that you are a person with all the good habits, a deadly disease may hit you without any reasons. Leave alone these grave worries, life hampers you from taking a very little decisions. You anxiously wait for the month’s salary as you have set your mind to purchase a new model cell phone that has hit the market very recently. But at the end, you will be forced to change your decision. Because the commodity turns old at the time you count your salary. In such an odd situation we are stepping into the year 2008. Wish you happy New Year!
Well, the uncertainty of life certainly should not lead us towards pessimism. The uncertainty of life holds a great philosophy which tell us ‘Live the moment’. Waiting is a good thing. But it becomes worse when it possess never ending nature. We, most of the time live in that bad manner. Postponement of dream. That is the best suited phrase.

We wait for our education to be complete. It is easier to settle the things when the studies are over, we think. Then the question of job. Once we see ourselves in a good job, the life is settled then. But the wait not ends there. We told ourselves, let get marry to find ultimate satisfaction. Don’t relax. Children and their education bother us. Even after they complete their education we still not happy as finding suitable match for them invokes. Till our last breath we spend our life in the hope that we meet the destination called happiness.
Let the wait end. Let us enjoy each and every moment of life. Because this life has become more and more uncertain. You can’t judge it. A motorbike came from the wrong side when you are crossing the one way is enough to take your life…
To conclude, happiness is not a destination but a voyage.
(photo : internet)

A monologue before an epilogue

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We are standing at the threshold of 2008. For the moment let us have a light heart. We may suppose to see more bomb attacks, more blood and many number of Nandigram in the coming year. Let us go back to the same old saying ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst’. Setting the serious issues apart, enjoy this short story if it can be called so…
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He had known that one day she would abandon him. Now the moment has come and he is finding it tough to manage himself. A floodgate of reminiscence has broken in the mind. Every wave hitting his heart contains her love.

No it is not the end of a bond. In fact, the bond which he has with her is not something which can be broken. But still it bothers him because she is finding another man to share her feelings.

She no longer reports him her day over a cup of evening tea. Soon he will miss the voice which commands him “We should dine out today. How long is it since we sat face to face? And enjoy the relishes outside the home?” He always liked to hear the appeal which asks “can you pick me up from the college … please?” How can he forget the innumerous times when he did console her with the words, “nothing to worry, I am here”, whenever she feared about her exams, about something which is silly and about a strange stalker who followed her in one late evening.

He loved her, that’s all. How much? The very question itself is meaningless to him. But one fine day, she introduced a guy only to tell him that he is her lover. So, within a few days, that guy will stand in his place to feel and share her love, dependency, command and all. “Am I feeling jealous of him? It is not right to feel like that. It was my fortune to have her love and every moment with me till date. Now it’s his time. Let him have her love. That young and energetic man needs her affection to make his dream come true.”he concluded.

Suddenly she appeared in front of him. “I have been watching you from more than five minutes. You are lost in thought. I know, what you are thinking about. You are too much bothering about missing me. Aren’t you?” Dad, poor dad, come on. I am not leaving you for another planet. After all, I am getting married. I love you dad…”

She gave him a hug and he gently kissed her forehead.

Let us outsource our security task to US!

They set up their companies in India in order to meet the demand of IT professionals, BPO and KPO. Now, how about we seek their participation in our army and internal security force?
It may be sound very strange and eccentric but that’s what the bitter reality is! Soon we may have no men to serve the frontier. The attitude of government is paving way to this ugly situation. A series of instances occur to mind in this regard.

*Recently a lathi-charge incident made a headline in one of the regional Kannada channels. It was happened in a recruitment camp. What was the camp about.? Was that an IT recruitment camp? Or was that about banking or some other business? No. There will be no such incidents like lathi –charge if it was concerned with any above mentioned industries. The police showed their strength on the youths who came all the way to materialize their dream of joining the Indian army. In the confusion many were beaten and few lost their certificates. Is this the way we are welcoming the future guards of this country?

* December is the dreadful month for the Indians as it remembers the terrorist attack on Parliament. A couple of days back, newspaper carried the picture of a woman who tried to enter the Parliament, only to claim that she had not received what she deserved after her husband died in the parliament attack as a brave security man. What would be the fate of these politicians if the security persons cared for there own lives?

*What make our worry even more worst is the some facts revealed by ‘Times Now’ news channel. Only 19% of young men and women of this country like to join the army. That is what the Survey carried by the channel tell us. Once again, it is the low salary structure that made the young mind to arrive at this conclusion. Many mind about the risky life but 43% respondents found no problem to join the army if they ensured with good pay and career growth.

*A months back a MP caught up in the airport while indulging in human trafficking. Not considering this fact, an order was passed by the government to exempt some VIPs from the security hassles including politicians but excluding army officials!

* ‘I am ashamed that I served India.’ This is the shocking statement by a Param veer chakra awardee! He is Captain Bana Singh, the man who played significant role in recapturing Siachin glacier. He gets Rs 166 per month, while any militant surrendered to the army gets Rs 2000!

Do we have any moral base to talk about patriotism? Leave our politicians. We the people in general, always wish to have a Shivaji in our neighborhood and software son in our home.

The last article of Veenadhari focus on some hard facts about HIV and AIDS

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Every year on December 1st we observe AIDS day. This year we certainly miss a person who bravely stood up to face the battle against HIV. Just before a couple of weeks to her death, she wrote an article about her struggle which was not only against the disease but also against the ill mindsets who are trying to reap benefit in the name of HIV. Her name is ‘Veenadhari’ and what follows is the gist of her Kannada article. Being a sub editor, it was my great pleasure to publish this insightful write up in ‘Vikrama’. I never forget the moment I spoke to her over the telephone only to appreciate and ask photograph of her. At that time she was admitted to hospital and she had promised me to send the photographs as soon as she recovers. It is sad to note that, before her promise being materialize, Veenadhari herself turned into a photographic memory. Perhaps this was her last article.
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Is ‘HIV’ means the end of the life? Majority of us hardly see any doubt about that. But, Veenadhari, social worker and herself was a HIV victim had different take on this issue.

She had firmly said “it is not for HIV that one needs to bother, but the vulnerable threat is from the section that turned the fear of HIV into a money making industry”. “Most of the AIDS awareness campaigns are nothing but a well planed conspiracy. They project the disease as if a death certificate, in order to gain economic benefit. They purposefully hide the optimistic points from the HIV victims. When I tried to deliver the real things in front of the public, the people who are working in the field of AIDS awareness had not supported me and tried to stop me from the objective” Veenadhari, who was a well known name in Karnataka for counseling the HIV victims had revealed her anguish in her last article to the newsmagazine ‘Vikrama’.

She further admitted that HIV may affect the person who is not an AIDS victim. There is no evidence to substantiate the claim that HIV causes AIDS. AIDS is nothing but the total of some 30 odd diseases. Apart from the unsafe sex, the disease may also occur from tuberculosis, bad habits, work pressure, depression, malnutrition and odd lifestyle as they deteriorate the resistance power. The scientists exploded all these things through websites, medical journals and conferences, but the pharmacy companies and the NGO’s are not letting the people to know these developments. She never hesitated to set the blame.

After experiencing the truth about HIV Veenadhari wanted to take this information to the people. “When I was came to know that HIV has affected me, I lost all the hope at the initial stage. But I did not want to give up so easily. I met many scientists and doctors working in this field and also studied the life of HIV affected. It helped me to break the myths about HIV” she shared her experience in her last write up. “There are cases in which parents possess HIV, but their children are free from the threat. It also happened; the parents are HIV free while their children found HIV positive! Some people who are labeled as HIV positive as early as 18 to 20 years back are still leading a healthy life”. This claim of Veenadhari emphasizes the need of serious research on AIDS. The points which were made by Veenadhari are debatable. Striving to find the fact by making this debate alive is the best way to pay our homage to Veenadhari.