A New Hero...

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. "
-Martin Luther King Jr.

The power of one man can take down an army. The power of one man can right a thousand wrongs. It's all about that word - POWER and he who holds it. There used to be a time when the governing body of the World was the UNO in so many ways. People turned to them for help, for aid, for salvation. That day hopefully will resurface again in the future. For now, the UnO is nothing more than a courtier in the King's palace. It aids in decision making, but it cannot do any more. It cannot fight for justice. It can only seek audience with an aggressor and ask them to stand down..nothing more. And today, there are no King Asokas' who,on seeing the death they have wrought, will search their own souls for compassion.
It is a sad example for people like me, who grew up to textbooks which had given God status to the UN, to see them so ineffective in this day and age. It's enough to make people lose faith in justice. But then, perhaps there is a subtle shift over the years that has gone unnoticed. Now, the powers no longer lie with those who yeild the Sword of might or wealth. It is coming back to the ones who gave that sword in the first place - the people.


by pythoroshan
I, like most of India, was appalled at the main story that headed most Indian news channels this week - Ujjain. The story of a professor beaten to death on the college campus by ABVP activists after he discovered irregulariites in student elections IN FRONT OF IMMOBILE POLICE OFFICERS and the subsequent crap dished out by the political party ( the culprit and its father body ) was nauseating. The fact that the damn Chief minister of the state tried to defend the culprits by dismissing it as an 'unfortunate heart attack' and blaming the Professor for canceling the electionswas even more shocking.
Autopsies subsequently confirmed that the professor died of broken ribs which led to bleeding into his lungs. More than a dozen events in this state have occured since the party came into power, all of which involved the party using their might to supress the minorities or those who don't 'follow the blessed path'. These party members would have gotten away with it too. But there was something different this time. There was a live video tape of what transpired. And most importantly, it was not buried. In what is another rarity, all the news channels played the tapes all day long over 2-3 days. They demanded justice and hunted the 'elusive eye witnesses'. When the police refused to go for a sketch of the culprits, they mocked them till they had no choice. The culprits ,at present, have been nabbed and the father body is slowly distancing themselves, atleast for now, from the student body of the state.

The police can take no credit for this incident. They failed at every stage - prevention,early action and management. This was a case purely of the media standing up and doing their job. This was the media saying 'We will not back down. We will not let you walk away scot free.' They could have buried the tape. They could have accepted the bribes. They didn't. And in not doing so, maybe, just maybe, they have given Mr Sabharwal's family, a chance at justice.

by pythoroshan
A few months back, the media stood up against the Jessica Lal verdict and rightly so. Now, this. It's very gratifying. Because you realise all is not lost. Maybe there will never be another Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or another Martin Luthor King. That age is over. There are no individual heroes left.. none who can survive the media glare. I doubt, if they lived today, that either of these heroes of the past would have been as effective. They'd probably just be seen as 'freedom fighters'..thats a nice word for 'terrorist' apparently, in most countries. In the 40's, Gandhi's actions were viewed with awe across a 100 nations. King took up the cause of the blacks at a time when racial killing was at its peak. Today ? I'm not sure but Im guessing that besides Dubyaman ( El Presidento De Americana ), the most searched names& quotes on the net would have to be Paris Hilton's !!
There are no Supermen left.It's a fact. So who will save us ? To steal from our religious books, when the Lords and Prophets passed on, religion did not die. To steal from the comic books we grew up reading, when Superman was killed, the world did not end. They carried on. Lesser heroes stood up and took greater responsibility. They never promised victory, they never inspired awe, but they gave justice..one small step at a time. Perhaps,today, we ourselves, are these lesser heroes. We shouldn't look for adulations. Just do the right thing. And hopefully, justice will prevail.