"jhooti Mooti Baaton Se Bachana Zara

"Meethi meethi baaton se bachna zara
Duniya ke logon mein hai jaadoo bhara"

This were lines which my mom used to remind me of all the time. Call me naive, call me foolish, but I find it extremely tiring, or mentally draining if you will, to live in a state of constant distrust. Distrust drains no one as much as the one who distrusts. So I generally follow the maxim 'innocent unless proven guilty'.

However, times have changed so much. There was a time my parents and sis used to chide me for not reading a newspaper. Then I started reading them. I read news about accidents, Mandrake the Magician, Mickey Mouse, Dennis the Menace ...... It was years before I could get interested in anything that reeked of 'news'. Much to the delight of my sis, who thought it was essential for me to think beyond myself and my little world. I enjoyed reading people like Arun Shourie.

Then came a stage where I got disgusted with politics. That was as long ago as the '90s. Then came the social media. There was no escaping the news after that. The only issue, apart from the fact that politicians and politics seemed to be the dregs of society is that each medium, each individual, each post or forward would have us believe something else. The news channels don't agree with each other either. How can that be? Newspapers and channels must report happenings as they are. But apparently they are not. Now whom do I believe? The danger is that if one chooses to disbelieve everything, one runs the risk of running into a 'When Maria called "fire", they only said "little liar" ' situation. "To believe or not to believe" then becomes a truly existential problem.

And then, whom do I vote for? With two elections looming, I seriously wonder whether the voters' ID is only that - an ID proof, but does one need it with so many ID proofs these days? Is not voting or voting for NOTA a solution?

"Hum kya se kya ho gayein" comes to mind and the 'hum' refers to us Indians. Do we have any option other than to watch with horror or to shut our eyes and ears and chant 'hari hari'? Probably that is better than letting our BPs soar.

"Jhoothi mooti baaton se bachana zara
Duniya ke media mein kachara bhara".

 

Unfortunately, shravs, that will never happen. That is because the votes of a large proportion of Indians are bought for money and goods. Others are threatened into voting for a party by goons belonging to that party. Even if such a miracle were to happen, I am afraid our politicians are incorrigible enough to grab power anyway. And then it would be a free for all.

 

Geeta, I had got admission to the journalism course, but did not take it up. Am so glad I did not!