Editor,
In a few months from now, candidates with their group of entourage will be knocking at our doors, wearing a big smile on their faces, inquire about our children and grandchildren. They will go to whatever extent to make us believe, that no one else can represent us better than them and that they are truly and genuinely concerned about us and our future. Maybe that sounds a bit extreme, but the fact remains that our candidates will do whatever is possible to make us believe that our votes matter to them. If voting really matters, then we have no one else left to blame but ourselves, for the lack of development, corruption, high handedness and whatever else that has made our state what it is today – the poor state of our roads being a strong example. It is a visible truth that once the elections are over, none of us really has any access to the people whom we have voted for. Our individual votes will never matter unless the election result in our constituency is within one vote of a dead-even tie. My question then is why vote if we are not really sure that our votes will really bring about change and make a difference. Often the persons we voted for are usually good human beings until we see the process of metamorphosis that usually happens once they get into power. I believe it was Lord Acton the British politician who said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” At a personal level, not voting seems to be a better option, unless of course someone else can convince me that my vote counts. In an age where knowledge, information and skills seems are on the rise what is lacking are people with character. The question that arises then is how do we measure peoples’ character without damaging their reputation, if at all character is needed in politics.
Yours etc.,
Pyndapbha Warjri
Shillong – 2
Show respect for all religions!
Editor,
This is in reply to Mr. Rasputin Bismarck’s letter “Is burning the dead a healthy practice” (ST Aug 23, 2017). I feel it is of paramount importance for Mr. Bismarck to learn that Hindus perform cremation of the dead because they firmly believe in the soul being indestructible and that death symbolizes only the end of the existence of a person’s physical being. Hindus firmly believe that the soul then reincarnates in some other life form and passes through the same cycle of taking birth, growing and eventually meeting death. Cremation of a person’s dead body is therefore, supposed to rid the departed soul of any attachments to the body it previously resided in and also to dissolve the 5 elements inside the body (Earth, Sky, Air, Water and Fire) back into the cosmos.
I believe the content of Mr. Bismarck’s letter are highly irresponsible, immature and calls for immediate apology as he is mocking the traditional values of a religion which has close to a billion followers worldwide. While the writer vehemently terms the tradition of cremation as not eco- friendly, he forgets to realize that the same tradition is also saving millions of acres of land specially in an over populated country like India. For his further satisfaction, he may also do a simple reality check by searching on Google: “land shortage for burial in (any country of his choice)” to see innumerable news reports from renowned media houses like BBC, New York Times, Reuters, Guardian, India Today, etc which express the alarming state of affairs as the world is running out of burial space.
Therefore instead of ignorantly ridiculing a particular tradition, it is our utmost duty to have mutual respect for all religion and their long established traditions which are actually indispensable to us.
Yours etc.,
Raghav Bajaj.
Via email.