Editor,
A video showing people of Jowai dancing on the streets on Christmas eve has gone viral. When not far away from Jowai, there is death and destruction of over 15 human lives who are trapped inside a flooded mine, how can people be so insensitive as to shut their conscience just because the tragedy has not visited their own families? According to reports there are three young boys from the Catholic Church who went inside the mines because they needed money to take part in a Youth Convention at a nearby church. It pains me that young people have to go through so much hardship just so they can take part in a religious convention. But it also speaks of their commitment to their faith.
In a completely different situation, in the midnight Mass in the Catholic Cathedral of Shillong, Archbishop Dominic Jala reportedly reminded the congregation to pray for the miners trapped inside the mines irrespective of their faiths and circumstances. This is how religious heads are supposed to respond to a humanitarian crisis. But perhaps in many of us, the need for noisy celebrations has superseded the call of conscience to empathise with fellow humans. We have entered a materialistic age when individualism has become the norm. Otherwise, the Christmas celebration in Meghalaya should have been more sombre and reflective and should have been spent on prayer for redemption of the souls of those who rule our state but have no compassion for people dying inside those inhuman mines even though they have used coal money for winning elections. This is the tragedy of the coal mining business in Meghalaya. While it is the miners who enrich the mine owners by risking their own lives, no one cares about their safety. The entire politics of Meghalaya as we all know runs on coal money but now no one wants to go near the mines. What a sad thing it is for the State which is now in the news for the wrong reasons.
So who will be held accountable for the deaths of the miners trapped inside the rat holes? The mine owner/s? The State Government for allowing this dangerous mining practice to continue? The Central Government for not responding adequately with the required equipments? Or the District Administration which has not followed standard operating procedures even when such mine accidents have happened in Garo Hills in 2012? We can go on and on trying to find out who to pin the blame on and this engagement is important because we do not know when the next disaster will strike. And if it does strike will we see the same state of unpreparedness?
Christmas surely cannot be a ‘Happy’ one with so many deaths hovering over us. And I am using the word deaths because no one can survive in a flooded mine for two weeks without water or oxygen. It frightens me to even think about those poor souls.
Yours etc.,
Kynsai R Nonglait,
Via email
Message for humanity
Editor,
The Ramkrishna Misson Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata is my Alma Mater. So, I was delighted when its secretary, Swami Suparnananda had invited Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Kolkata to address a Christmas Eve gathering at the institute to “establish trust and friendship among the people” as he said, “We need to understand other religions more than ever.” The invitation was accepted by the Church. A Church official observed that though it was uncommon for the Archbishop to accept invitations from outside, but it was done as he said, “We are going through a phase when we need to create a spirit of mutual respect and propagate the message of love and peace.”
On Christmas Eve, my Alma Mater got the message across. The first one was delivered when Archbishop Thomas D’Souza said to the packed audience, “Swami Vivekananda in his famous Chicago address had called all those who were present his sisters and brothers. It was a beautiful expression but a very strong message. On Christmas Eve, let us bring this message. If we are all sisters and brothers, how can we hate one another; how can we kill one another? We cannot do that. If we have the same humanity, have the same feelings as human beings, how can we not accept others? If it happens, it saddens us. We can’t hate or kill others unless there is loss of humanity, compassion, sensitivity and concern for others.”
Then Swami Suparnananda recalled the message of Swami Vivekananda ~ “A good Hindu is a good Christian, a good Christian is a good Hindu, a good Musalman is a good Christian and a good follower of any religion will protect every other religion and the followers of each and every religion. This is the message of Jesus Christ. The same is the message of Buddha, Krishna, Chaitanya, Sri Ramkrishna and Mohammed.”
In another Christmas Eve gathering at Ramkrishna Misson Ashram, Narendrapur, Father Rodney Borneo said, “When we don’t see human beings as human beings but call them Hindu; when we don’t see human beings as human beings but call them Muslim; when we don’t see human beings as human beings but call them white or black; or say he is shikkhita (educated) or ashikkhita (uneducated); and when we bring these differences in our love…. we break our relationship with God.”
Amidst intolarance all around, we need to hear such messages again and again.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata