Thursday, February 26, 2009

Who is responsible for the mess?

“History is a boring subject and what am I going to gain by mugging up what happened two centuries ago and which king ruled over which country.” – Nikhil my son who is appearing for 9th std hates History and he tells that with pride. We always have a war of words when I ask him to study History.
I love reading about kings and their wealth but the way they depict and describe in school text books it does appear very boring. Moreover school text books are not updated regularly.
Yesterday I was teaching him Economics. In a chapter on Poverty, they have explained about poverty line, how it is determined and what was the poverty line in 1975 and how poverty is the result of British policies… blah blah. When I was studying Economics in college, these were the same things I had studied. Out text books haven’t changed at all. And most importantly for how long will we keep blaming Britishers for the mess we are in, how about the mess that our politicians have created since Independence and continue to create. Are they not more responsible for the state of our country and not letting our country grow?

5 comments:

Narendra shenoy said...

Well said
(for how long will we keep blaming Britishers for the mess we are in)

Cheers!

mani300bc said...

Back to the blogs! (after a long sojourn!)I mean reading the blogs, and not writing! Inspite of GVK sir's prodding and encouragement by Shenoy, I am still not sure when i will start writing in my blog! (hope its still there!)

Now coming to the 'mess', can we leave behind 'who is responsible for the mess?' and start working on 'how to clear the mess?' No housewife spends time on who is creating the mess at home, but gets on with the job of clearing it, even if she is just back from a 10 hrs work schedule! (Ms. Rajpal should correct me if I am wrong!)

The same thing doesn't seem to work with the 'mess' we see around. Is that because that we don't feel the ownership or because men dominate the society and they are care less for the mess around?! (check any bachelor's den to find out the mess they can make & live in it!)

When are we going to start clearing the 'mess' we see around us in all spheres of life?

let me hear your views! Btw, Ms. Rajpal's blog is as interesting as Narendra's (You remember me?!)

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Manivannan, thanks for finding time to read my blog.
I agree with you, we get on to clearing the mess at home coz we know it has to be done irrespective of who has made the mess but when we look at various spheres of life, we simply look at the mess, criticize it , blame everyone and move on. Hardly a few would stop to ponder how to clear the mess coz either the mess is too much to be cleared or they know many would not support them in this cause and the entire system discourages you to take initiatives but if people in the lead roles take initiatives, masses will follow suit. Clearing the societal mess is top driven.

Yes, Narendra British rule was past, lets focus on the solutions and not on past to clear the deep mess our country is in.

mani300bc said...

The clarity in you is striking Ms. Rajpal! I agree with you on both counts. That at home, the lady knows that now or later, she has to clear up the mess.In society, most of the times we don't feel the responsibility. And secondly, the enormity of the task scares us. There is also a third aspect. The public don't have the ownership feeling a lady has for her home.

Why we lack the ownership feeling? Why we don't pick up a dirt at road and throw in the dustbin, when we do so abroad?

There may be so many valid answers to that. One could be the heterogeneity in the Indian society? Are we living in many worlds of ours, within the same space? Are we not bothered about the other world, and hence don't take ownership of the common space?

O, yes, change has to come from top. But in a democracy, the top is selected/elected by the bottom! (leave the officers who are servants of the law made by the people's leaders!)

Think about it! What do we do in Mysore to clear the mess? Even to a very small extent? I am sure that the 'upper house' is a move in that direction.

cheers!

Deepika Rao said...

sujata,
This is a topic that has been thrashed ,debated about and ultimately left out in the cold because of the sheer enormity of the issue.
You and I,our children,our neighbours have to do the job.And do it 24X7. That is daunting.But if we decide to do it in parts,the task might be a shade easier.
Not to forget our role in making the world a better place must be high on our priority list.