One grew up with the adage "charity begins at home" ringing in one's ears; heart and soul an one always endeavoured to reach out and make a difference no matter however miniscule.........
Unfortunately; over a matter of time; charity too has degenerated into some kind of business replete with the sins of greed; avarice and the constant quest for fifteen minutes of fame (people tend to donate precious little and tom tom the same for years to come); thereby defeating and obfuscating the age old principle about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing..........
Two natural calamities namely the deluge in Kashmir and cyclone Hudhud (in Visakhapatnam) have befallen our great nation in quick succession and rendered lakhs of our countrymen destitute; forlorn; helpless and staring at a rather bleak and dismal future; yes both the state and central governments; army; NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force); hundreds of NGO's; corporates and the like have reached out and done more than their bit towards alleviating the unending saga of human misery and suffering but the same is simply proving to be grossly inadequate as a lot more still needs to be done.........
Yes; one did read a few stories in newspapers about hundreds of tonnes of precious rice being grossly wasted as the cyclone had swept away scores of godowns in Vishakapatnam and similar such storage places in Kashmir; but that is not excuse enough to discontinue the exercise initiated in order to ensure that none goes hungry in these places ravaged by the fury of nature.............
Though; I hate making a virtue of my good deeds and avowedly avoiding mentioning the amounts I donate to various charities; I am perforce being forced to go against the very grain of my soul; I am left with little choice other than mentioning the same as I find my friends; fellows and countrymen berating the government and the system for their repeated failures to reach out to each and everyone and pointing fingers at them rather than looking within and trying to figure out what they can do in about restoring some semblance of order in the lives of their distressed countrymen.........
Like I said; I have sent cheques of Rs. 5,000/- each to both the Prime Minister's Relief Fund as well as the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Relief Fund as that is as much I could afford to spare at the present time) and in addition tot these cheques I have also sent across 10 kgs of rice; 5 kgs of dal and sugar as well as 5 litres of sunflower oil through one of those trucks that was collecting the same for the cyclone ravaged people of the coastal town of Vishakapatnam..........
Let me clearly state that I have no intention of either belittling; ridiculing or mocking anyone and my sole attention is to galvanise the dormant hearts and souls of my fellow countrymen into some kind of action and also to make them realise that we as fellow countrymen cannot simply remain immune and isolated from the numerous problems confronting our suffering fellow Indians on a minute by minute basis by resorting to the callous logic about me and my loved one's being spared the savagery and misery inflicted by these two vagaries of nature...........
My fellow countrymen and women; please come forward and stand as a bulwark of support and succour to those Indians who have been forced to scrounge around for every morsel and scrimp for every basic need of life as the furies of nature have simply obliterated whatever little they had to begin with; please set aside your indifference; inertia; apathy and miserliness; step forward; loosen your purse and heart strings and part with as much as you can as a fellow Indian is in dire need of your largesse.......
Unfortunately; over a matter of time; charity too has degenerated into some kind of business replete with the sins of greed; avarice and the constant quest for fifteen minutes of fame (people tend to donate precious little and tom tom the same for years to come); thereby defeating and obfuscating the age old principle about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing..........
Two natural calamities namely the deluge in Kashmir and cyclone Hudhud (in Visakhapatnam) have befallen our great nation in quick succession and rendered lakhs of our countrymen destitute; forlorn; helpless and staring at a rather bleak and dismal future; yes both the state and central governments; army; NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force); hundreds of NGO's; corporates and the like have reached out and done more than their bit towards alleviating the unending saga of human misery and suffering but the same is simply proving to be grossly inadequate as a lot more still needs to be done.........
Yes; one did read a few stories in newspapers about hundreds of tonnes of precious rice being grossly wasted as the cyclone had swept away scores of godowns in Vishakapatnam and similar such storage places in Kashmir; but that is not excuse enough to discontinue the exercise initiated in order to ensure that none goes hungry in these places ravaged by the fury of nature.............
Though; I hate making a virtue of my good deeds and avowedly avoiding mentioning the amounts I donate to various charities; I am perforce being forced to go against the very grain of my soul; I am left with little choice other than mentioning the same as I find my friends; fellows and countrymen berating the government and the system for their repeated failures to reach out to each and everyone and pointing fingers at them rather than looking within and trying to figure out what they can do in about restoring some semblance of order in the lives of their distressed countrymen.........
Like I said; I have sent cheques of Rs. 5,000/- each to both the Prime Minister's Relief Fund as well as the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Relief Fund as that is as much I could afford to spare at the present time) and in addition tot these cheques I have also sent across 10 kgs of rice; 5 kgs of dal and sugar as well as 5 litres of sunflower oil through one of those trucks that was collecting the same for the cyclone ravaged people of the coastal town of Vishakapatnam..........
Let me clearly state that I have no intention of either belittling; ridiculing or mocking anyone and my sole attention is to galvanise the dormant hearts and souls of my fellow countrymen into some kind of action and also to make them realise that we as fellow countrymen cannot simply remain immune and isolated from the numerous problems confronting our suffering fellow Indians on a minute by minute basis by resorting to the callous logic about me and my loved one's being spared the savagery and misery inflicted by these two vagaries of nature...........
My fellow countrymen and women; please come forward and stand as a bulwark of support and succour to those Indians who have been forced to scrounge around for every morsel and scrimp for every basic need of life as the furies of nature have simply obliterated whatever little they had to begin with; please set aside your indifference; inertia; apathy and miserliness; step forward; loosen your purse and heart strings and part with as much as you can as a fellow Indian is in dire need of your largesse.......
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