Where have all the wise ones gone?
Two issues have been on my mind for sometime now. They might seem like big issues which cannot be solved just like that but I felt like discussing them anyway.
The first one(or the second one, if you will) is about the present day education system. It leaves no time for students to think what they are studying. And due to increased competition very few actually care about what they are learning; the rest are concerned with how much they are scoring. Even at school level, this sense of competition is evident.
Recently I was having a discussion in this regard with someone and interesting facts came up. For example, the great thinkers of the past have never been subjected to this extracting process of schooling. Their thinking was not influenced by the cane of the teacher but by the free will of the mind. And in today's world such rational thinking is almost non-existent.
The consequences of this may not look as drastic as they indeed are. Such hampering of the thought process is what is responsible for today's children being disinterested in studies and later on growing up face a lot of problems due to poor educational backgrounds. They are not nurtured to use their brains and instead are trained to memorize everything but rote learning without ever questioning why.
The solution may not be so obvious and easy to implement because it involves shaking the very foundation on which our education system is based!
The second issue is that of politics. Now I have always held the opinion that there can be no bigger farce in this world than democracy. The concept of people upon which it is based is so ambiguous. The 'people' has no shape and form. It can be easily manipulated for various personal ends. A majority of the people cannot take decisions of their own and they need someone to order them around, to take their decisions for them. In ancient times, the kings and their monarchies took up the responsibility of ruling people. Many of the wise ones, about whom we have studied, were able to maintain peace and prosperity while many others screwed up because they couldnt command people with authority.
The biggest conceit of democracy is that, while it condemns the age old system of monarchy, it very much applies the same principles of ruling under the pretense that the real power is with the public. The real power is with the rulers of the public - the modern day euphemism for kings.
I mean, how do you explain this obsession we have with the Gandhi family or as it is mentioned correctly sometimes, the Gandhi dynasty. How would you explain a person born and brought up in a foreign land, a widow who remained in oblivion without even the remotest interest in politics, taking control of the oldest party of India. Sonia Gandhi is a very wise woman to understand that people have got accustomed to having the Gandhi 'dynasty' at the helm of the affairs. And the congress party was in disarray during the period between Rajiv Gandhi's death and Sonia Gandhi's foray into politics. Remember how shamelessly Sitaram Kesri stepped down in favour of Sonia and how he was sidelined by the party? And now, the party looks upon the heir to the throne, Rahul Gandhi to take charge as Prime Minister sometime in the future.
Anyway, the point I am trying to drive home is that, our country cannot progress forward unless we have leaders who own up to that responsibility. It is time to shun the age old formula of communal and religious and caste based politics and focus on the bigger issues.
Perhaps this time around, the public might show its true face and form. Perhaps it will make sensible decisions which will give a mandate based on development issues. I mean, 54% of India's population would be in the age group of 18-25 in 5 years. Whether this new found sense of ambition and confidence in today's youth will reflect in the political affairs of the nation, only time will tell.
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