Child Labour.. A Social Evil..

One in these days I saw some child labourers, one was a house maid, the other one was a sweeper and the third one was doing a job of washing utensils and clothes in a restaurant. My heart brimmed with tears when I saw their condition. With a heavy heart when I asked them for why they didn't go to study, "Who will work and earn money for the livelihood of my family?" they said.

The ever increasing problem of child labour is not only cruelty against children but also a black spot on our nation's face. Though many countries boast of being superior from one another but in many of the developing countries like India, the problem of child labour is still prevalent.

People sell their children for money, they are treated as slaves. Population play a lead role in the rise of child labour. People should understand if giving birth to more children means more helping hands, it also means more mouths to feed. In large but illiterate families children are forced to work. They are badly exploited. They are given more and more work but are underpaid. Most of the times, the working conditions are hazardous which make them vulnerable to various health problems. Poor they are, their childhood which is the most happening phase of ones life is spent like this……

To control this problem, various measures should be strictly adopted not only by the government but also by the common man. The one who keeps a child as labourer should be strictly punished. Awareness programmes such as street plays or counselling of the poor and illiterate may contribute further.

“All the problems of the world - child labor, corruption - are symptoms of a spiritual disease: lack of compassion.”

I think most of us feel the same... Please make others also feel this and control child labour... Today the power lie in our hands, it is just we have to seek the right way to use it…

The Right To Information Act...

One in these days I was reading about one of the most recent and important right of the citizens of India i.e. The Right To Information Act.
A common man, while dealing with Government departments was facing with problems such as cumbersome process, faulty procedure, mismanagement of records, uneasiness even in paying govt taxes to the govt.With a view to bring transparency in the functioning, to create a sense of responsibility amongst the govt. officials right from grass root level up to the top decision making level, to uproot the corruption ,THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, is in force, which is likely to be proved a very useful tool in the hands of citizens to get their grievances against the govt. redressed , in a time bound manner.Now citizens are enjoying the fruits of real democracy, by asking the questions from any government organisation easily and more frequently, for which the citizens were dependent on our elected representatives. Any type of information which the govt. or govt. funded/controlled institutions are supposed to have can be demanded by any citizen from anywhere in the country, without disclosing any reason for seeking the information.
As A Social Audit!
The queries, under this act, may bring in the lime light, the acts of omissions and commissions, including cases of harassment, inaction, undue favour, corruption, abuse of power by the officials of govt.Therefore, this way it works as a SOCIAL AUDIT. It facilitates the well informed citizen to live with dignity and contentment.
Towards A Negative Aspect!
Since, the citizens have the freedom to ask any query from the govt. and its respective funded or supported organisations, many times people misuse this right. Just for small inquiries many kinds of confidential secrets are driven out which leads to many undesirable events.Moreover, it becomes very inconvenient for the govt. organisations to take out and give away such important documents and informative history of that particular body.

The Woman Of Today....

The women of today, she starts her life full of poise
Any hurdle, any block – she crosses with rejoice
She knows how to win…. through combat or through peace
She shines as a star, and excels at ease.

Looks beyond the horizon and takes off into the blues
Keeping intact her ethics, her belief, her values
Powered by her parents, she flies the high skies
However, high she goes, she never loses her ties

She steps into a profession with a zeal to perform
transmitting fun, joy, pleasure and a mood to transform
She takes with enthusiasm her given responsibility
Work hard, proves herself and gets lauded for her ability

Then she walks into a marriage, with lots of cheer
Driving into the next stage of life in full gear
To give him her best, to make him hers and to become his
Looking forward to pleasure, joy and happiness and bliss

Days getting tighter, work more tough
Time starts looking to be just enough
Spliced between work and time for company
However still keeping up her amateur symphony

Then comes into her life, God’s biggest boon
A tiny little blessing, a cute blooming moon
It fills her life with warmth, with a sense of pride
Carries her into motherhood stride

And slowly she gets back to reality, true and wild
Manage business, in-laws, husband, and child
And again she adapts, and her focus realigned
Gets her act in place, her priorities redesigned

In the process some critical desire she forgoes
To strikes a balance and meet the needs of her folks
She takes up her life as it comes with joy and cheer
To keep the smile gleaming on the faces of her near and dear

To all those who read this, I have a request today
If you agree with me, please do say
A small thanks to your mother, and to your wife
For all that they have done to make up your life..

Sandhya Sriram

Gautam Buddha

These days I have been reading on Gautam Buddha, in his respective biographies. While reading about him, his life, and his doings I really found him an inspiring character.

Buddha means 'the enlightened one'. And Gautam Buddha was one of the greatest religious teachers that the world has seen. His teachings expounded in Buddhism, are immensely popular in Burma, China, Japan and other South Eastern Countries.

Talking about his early life……….Siddhartha was made to lead a very sheltered life as the astrologers had predicted that he would give up worldly pleasures to follow a different path. The King wanted to avoid this at all costs and so did not let him out of the palace. He hoped that Siddhartha would one day become king.

When Siddhartha had grown into an intelligent young man, he ventured out of his palace one day, and chanced on a few sights that changed the course of his life. He first saw a very old man who could barely walk, a sick man who was in a great deal of pain, and lastly a corpse. He had never been exposed to pain before, and so these sights had a deep effect on him. His servant explained that pain and death were inevitable.

All these sights disturbed him and he went out of his house, leaving all the amenities of life in the search of truth and the end of pain and misery. When he went through many people who were following the same path, he himself concluded that when one follows a midway between very easy or happy going life and very harsh and painful life, we can overcome all desires which are the root causes of grief and misery.

For 45 years, Buddha spread his message of a spiritual life. He did not believe in rituals but pointed to an 8 - fold path towards salvation - that of right speech, understanding, determination, deeds, efforts, awareness, thinking and living. Even in the contemporary world which we call modern, live on the discriminatory bases of rich or poor or castes etc. Whereas as he at those times taught us to live a life of equality where none was inferior or superior. He taught us to be non-violent and the path of peaceful life, he said the life is a gift of god to everyone and none has a right to take it away accept for god. Though being purely non-violent Buddhist path affected people of this religion with miserable happenings in their lives when they could not save themselves from the attackers especially in the areas at the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan which had a strong hold of Buddhism. Now these areas are totally Muslim and Buddhism is completely wiped out. What is left there is violent Taliban who recently broke the sacred old and preserved statue of Gautama Buddha.

Anyway, The Buddha died in 483 BC at the ripe age of 80 years, after successfully spreading his message to the world. Buddhism still lives and has a strong following in various Asian countries.

The singing legend of all times....

Md. Rafi..

For those people, who don’t know Mohd Rafi, I would like to quote that he is the only legendary singer in Indian Film Music. Following is about his life, his birth, his singing career etc..,

Rafi was born on 24^th December 1924 in Kotla Sultan Singh, Amritsar, in a middle class Muslim family. His elder brother, Janab Hamid Sahab, was the first to take notice of the divine gift in Rafi’s voice. He decided to concentrate all his efforts in providing all the support needed by his brother to make it big in the music world.

At the age of seven, Rafi learnt Hindustani Classical music under the renowned Ustaad Bade Gulam Ali Khan and Vahida Khan.

Mohd Rafi started his career at the age of 20, with a punjabi song, Soniye Hiriye, teri yaad ne bahut sataya for the movie Gul Baloch, which was released on 28^th February, 1944.

K.L.Saigal & Pandit D.V. Palusker had no words for Rafi’s praise. When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, Rafi sang a song Suno Suno Ay Duniya Walon, Bapu ki Yeh Amar kahani written by Rajinder Krishan and music by Hunslal Bhagatram, which touched everyone and was a great hit.

No singer at that time or even now in this era,can match Rafi. Rafi’s singing style was so unique, nobody could imitate it. Even if they tried, they were not successful. His verstality was very different and way too impressive. His contemporaries were either ineffective in this front or were unwilling to compromise.

I am one of greatest fans of Md Rafi. I just love his voice.The versatility in his voice is commendable. Both ways as a person and a singer he is the best.I have never attempted to compare him to anybody because I know as far as his voice and the art or style are concerned, he can never be compared with any other singer. Even Lata I think lacks behind somewhere in that versatility and the happiness or sadness he inject into our ears while singing is simply enthralling. His patriotic, religious, ghazals, romantic, sufi, or any other kind of songs are mind blowing. I mean I feel he was perfect as a singer with almost no attitude in him. On the other hand he was a great badminton player and none could beat him in this game in the whole industry. A great god gifted man with a smile on his face all the time did not live for very long and lost many opportunities to receive many awards for his talent and contribution.

All this was about his singing career. But as a person, he was much more. Rafi did not imitate any one nor did he stop any one from imitating him. Where there was cut-throat pressure, Rafi was always totally with himself. Through out his career Rafi has not been accused of anything. Nor did he stop any new singer from taking his position. He was such a whole-hearted person, who would agree to sing for producers who couldn't afford him in return to nothing. Listening to Rafi is like rowing down a river in a moonlit night.