Dec 22, 2008

It is never too late to react ! Response to a comment

Before I write a post on how the event was, let me thank each one of you for your support and encouragement. The event didnt turn out to be as successful as we expected, but we are not in any way disappointed or discouraged; we had taken a vow to unite for more such activities. More details in the next post.

This is basically a response to one of the comments in my previous post. The person who commented is one of my best friend and the replies here are my personal views and so people, dont judge our relationship after this post, we are still going to be the best of friends. and I would request everyone to come out with their own views too.

“I might sound extremely critic on this aspect but I guess I have to. Main beacuse almost a month after that incident, I am one of those guys eagerly tracking the nation's progress on a daily basis.” --- Its great to know that you are keeping a track of whats happening in our country on a daily basis. Why is it that a nations progress is tracked ONLY after such disturbing incidents? Isnt it our duty to know whats happening around us well before that?

“What in the world are you achieving by shutting your mouth and sitting idle for hours together? There have been like 100s of them who have done that before - what have they achieved? You think the politicians will change? you think the terrorists will change? You think you will gain anything apart from some useless publicity?” ---- Our event was not targeted at any politician or terrorist. We want the general public to be aware of their basic responsibilities as a citizen. Infact, one of our main objective in the meeting was to make people aware that India is still a much safer and a united country to live in, its just that the we as citizens have to be a little more socially responsible. If something suspicious happens around you, its your duty to inform the concerned. The terrorists were in Mumbai for months, but our people had been very busy in their respective lives that they failed to see whats happening around them. Why blame the politicians alone everytime? We are equally responsible for this state of our country. If we wanted better leaders, we should have made sure of that while casting our votes. How many of the youngsters take initiative in voting? Many of us still consider taking a day off during the elections rather than exercising the right to vote. Speaking of useless publicity, if we really wanted the useless publicity that was mentioned, we would have called the media, considering the fact that my best friend is one of the best reporters here in Chennai with one of the leading TV news channel. I did speak to her, but only to understand how the legal formalities are. The press club of Chennai was adjacent to where we conducted the meeting, and for your information, none of us approached them for a 'useful' publicity. Moreoever, if you think I, personally, wanted some useless publicity, I would’ve published the below post on Dec 5th itself when we decided to go ahead with this project; publishing one day before the event wouldn’t make a difference at all. And now why silent? It is all about an initiative; all of us have spoken enough. We have had our share of blaming, pitting against each other, but what have we achieved? Nothing at all. Lets see if there is anything that could be achieved by remaining silent. Atleast that way, a protest would be different and not disturb the general public. What is one achieving by burning candles? It is an effort to raise your voice, that’s all. And we were symbolic in raising our voice by remaining silent. There might be even 1000’s who had done this before, its not about what they achieved, it is something beyond that; its more of satisfying our conscious.

“I'm sorry buddy but this is sheer waste of time. Instead what if you guys could silently collect some money and raise a fund for the poor who were dead? Those who didnt manage to get the govt aid? There aer people in Mumbai who raised money to buy good bullet proofs for police men. That is what I call ACTION!” --- Were you a contributor to any of those ACTIONs? Why didn’t YOU take an initiative to raise funds? Why do you expect others to start an event so that you can either follow or criticize? What have YOU done other than tracking and cribbing about the nations progress? How many events have YOU participated, how many common forums have YOU attended to voice your opinion? Ok, I agree, you neednt participate in any activity per se, but don’t you think you are responsible to the society too? If you want a change in your country, why isn’t there a contribution from your end other than paying your taxes ? Sheer waste of time, my friend, is sitting in your chair, tracking the nations progress on a daily basis, cribbing about the politicians and the system, doing absolutely nothing to contribute to the nations progress and venting out your frustrations to your near and dear ones. Collecting money and raising a fund wasn’t our objective. Money and aid isn’t everything; and like you said, there are people to do that. If people are willing to change their attitude towards our country, our government and our system, everything will happen on its own. Wouldn’t you repair your home if it is damaged, wouldn’t you take initiative to stop a similar disaster to happen to your home again? If you can pray for your home, why don’t you pray for the nation that has your home.

“While I apreciate the way you empatize the terror attack and victims, I must say you are doing nothing productive - instead you are being counter-productive!” --- Thanks for the appreciations. If there are 100 individuals to read about us and our objectives, and out of that 100, if there are 10 whom we made to think and if there is atleast one who is willing to change, I consider our mission accomplished or rather we consider it as a productive effort.

Wake up, its not too late yet !!!

15 comments:

Reets said...

hey vimmuuu,

This indeed was a good write up, each and every word in this article speaks volumes,most of us wait for others to take the initiative and make things happen.Ideally which is not the right thing to do.There might be many people who will mock at us when U come up wid initiatives like dis, but instead of being irritated or being bugged, U should go ahead with what U think is right and do Ur bit. I am really happy that the Silent Revolution did make an impact, irrespective of how many people attended it or not, guess atleast visitors like me who frequent ur blog have a message to pick up from this! Let's awaken, not sit waiting for things to hppen, rather be the people who make it happen!!:) Kudos to u and ur team for doing ur bit and showing U care.V lokam indeed rocks...U hv shown thru ur blog that u not only have articles related to entertainment but certain social responsibilty messages as well.

Bhargavi said...

Atta boy !! honestly , honoured to know u !!..Next time , i will definately be there..

Anonymous said...

I have contributed from my end towards the fund - whatever little I could - if that helps you.

I track every progress on a daily basis by all means - Newspapers, TV News - however possible.

Won't follow your blog EVER AGAIN! GOOD BYE!

Anonymous said...

hey...
sorry ws not able to attend as i got stuck wth some work and other friends of mine were busy planning for another event(official).though we were not physically present we were all still there to support you.and every one liked the effort you guys took for it.
it was all the innocent people and some brave hearts who died there.we dont want to prove anything,but just want to show that we are with all those families who lost there loved ones...
we dont care about the politicians..let them do what they want.we are going to do what we can.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry for not visint gyour blog recently..Internet connection has some problrmd in here,so submitting comments is a tedous task..I hope you don't mnd..
Good luck with your endevour.Let your thoughts and actions inspire others,and remeber,every tiny bit for a good cause counts,so don't be disheartened..

Good day and good luck

Nimmy

Vishesh said...

you did want to satisfy yourselves and you have done it...you can be sure that you have done something,instead of the nothing which we others have done...

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Vimmuuu

Damn good job! Hats off to folks like you who can showcase what it is to empathize with humankind by endorsing a good cause!

Its an honour to be associated with you!

Cheers

Rakesh

Anonymous said...

its all about perspective rationalism! I appreciate your effort because, it takes a lot of courage and will to sit like dumb people on a road.

I dunno hw many realise that every silent moment you've spent, the attacks and the country's fate will be running through your mind, more than any other individual's mind!

This is a great step in itself coz, u're starting to think and channelise your thoughts than make them vulnerable to momentary outrage and push it to the back of your mind comfortably later on.

If silence is considered as a way to think properly and not just a way to protest, this post wouldn't have come up i suppose.

I enjoyed reading the discussion as similar things crop up between me and Pavan. But we somehow converge on our thoughts. Prolly, other than the discussion on 'Who is GOD?' we've never had conflicting thoughts most of the times ;)

Anonymous said...

Hey Vimmuuu,

I think what you thought of is definitely more sensible. I am stongly against raising money for anything, and more so in such a situation - it creates a window for more such atrocities, makes you vulnerable, and money is not a cure!

I scoff at that guy who made such a comment, for he is right - he is extremely insensitive and has no idea how to work stuff out!

You go Vimms!! We are with you!

Nautankey said...

hey vimmuuu,
Good going..dont be bothered about initial failures bcoz if the event is a grand success in the first step itself u wud be confused abt the targets and wat r the goals u wanna acheives..failures make us stronger and sterner.

@the old friend,
Dude u may have been right and beleived in what u had said but u cud have done it diplomatically without hurting other's beliefs. However close ur a frend finally this is a public forum.So try to give feasible alternatives without sounding harsh or like an arm chair critic.

Varun said...

This response would have cleared any doubts that you friend had about your intentions and the initiative. You go vimmuuu!!! You are on the right track!! :)

Smita said...

Loved the post not only for your thoughts but for that that you stood for your conviction....


All I'll say is every initiative matters...

Anonymous said...

After reading this post, I went to the previous post to see who the jerk was. :)
I simply can't understand such people. It's not as if you were murdering someone. The least the guy should have done was to keep his mouth shut.
Criticism is great but there should be a logic behind it. After the blasts when the whole of Mumbai gathered together, what did they achieve? Was there any "action", as per the definition of this guy?
But that gathering did something, and we all know what that was.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas Vimmuu :)

Reema said...

Its easy to judge and hard to do anything really. Kudos to u for doing something atleast!