The celebration has begun in our state - for the politicians, I meant. Fire crackers, Drum beats, Garlands, parade of wasteful man power, rather youth power I would say. War of words, war of freebie schemes to hide their corrupt background between various political parties gallop. In the midst of such a scenario, it was an interesting exchange of questions and ideas within a group of youth. I peeked in the group and overheard the core of the arguement. It was about the current political condition, various parites contending in the forthcoming assembly elections, various freebies, schemes announced by different parties. I could see a sadness among all the faces in spite occasional laughter (probably to hide away the inherent inability to challenge the predicament of people). I understood that these young guns are not ignorant about the state of politics in our country. They knew every detail about the infamous 2G spectrum scam, Kalmadi game (common wealth game), Tehelka, bribing of MPs for vote, Maoists, Cross border terrorism, etc. and the list is as eternal as the universe. After seeing me they turned towards me and expessed their views with a big hidden question mark on their face about their own future in this country. Generally I used to help them in overcoming anxiety, fear of facing interviews and some times their personal emotional problems also. This time it was even bigger challenge for me because I am neither a polical enthusiast nor a knowledgible political observer to help them in this respect. But for sure I myself have undergone such kind of painful moments and posed same questions before me. I knew the main role of a leader is to empower their followers. Here I would like to stress the word 'Empower'. The leader as a mentor should see that all the essential qualities are transferred to his protege thereby transforming him. But, regrettably our political leaders act otherwise. I started my talking with a question. The question was 'Why are the companies hiring young people like you for their companies?' Oh...to my surprise too many answers came. One said, 'To serve the company for long period', next one said, 'We are available for low payment', the other one said, 'Since we are freshers, we could perform better than old people'. I liked the third answer because it gave me the lead. "So, you think being a fresher and young you feel you will perform better, am I right?" Yes, came the reply. Now I extended my question, " Can you say, In a year how many youngsters are hired for various positions?" They said some statistics based on the number of colleges, campus recruitment etc. My next question was "How many young people hold the top position of companies?" Came reply. "Now tell me, How many young prime ministers, chief ministers, MPs, MLAs are there in our country" There was absolute silence for a while. After the much needed silence I said, "For executing relatively low profile jobs we employ youth, but for more challenging jobs like governing a nation we elect people whose average age is over sixty". "Is it not looking foolish? Can we expect an efficient governance from them?" One boy objected my statement by saying "But, Sir they possess the experience". I got little angry and condemned him. "See This is how we were fooled now and then, Only with the vast experience behind them so many scams, money laundering, corruptions in every corner have been dishedout in this country. About 70% of youth population is being misruled by a little populated, inefficient power greedy old persons. It is very unfortunate that this ignorant youth too are following these corrupt politicians." I paused for a while. "We are so confused Sir. What can we do?" a worried guy broke the pause. "Dear friends, It is easily said than done - I under stand. But where there is a will, there is a way goes the saying. Think, Brain storm, infuse new ideas. Swamy Vivekananda said, 'Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world'. Remove the ignorance of people by educating them. Everyone of you is a mentor, everyone of you is protege. Empower yourself and empower your neighbour. Empower in such a way that they deserve more than what they get now. The do not deserve freebies, but they deserve more, they deserve to feed the rest of world not to receive from the world." "Please understand, It is in giving is the pleasure and not in receiving." Finally looked at the eyes of each one. I could see more bright and clear eyes now.
The celebration has begun in our state - for the politicians, I meant. Fire crackers, Drum beats, Garlands, parade of wasteful man power, rather youth power I would say. War of words, war of freebie schemes to hide their corrupt background between various political parties gallop. In the midst of such a scenario, it was an interesting exchange of questions and ideas within a group of youth. I peeked in the group and overheard the core of the arguement. It was about the current political condition, various parites contending in the forthcoming assembly elections, various freebies, schemes announced by different parties. I could see a sadness among all the faces in spite occasional laughter (probably to hide away the inherent inability to challenge the predicament of people). I understood that these young guns are not ignorant about the state of politics in our country. They knew every detail about the infamous 2G spectrum scam, Kalmadi game (common wealth game), Tehelka, bribing of MPs for vote, Maoists, Cross border terrorism, etc. and the list is as eternal as the universe. After seeing me they turned towards me and expessed their views with a big hidden question mark on their face about their own future in this country. Generally I used to help them in overcoming anxiety, fear of facing interviews and some times their personal emotional problems also. This time it was even bigger challenge for me because I am neither a polical enthusiast nor a knowledgible political observer to help them in this respect. But for sure I myself have undergone such kind of painful moments and posed same questions before me. I knew the main role of a leader is to empower their followers. Here I would like to stress the word 'Empower'. The leader as a mentor should see that all the essential qualities are transferred to his protege thereby transforming him. But, regrettably our political leaders act otherwise. I started my talking with a question. The question was 'Why are the companies hiring young people like you for their companies?' Oh...to my surprise too many answers came. One said, 'To serve the company for long period', next one said, 'We are available for low payment', the other one said, 'Since we are freshers, we could perform better than old people'. I liked the third answer because it gave me the lead. "So, you think being a fresher and young you feel you will perform better, am I right?" Yes, came the reply. Now I extended my question, " Can you say, In a year how many youngsters are hired for various positions?" They said some statistics based on the number of colleges, campus recruitment etc. My next question was "How many young people hold the top position of companies?" Came reply. "Now tell me, How many young prime ministers, chief ministers, MPs, MLAs are there in our country" There was absolute silence for a while. After the much needed silence I said, "For executing relatively low profile jobs we employ youth, but for more challenging jobs like governing a nation we elect people whose average age is over sixty". "Is it not looking foolish? Can we expect an efficient governance from them?" One boy objected my statement by saying "But, Sir they possess the experience". I got little angry and condemned him. "See This is how we were fooled now and then, Only with the vast experience behind them so many scams, money laundering, corruptions in every corner have been dishedout in this country. About 70% of youth population is being misruled by a little populated, inefficient power greedy old persons. It is very unfortunate that this ignorant youth too are following these corrupt politicians." I paused for a while. "We are so confused Sir. What can we do?" a worried guy broke the pause. "Dear friends, It is easily said than done - I under stand. But where there is a will, there is a way goes the saying. Think, Brain storm, infuse new ideas. Swamy Vivekananda said, 'Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world'. Remove the ignorance of people by educating them. Everyone of you is a mentor, everyone of you is protege. Empower yourself and empower your neighbour. Empower in such a way that they deserve more than what they get now. The do not deserve freebies, but they deserve more, they deserve to feed the rest of world not to receive from the world." "Please understand, It is in giving is the pleasure and not in receiving." Finally looked at the eyes of each one. I could see more bright and clear eyes now.
Nice display!
ReplyDeleteTo whom the writting belongs to?