A sandbank and Ram

Watching the news is always an interesting pastime in India.The TV news channels will bend over backwards to get anyone and everyone to make a wrong move and if they have someone who refuses to rise to the bait then they will twist the words clean out of context.It requires a lot of skill to do this so lets not underestimate them for a moment.

Yesterday was probably every ones idea of a great day.The Sethu Samudram project is being debated hotly and everyone and his uncle has an opinion.Honestly to be frank I haven't a clue what this project is all about.Suffice to say that there is talk to building a bridge which I believe will make life simpler for most people.But the fun begins right there.

One would think a discussion on a development project which includes breaking down a self formed sandbank,would be more on the lines of what this would mean to the environment,would it affect the ecological balance of the region.What would the cost be and would the benefits out way the cost etc.But strangely none of this matters.All that really matters is that some down and out political parties who have been desperate for a poll platform have suddenly woken up and found a cause.So the fun starts with a Hindu party vs a rational party (both parties have the majority of members belonging to the Hindu religion) fighting over a theory that the god ram build this bridge and therefore it cannot be touched and all the rest of it.

I decided to put all the politics and religion aside as neither interests me so let look at my trumped up story.

There was this guy called ram.Young restless and student to boot.His dad Sethuraman has been after him to join an engineering college and do something worthwhile for once.Poor Ram Sethu is far more interested in fishing and watching boats and ships go by and he has quiet by accident discovered a lovely sandbank that's as good as a bridge and which gets him places.He can walk almost halfway into srilanka and what a place to be.Its been fun for him so he discovers new stuff everyday.Coral reefs,wonderful fish and fisher folk who were more than happy to serve piping hot fish fry.Oh to be in heaven.Unfortunately over time he became a part of that landscape and despite all his fathers advice,he never went to college.He became part of the environment,enjoyed nature at its best.One day he went swimming too far from the sandbank and then tragedy struck,Ram Sethu was eaten by a shark long before he made it to shore.In memory of a fine young man who appreciated what nature gave him,that areas of the sandbank was named by the fisher folk as the Ram Sethu and that's how the name came about.

Today many years later shallow politicians try to gain political mileage and whip up communal disharmony and forget the reasons for preserving a beautiful place that nature built.Do we destroy the great barrier reef?.Do we call upon religion to fight causes of the environment?.
It sad that a country poised on the verge of economic greatness,is brought to its knees at regular intervals by men who have no vision except their own personal mortality.Time to wake up India.