I have a question, several in fact.
How much money does a man need? Did Tolstoy know the answer? What number would make one stop chasing money?
How many cars can you own? How many do you need? How many does your vanity need? Do we live to feed our vanity?
Why does a painting of Vincent van Gogh cost several millions? Didn’t van Gogh commit suicide in abject poverty at 37? Was he insane or are we?
Why does jealousy arise in people? Is it the feeling of pain expressed for being unable to achieve what someone else has done? Do we feel jealous out of spite? Is it ingrained within our species?
Why is envy our first feeling at someone’s good fortune? Is envy a sin? Is there anything called a sin anymore? Is virtue the opposite of sin? Who has virtue? Do you have it or do angels possess all that are virtuous?
Who are angels? Are angels God’s loved ones? Does God hate sinners or only the sin? Doesn’t scripture tell us to hate the sin and not the sinners?
Do we always think for the future? Why do people acquire life insurance policies? Does a man want to pay heavily in his impoverished life in order to die rich? Who gets the insurance then? Do we live for the future? Do we live for our children? Do we expect immortality through them? Are we in a state of denial of our mortality?
If death is inevitable then from where comes so much greed? Do we need to acquire so much power that at one point we would feel that we won death over?
Why do politicians in our country behave the way they do? Isn’t politics meant for the good of the people? How do we benefit from the way the politicians behave? Does a politician in power always have to flout all the laws?
Do political rallies by the party in power have to bring an already overburdened city to its knees? Does a political rally ostensibly commemorating a special day have to have a sea of people?
Do busloads of people have to come to the city to attend such rallies from various parts of the country? Is the grandiosity of a political rally absolutely essential? Don’t the pomp and ceremony and the obvious ostentation trump the spirit of such a rally?
What kind of political culture is this where people are kept at standstill for hours to allow processions to go to the rally point? What about the urgent businesses of people that are stalled to allow such rallies to be held?
Who will answer for the heart attack stricken man who could not reach the hospital in time, stuck in traffic for hours, and then declared dead on arrival? Who is paying for the fuel that is getting burnt as the cars fume at a signal to allow a VIP to pass in luxury?
In a democracy, who creates the VIP? What right does a VIP have to make the same people on whose affirmation he got his seat in a cushy red brick building, suffer?
What kind of political culture has brewed for over four decades where the position and opposition are only busy in blame games and name calling? Who envisaged this culture of the annihilation of opponents at the inception in 1971? Why are we caught in the melee of the battling leaders? Why is one leader calling the other “Lady Hitler” while the one in power heaps all blame on the one in temporary exile?
Why does a politician in power shirk his duties and behave completely unsympathetic when a father loses his son? So what if the father has political beliefs that are in contrary to the party in power? Is there a heavier load on a man’s shoulder than the lifeless body of his child?
Doesn’t dirty politics of name calling ever take a break? Is there no space left to stand beside even an opponent when the latter is in total state of despair?
Why isn’t the politician standing on the shoulder of the law enforcers to nab the killers to assuage the pain of a father, a mother, a wife, other siblings and a son attending his father’s funeral in school uniform? Where is the humanity?
Does power really corrupt with such absolute insouciance?
At a time when free thinking is under the shiny machete of the intolerant fundamentalist, why is there no united front of all parties to fight the zealots? Why is there such a rift between the two major parties at such a crucial juncture?
Aren’t the founding principles to be considered sacred by all parties that, at least on paper, intend to hold aloft the green and red flag? Who gets emboldened when the rift widens instead of showing any signs of mending?
Aren’t the zealots walking with smirks on their faces when they know that their heinous acts of butchery may go unpunished? Who then is safe from the sword of regression?
How will the nation halt the death of all tolerance? When will this danse macabre stop? How will there be room for contrarian views in the future? What value will all the development carry if citizens with greater wealth will still live under the shadow of terrorism?
Isn’t the answer blowing in the wind?
