Window
Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 20.6.21
Empire of Fake
After
loads of fake news, crores of rupees worth fake medicines including the
costlier than gold- Remdesivir – now we get the news of fake Covid test reports
dispensed liberally at ‘devbhoomi’ Haridwar during Kumbhmela. No wonder,
Haridwar showed very low rate of infection, which the pundits attributed to the
mahima of paapnashini Ganga.
The
scale of the scam is so large, that it indicates hundreds of people must have
‘bought’ negative Covid reports to participate in Kumbh mela and take a dip in
the holy river. How could a scam of this magnitude evade the police radar? The
answer is clear. When religion and politics is mixed up the concoction paves
the way for unscrupulous and greedy business men to take advantage of the
situation. It happened in Haridwar. As a result the entire country suffered.
Consider
the fake medicines people bought and consumed. Consider its impact on their
health. And also consider its impact on their faith on the entire system. When
the citizens begin to lose faith on the system- that is the beginning of
anarchy.
The
tentacles of the empire of fake is spreading fast and trying to throttle the
country. We must take all steps to contain it.
Corona Mata Temple
We
have had goddesses for diseases- Sitala Mata for example in Eastern India, who
was supposed to heal or ward off small pox. It was but natural that we would
have a goddess for Corona.
Last
year in several villages in Karnataka, the villagers worshipped ‘Coronamma’ in
sync with their age old tradition of worshipping the goddess to leave their village. In Assam, hundreds
of ladies took ceremonious bath in rivers as part of a puja of Corona Devi.
 |
| Corona Mata Temple at Shuklapur village of Pratapgarh district, UP |
And
in June this year some enterprising persons in UP built a temple and installed
an idol of Corona Mata- with a mask covering her face. On the ‘temple’ it was
written- ‘Biswa ka ekmatra- the only
temple in the world for Corona Devi. Within days, hundreds of worshippers started
bhajan kirtan and began to offer money, clothes, etc. to keep their family
safe.
The
temple was subsequently demolished by UP police recently following a compliant.
But
two points that needle me: a. why do we turn to the divinity to cure our
disease- which is the domain of science; and b. why for most of the diseases we
have a goddess and not god?
Crocodile
In
the present times, several cartoons and other visual arts are drawn taking the
crocodile and vulture metaphor. In public sphere too analogies taking these two
creatures abound. In varying degrees they signify cruelty and deceit,
opportunism and unscrupulousness.
However,
if you go beyond the look of the two creatures- you’ll realize this is gross
injustice to them. Both of them, especially the vulture actually help us to
keep our environment clean. In fact the vultures are the sanitary workers
nature has provided. Crocodiles, the largest reptiles in the world or their
relatives have been around for an
extraordinary length of time, their fossil remains having been found in rocks from the early Jurassic
period, around 200
million years old. In
comparison, the homo-sapiens, have been around just 2 lakh years. But we have
managed to push the crocodiles to the brink of extinction. The gharial, a
distinctive long-nosed species that eat fish, in India, the Philippines
crocodile and the Chinese alligator are on the critically endangered list.
It is good that attempts are being made to protect the
crocodiles. June 17 is observed as world crocodile day to highlight the plight
of the endangered crocodiles and alligators sound the world. Crocodilian
species found in India are Mugger or Marsh crocodile, Estuarine or Saltwater
Crocodile and Gharial.
Surendra
Mohanty@100
Surendra Mohanty wore
several hats. He was one of the finest fiction writers of modern Odisha,
politician, parliamentarian, editor and an erudite public intellectual.
 |
| Surendra Mohanty (21 June 1922- 21 Dec. 1990) |
My first substantial interaction
with him dates back to 1984 – me as a trainee reporter cum sub-editor and he as
the editor of newly launched Odia daily Sambad. I entered his room and said
“Sir, I want to write a weekly column in Sambad.”
He looked at me with his
pair of large and piercing eyes, puffed on his cigarette and asked, “What kind
of column?”
-
“A slice of life kind of column like
Khuswant Singh writes”.
He flicked ash in the
ashtray and told me “Write some pieces and show me.”
I did that next day.
Half an hour later, I was called to his room. He said, OK. write one. I have
thought of a title for your column. Sambad
Rojnamcha. Do you know what this word rojnamcha
means?
-
Yes. It means daily dairy.
He smiled. At 23 I
started writing my first weekly column in a major newspaper.
Thirty seven years
later- whenever I sit down to write my columns- I remember him- who gave a
break to a young man.
Teacher of the Year
Teacher of the year
award should go to Covid-19. It taught us how to live our life amidst
uncertainty. I taught us we can live a simple life. It also taught us the value
of family.
Googlopathy
You may have heard
about allopathy, Homeopathy, Naturopathy. Have you heard about Googlopathy?
It’s the most
modern branch of medicine, where patients prescribe medicines to the doctors.
(Courtesy: Social
Media)
++
The columnist a journalist
turned media academician lives at Dhenkanal, a central Odisha town. He also
writes fiction and translates poetry.
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Express and www.prameyanews.com
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