There are many things that happen to us or around us, which we just accept without even bothering as to whether it is right or not, whether it is justified or not and whether it is true or not. The situation has assumed serious proportions in view of the exponentially expanding social media where anything said or written even for fun sake goes viral in no time. Enroute thousands of exchanges and forwards, the message is commented upon and given colour either to increase the veracity of the issue or spray dirt on it. Hardly anyone, if ever, bothers or tries to find out the truth.
Digging at times is essential A case in point is regarding Gandhiji. True to the status of ‘father of the nation’ his name is being used in almost every aspect of our lives and invariably in every tricky situation almost indiscriminately. Unfortunately, the right and wrong of it is hardly ever considered. The latest anecdote highlighting both the good and bad use of his name, gone viral on the internet is like this: A friend of Gandhiji was framed for murder. Since he was a practicing lawyer those days, he fought for the case for his friend, won it and saved him. The friend thanked him profusely and asked, ‘tomorrow when you are not there, who would save the innocents like me.’ The reply he supposedly received was: ‘do not worry; the currency note with my photo on it would do the needful!’
Well, it has turned out to be true, albeit in a negative sense. Bapuji’s presence on the currency-notes has come to the help of thousands, if not millions of Indians without fail whenever an individual has been involved either in breaking a rule or involved in any wrongful or illegal act. The sad part however is that ‘poor Bapu’ watches it all silently, without being able to say anything or protest against. The worst part is that it gives credence to the statement highlighting Gandhi’s foresight. What however needs to be done is to establish the truth in the supposedly assumed conversation as to whether any such incident ever took place.
Research does wonders The most consumed soft drink in the world Coca-Cola was introduced in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886 as a health drink. It remained so for almost 100 years when research began to establish that the soft drink contains primarily sugar and colour and is devoid of any nutritional value, and on the contrary has many harmful side-effects. The environment and human rights departments’ over the years, the world over have established many ill-effects on health, the prominent ones being:
• It leads to addiction and diseases like diabetes and memory loss since it contains caffeine.
• The phosphoric acid, present in it can lead to heart and kidney problems, muscle loss, and osteoporosis.
• It decreases the metabolism and helps in destroying the burning enzymes in quick time.
• It induces obesity, the root cause of many diseases that affect heart, lungs and kidney.
• The pH level is quite high (around 3.2) which gives them an acidic character which can dissolve bones and teeth enamel very quickly thus leading to bone and tooth decay.
• The cans of these drinks are coated with certain chemicals that can lead to reproduction problems with continued consumption.
Further research has proved it to be a good cleaning agent which can act equally well, if not better than detergents such as shining up a tarnished copper penny, cleaning stains in toilet bowl, removing rust, especially from chrome on the bumpers of automobiles and taking out grease from clothes
A hypothesis needs proof A random check would convince anyone that in our country the students who pass higher secondary examination with distinction or in first division, go for technical education and become either engineers or doctors. Those who pass in second division go in for commerce, arts and science and then go for MBA and become administrators and control the first divisioner namely doctors and engineers. Most of the third divisioners do not take admission in any college, enter politics and rule over the first and second divisioner. Those who fail join the underworld and rule the politicians. Then there are those who do not go to any schools. They become ‘Babas and Sadhus’ and have all the above classes of people come to them, bow before them and touch their feet!
It might appear to be a myth, and can be shrugged-off as an irony but consider known cases around you. The majority would fit the pattern. No doubt there is some truth in it that needs to be established through genuine research work.
Areas galore for Research There are so many happening in our country which though real, appears to be bizarre. Though they happen quite regularly, yet defy logic and raise genuine questions: how is it possible. Each one of these areas needs research and I am sure each one of you would agree that any research in such areas would be worthy of a PhD degree. Though the list can be expanded, but for the time being the following factual happenings almost through the length and breadth of the country cry hoarse for some concrete analysis and research:
• Politician divide us, terrorists unite us
• Everyone is in a hurry, yet no one reaches on time.
• Reserve people get more benefits than deserve people.
• We spend more on our daughter’s wedding than their education.
• It is dangerous to talk to strangers, but it is perfectly Ok to marry one.
• Most people who fight over Gita, Quran and bible, have probably never read any one of them.
• The shoes we wear are sold in air-conditioned showrooms, but the vegetable we eat are sold on the footpath.
The master-topic There is so much material about woman’s tongue, most of it in the form of hearsay, gossip and jokes e.g. Santa’ son was filling-up an application form when he read a column and asked his father: ‘What do I write against mother-tongue?’ The simple advice was to write: ‘very long and uncontrollable.’
It is contemplated that the single cause of the battle of Mahabharata was due to the loose and uncontrolled tongue of Draupadi. When Duryodhan came to visit their mansion and tripped considering the plain surface to be an illusory pond, she is claimed to have uttered the most insulting words, ‘Son of a blind man is another blind man.’ What followed is history.
While examining a young female patient, doctor told her, ‘Your heart, lungs, pulse and blood-pressure are all normal. Now I would like to examine that cute little pink thing which gets you ladies in all sorts of trouble. Seeing a perplexed and somewhat harried look at her face, the doctor hastened to add, ‘show me your tongue!’
It is obvious there is a strong case to examine the ‘ladies-tongue’ issue in detail. It would be yet another interesting topic for research. A caution however: be prepared and have some safety device at hand to escape the sharp and scathing tongues that you may be (un)fortunate to encounter!
Author
Wg Cdr (retd) DP Sabharwal is an aeronautical engineer by profession, a teacher by training and a writer by passion. He has been delivering training sessions on ‘personality development’ related soft skills. He is a researcher and author: Aerospace, having published more than 20 books.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Newskarnataka.com and Newskarnataka.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same
