Crank Crank Crank

It is shocking to know that people derive fun out of something that could be a matter of life & Death. The latter in most of the cases because our traffic situation ensures that one cannot get to place in time if he starts early let alone if it is an emergency. 

It is not as if there are too many people taking ill all of a sudden. But of the 7,19,489 calls received in June, 40,000 were from kids simply out to play a prank.

The report here says that in many cases the adults encourage their kids to make such crank calls. The problem is that in the end we just put off these crank calls by saying that "Oh! he is just a boy!!". Sometimes a simple call done for fun or to derive some momentary enjoyment can mean that a bevy of people are on road running from pillar to post away from their loved ones, leaving perhaps more important tasks to attend to what the caller has just alerted them about.

A prank call to the police control room by an unidentified boy, sounding eight to 10 years old, Sunday afternoon that a bomb would explode in the upscale M.G. Road sent the city police into a tizzy and caused a scare in the area.

This just shows how irresponsibly can we behave at times. It is this lack of sense of responsibility in our youth that at time leads to many a crisis. Be it bomb scares or delaying flights by making hoax calls. The fact is that we just getting degrees will not help; one needs to be really educated to learn to live and also respect others lives.

The growing crowds

The sole consolation in the following headline was that atleast we were world leaders in one category.

India's burgeoning population has seen a five-fold increase over the last 100 years and will surpass that of China by 2050

The problem of population has plagued this country for long and even though there have been initiatives taken up by the government, not much has really come out of it. Yes we have arrested the population growth to some extent but not to the extent we would ideally like to have. While some countries have to worry about a diminishing population, India has to worry about managing its depleting natural resources among a mammoth population which only seems to keep growing. Sustained growth is only achievable when the stress on the natural resources is not extremely overwhelming. The problems of crime, exploitation and a widening social chasm is only looking northwards even in the backdrop of a growing economy primarily because we have many more mouths to feed, more bodies to clothe & bathe.
Lack of proper education is one of the driving factors behind teenage pregnancies. Uninformed youth, poverty and lack of awareness leads to unplanned growth of families. Religious beliefs are good to have, however individuals should understand that these ideas of avoiding contraceptive measures etc were coined in a different age where the demands of the society were completely different from the socio-economic conditions of today. Today we are at a point where the social economic fabric is already stretched to its extremes and may not be able to support the kind of population explosion we are talking about. Anarchy, increased crime rates and woefully low health and Sanitary conditions are in store for us if we do not act now and act well.

This is something of a black humor ...real meaningful cartoon