K - DIARY PAGE - 25 SEPTEMBER 2002

DIARY PAGE 25 SEPTEMBER 2002

A wet morning welcomed me when I opened my eyes. Rain drops were
falling and it was so cool all around. Lazily I sat up on my bed, said
my prayers, put aside the mosquito net, and placed my feet on the cold
hard ground and went off to start my day.

Morning schedules are always busy and heavy excepting on holidays.
Children have to hurry and scurry to reach their educational
institutions on time and elders to reach their work place.

I was busy the whole morning, work, work, work -------.

Finished with the household chores, the next work got its
priority.

I gave a topic for a composition to my class, "Scientific Developments
---- a bane or a boon".

Whilst the children settled down to their work, I wondered whether
actually the fast scientific developments are really helpful to us or
destructive to our lives.

Since the last two days, I am feeling very much disturbed when the
terrorist activities in India were shown live on private T.V. channels.
Two incidents were shown, one happening in Jammu and Kashmir and
another incident that took place in a place of worship in Gujrat.

The pictures were so disturbing and the scientific developments could
bring this to our houses. Repercussion would result in poisoning the
innocent minds and showing a wrong path. Being armed with sophisticated
weapons, those few people could cause such a massacre. The whole thing
generated a sense of fear in the minds of the people. We saw it all
live, bloodshed, firing, loss of life and property and ultimately loss
of peace which is hazardous for a healthy life.

The two young fellows responsible for the Gujrat were very young, as
could be seen from the live pictures. They seemed to be in their early
twenties. They were shot dead but only after killing and injuring many
people. The T.V. pictures showed how one of them after being shot dead
was tied to a rope and dragged out to a cleaner place for inspection.
This scene brought tears to my eyes ____ after all a human being and
what a death. I remembered, in our childhood days, at times we caught
dragonflies, butterflies, cockroach, frogs and other small insects.
These creatures would get killed in our hands and then at times we
would tie them to a piece of string and drag them here and there. Such
was the condition of these terror strikers now.

I have read that an AK47 Rifle can shower bullets non stop till the
cartridges are there. Scientific advancements have led to development
of weapons of mass destruction. These days so much is being said about
biological and chemical weapons. A small mistake can finish this
beautiful living world. So is the case of war now, which is thought to
be something of pride, for those inventing and possessing powerful
weapons. A finger on a switch and off it goes to create mass
destruction. Man has lost respect for himself and his fellow
beings.

At this juncture I remembered the poem "Lines Written In Early Spring"
by William Wordsworth where he starts with:

"I heard a thousand blended notes
While in a grove I sat reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to my mind".

Then later he goes on to write:

"To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man".

The line saying what man has made of man is fully correct relatively to
today's time. But I think that there is still time for man to
understand one another and respect each other and live happily on this
earth.

I looked at the children, a couple of them had finished their work and
I asked them to submit their note books to me to correct later
on.

After the class I felt that if I was given to write on this topic my
matured brain could only reveal the flaws, defect, the curse it was and
the crumbling destruction that it would cause and which I could
visualize. I felt like telling God to let me live a peaceful life in
the natural surrounding that I am in and live my life to full content
in the midst of God's beautiful Nature.

Some old friends came in the evening. A lovely get together.

Night crept in as is usual of her nature.

I am feeling very disturbed today. Stayed up late and did some
reading.

My eyes felt tired. Placed my specks on the side table, switched off
the lamp, said my prayers and went to sleep.

11 p.m.