The social media is appalled at the uncouth and inhuman
behaviour of people in refusing to allow the burial of the body of a Doctor who
had died due to COVID -19 infection. [https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/mob-denies-burial-to-chennai-doctor-after-covid-19-death-many-ask-is-clapping-hands-enough-10-points/ar-BB12XveD ] That he had lost his life in the fight for the society did not bother
them.
The IMA has come with a statement that "The doctors are rendering services at extreme risk to themselves. No nation sends its army to war without weapons. Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers of this country have been sent to fight against COVID-19 without PPE kits and they are dying young defending their people. If the value of such services are not realised, the easiest thing for the doctor community will be to sit at home. The bigger sufferers will be the community." They have sought stringent Central Law to protect the Medical profession in such a grave situation. [https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/chennai-dr-simon-burial-row-ima-demands-central-law-against-violence-doctors-122986 ]
The IMA has come with a statement that "The doctors are rendering services at extreme risk to themselves. No nation sends its army to war without weapons. Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers of this country have been sent to fight against COVID-19 without PPE kits and they are dying young defending their people. If the value of such services are not realised, the easiest thing for the doctor community will be to sit at home. The bigger sufferers will be the community." They have sought stringent Central Law to protect the Medical profession in such a grave situation. [https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/chennai-dr-simon-burial-row-ima-demands-central-law-against-violence-doctors-122986 ]
A similar thing happened to a Meghalaya Doctor also .[
Are the people justified in their inhuman and uncouth
behaviour.
A BIG NO.
But, if we take a step back and look at how our collective
thought process has evolved over the recent past, we will understand it better:
Ø First, fear is justified.
Ø Particularly when it is for
self preservation and ones’ own kith and kin.
Ø Relationship between the Doctor
and patient is pure business.
Ø There is no sentiment
involved. When it is so from one side,
it is so from the other too.
Ø Everyone is entitled to look at
things only from ones’ own point of convenience. For example:
o If I am a Hindu, I am entitled
and probably require to detest all other religions.
o I have to be proud of my
religion, though I may not know a damn about it’s history or even what is said
to be in it’s sacred texts.
o If I am a Hindu born in India,
then I have the right and liberty to say that no other religious denominations
are entitled for living in this soil because this land belongs to my ancestors
alone.
o If still they should live here,
they should give an undertaking that they also accept that this is a Hindu
Rashtra and that they may kindly be permitted to live here.
o If I am living in India, I have
the liberty to abuse anyone who has left this country for the sake of making a
living, by saying that they had been unpatriotic.
o If such people living abroad
however are able to contribute to my party or thought process, in any method,
then they can be accepted as part of our extended family.
o Within the Hindu religion I am
entitled to feel and propagate that my caste or community is superior. That by claiming superiority over others, I
am conferring inferiority over others is not a point.
o Being forthright is about being
politically incorrect. Others who do not
belong to this class are hypocrites at the least and against the social and
national interests or could be urban naxalites, communists, or supporters of
any nations like Pakistan, China, Russia, or any other such nation.
o If I am from the forward
community, then I may take credit for having born there and therefore endowed
with great mental abilities, but have to also portray how my kith and kin are
suffering due to lack of jobs or due to poverty.
o If I belong to a land owning
community, I can on one hand claim pride over the fact that my forefathers have
fed others and at the same time can claim that since I did not have opportunity
to study in schools and colleges, I should also have some reservation benefit.
o If belonging to non-SC/ST I
should find fault with reservation. I
should say that they should study and earn a position in society.
o If I belong to SC/ST I should
try to take maximum mileage out of the reservation benefit but also try to have
it shared it with my immediate kith and kin to the extent possible.
o If I am not a Hindu and have
been born in India, then I have to, at any cost, preserve my right as an
individual and that of my own people to live in this country and towards that I
can do anything.
o If I am in a particular
profession, I have to look at it only from that point of view.
o If I am a consumer, then only
from that point of view.
o It is for the people on the
respective sides to defend themselves.
o The fittest survive. Only the fittest shall survive. Only they
should
o In which ever position we are,
whereever we are, then we are the fittest and we have to survive.
o If it is by passing over someone
else’s head, then it is natural – it is competitive world.
o If I am a salaried person, what
happens to the unorganised labourers is not my concern. They should be bothered about themselves. It is their fault that they did not study and
get into proper position in society.
o If I am a pensioner, the others
should be bothered about me. After all I
have served others so much.
o If I do not have pension, there
is no reason others should get it.
o If I am to get promotion by
extracting the work from others or exploiting others, it is because I am in
that position. Nobody asked others not to reach there.
o The student need not bother
about the troubles of a teacher.
o The teacher need to bother only
about the management, not children.
o Parents need to think only about
their own children. Neighbours’ children
could be tolerated only to the extent that they are of some benefit.
o Social/religious/political organisations
are for our requirement. We have to show
some contribution. But we have to
essentially confirm that we are benefitted by it. Otherwise, it is unwise to get involved with
them.
o Making money, remaining safe,
living happily is the essence of life.
o Everyone has to take care of
themselves.
Ø The list is endless.
We have heard about a Sri
Ramakrishna who while meditating upon a bull, gave a wild cry when the bull was
beaten and the mark of the whip was seen on his back.
The author of ‘Lead Kindly
Light’, Vincent Sheen is said to have been hurt when Gandhi was shot, though
Vincent Sheen was standing far away and had no chance for any particles from the bullet to
have pierced him. There was only a wound but no foreign body. It was called a psychic wound, caused due to his constant
thinking about the safety of Gandhiji.
Vallalar is said to have
grieved over the grief of even saplings and plants.
Meditation in this land and anywhere
else had been a method of feeling what others would feel. This experience over a period of time is said
to enable one to understand the universality of life itself. That is what they called realisation.
But it is in the name of fighting
to uphold this great ideal that the nation is currently made to become more
selfish, parochial, feudal and communal.
When we have been developing
this attitude as the quintessence of human existence, how could we now, hold
the people who refused to allow a decent burial to a Doctor who worked for the
community, risking his own life as wrong?
Just because we feel there
should be some Doctors around to take care of us in case of need?
