Friday, August 29, 2008

A flooding pain…

I feel so miserable when I see the agonized and flooded Bihar on television. It makes me feel so moved and helpless. The whole crisis of Kosi river had been there since my childhood days and I have been witnessing it throughout. So far I’ve never been able to resolve the issue on my part, and that’s distressing. In Bihar, all sorts of Govt. came and went away, but none could stop the mishap and its sore consequences. I fail to understand where these helpless and vulnerable should go? And as a person and an actor, what should I do? I feel feeble.

Today, watching on channels that the Central Govt. has approved an aid of a thousand crores for the distressed made me feel a bit better. In addition to this, the Govt. should also try to solve the root cause of the issue so that people don’t face a similar situation every monsoon. Thousands of lives would be saved that way.

I just now had a chat with Shri Prakash Jha. We are to meet today. Sitting together, we’ll discuss the pains of people and will try to take up their problems to the Govt. May be this effort on my part will make their lives better.

I was dubbing for a film today. My mind however, was occupied in the miseries of the people lying there in Bihar. It’s sad to say that the kind of fast city life we are leading has made us passive towards the lives of others. There are lives aloof from the kind of lives we lead and it’s high time we should understand it. Ironically, malls are not the only gauge of development. There is a rural population also which needs to be looked after. Our country wouldn’t grow if they are unhappy.

The sorrow in Bihar made me feel like sharing my sorrows with all of you. All this makes me feel helpless, but I’ll try to do my best in this regard in all the possible means. Having said that, I’ll sign off now. Shekhar Suman, Prakash Jha and I are meeting, so that we can think about it and moreover DO something significant about it.

Yours,
Manoj Bajpayee

5 comments:

G Vishwanath said...

It is indeed gratifying to note that a celebrity located far away from the scene of the disaster is at least thinking of and showing some concern for the thousands of people who are affected. In this you are unlike so many who are not even perhaps aware and who make no attempts to keep themselves informed of happenings outside the world of Cinema and entertainment.

Since you are not legally empowered to act, you can do the next best thing. May be Shekar Suman, Prakash Jha, Shatrughan Sinha, you and other celebrities can organize a show in which all of you can participate and the proceeds can be sent to Bihar.

The tragedy in our country is that we can never be sure if the money reaches the right people.

Any way you would still have played your part and that should give some satisfaction.

I hope some time in future when you tire of Bollywood and want to rise higher in life (not necessarily wealth wise) you will show interest in politics and get involved. We need good clean people like you to enter this area and clean up everything. Being a film celebrity, your reach is wider and you are more readily recognisable by the average voter.

A vote from me, whatever party you join is assured.
Best wishes.
G Vishwanath, JP Nagar, Bangalore

Unknown said...

The entire nation should now pay attention to this national disaster. Its all of us can contribute some thing to help those 25 lakh people affected by this tragedy. We should come forward and help to whatever extent we can

TellPriya said...

Hi, I feel very pained and helpless when I see top officials and powerful and influential party leaders being so very inefficient and passive about issues and people (who elect them). Apart from being unwilling to organise and sort out issues, I believe they (Top Officials & Politicians) are INCAPABLE & INEFFICIENT people. In the age of 'technological advancement' & 'modernisation', before a calamity hits us...we should be prepared always with a PLAN A..PLAN B..& PLAN C...to rescue people 'immediately in a war-like-way...'a minute wasted ..is a SIN'.. We have to make STRATEGIES FOR ALL KIND OF SITUATIONS beforehand and not when the tragedy has hit us..as TRAGEDY TIME IS PLAN EXECUTION TIME RESCUE TIME..AND NOT TO BE WASTED IN MEETING WITH OFFICIALS FOR HELP AND PLANNING FOR RESCUE. Even the FUND should be separately ready for these kind of disastors.
We never cared to take care of our living place..our EARTH..we never acted responsibly.. so..guys its PAYBACK time...its high time..nature will react to our mishandling it... till now we were offensive to nature..now its nature's turn..he he!! we cannot dodge the 'hits'..we can only rescue ourselves..so, fasten your belts..pull your socks up...and FACE it..he he!!

Anonymous said...

hi manoj,
I think millions of Bihari and non-bihari will support you in this noble cause. what we need is long term solution. One solution is linking rivers, lets start this work from Bihar only. My suggeston is that, you, Mr. jha and other famous personalities can start a movement in support for linking rivers. My second suggestion is you all play a watchdog to look after the package. So that money reaches the right persons otherwise my fear is only fucking politician will be beneficier. I am ready to help you in this endeveour with all my family.
Thanks.
jay.jogira@gmail.com

Stm said...

Dear Manoj ji,
It is very sad to see and read about the devastating flood situation in Bihar. Whats more surprising is that the Government, both at the center and state level, are well aware this is recurring disaster year after year, and still no initiative is taken. Relief and other measures are fine, once something like this has happened. What you should be doing is to garner enough pressure on the Government o permenantly solve this issue. We have all the technical expertise to solve such a problem permenantly rather than suffer such massive losses.
It really saddens me to see where have our priorities gone?

Stmehta