RAGHURAMAN'S COLUMN - POINTS TO PONDER

POINTS TO PONDER _ 1

By K.RAGHURAMAN

Friends, AS YOU ALL KNOW, we have just elected our 15th LOK SABHA.
And, of course by now even the new government would have been formed.
But, as of now, that is not my concern now.

Rather, I would like to focus on a special feature occurred in this Election.
Among thousands of candidates contested in this Election, a handful of them are really worthy to be noticed for their real mettle to serve the society. Yes! These candidates are truly men of action and only because of which they had secured a large number of votes.

To my knowledge three visually challenged contested the elections from north India. These Visually Challenged candidates are neither uneducated nor unemployed. They are real contributing citizens of our country, working and leading a life of dignity.

But, I am sorry to say that I could remember only MR. RAMBHAI’s name who gave a tough fight to both Congress and B.J.P. In fact he got around 27000 votes and this is because of good deeds that he had done to his constituency. He is really popular amongst the people there.

Even here in Chennai a social activist—a Sighted stood for the welfare of the Visually challenged community contested. And he is none other than MR.N.S. VENKATRAMAN the NANDHINI VOICE, an N.G.O devoted itself for the cause of the disabled.

What do we need to derive from this initiation?

That we, the friends, belonging to different Disabilities must at least now raise up to the occasion and come under one Forum in order to be a strong political force to be reckoned with.

So far we have been merely reciting the slogan that: “We must be part and parcel of the main stream”. But, we have never endeavoured to act accordingly. We should.

Firstly, we must master ourselves in our respective Fields and should be more informative and challenging at any point of time.

So, each and every step of us should be in the direction of improvement and elevation in terms of the whole community.

For this purpose both the seniors and juniors should walk together. With the former being the Beacon-light, the latter could reach the shore safe and sound.

But, at present the seniors and even those who are well settled in their lives disown themselves from social activities in the garb of protecting their families.

This is not to blame anyone, but, to take stock of the situation as such.

Therefore, let us all chart out an action plan to be a Member of Parliament in the next Lok Sabha.

Also, we could, as some say, demand reservation in the Parliament.

Also, friends belonging to different disabilities should co operate and co odinate to share a common platform from where each and everyone of our voice could be heard loud and clear.

Hence, I invite all my buddies to work with me to realize this mission.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed .
But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

So, what are the steps that we could possibly take to cherish this goal?

My suggestions are ---

1: As I mentioned basically we need to bring in all our friends who are scattered in different parts of INDIA under one flag.
2: Then each and every learned disabled friend should create awareness amongst his/her juniors through whatever possible way that he/she is capable of. In fact they should be not merely a friend, but also a good guide all through their lives.
3: The budding ‘differently abled’ friends, instead of opting for the usual, much-trodden work streams, should focus on the unexplored professions in order to prove the fact that we are proficient to do any job.
4: Besides working for our own community, each differently abled must voice their opinions on all social issues and participate in all social projects genuinely to facilitate the process of oneness.

By doing these surely one could be an inspiring personality, a role model in his/her own way.
These are only my thoughts. It’s up to you to accept, modify or even add if you wish.

“Life is only once.
So let us cherish it with our sense.”.