17.  Ideas to Ponder

 

 

People speaking the same language have a oneness;

Those speaking different languages have an otherness,

Language is a bond that unites people,

Languages can also separate people.

 

Doctors treat patients not out of generosity

But for their professional prosperity.

Patients expect from their ailments some relief

And doctors must strive to fulfill their belief.

 

The poor have the reason to fight

For which they do not have the might.

So they succumb to their miserable plight

And do not have an end of it in their sight.

 

Laws cannot guarantee freedom of expression;

We want freedom to speak without fear of suppression.

The underlying thing is the spirit of tolerance;

We must all try for its furtherance

 

Peace is not just an absence of war.

It is a virtue that does not bar

A disposition for benevolence,

Justice, trust and confidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man by nature has some ambition

Which often finds an inhibition,

For too many obstacles stand in the way

Which cannot easily be swept away.

 

Some people have a vision,

Some others have a mission.

When both these miserably fail,

Others cannot make of it head or tail.

 

In human evolution there is a triumph of brain over brawn,

But there should be triumph of the spirit over brain.

The brain helps man to work wonders

But the spirit helps man to see the Wonder of wonders.

 

In pre-monsoon rains God gives us a share,

It begins from afar and comes up so far

That we too get a reasonable share

And we close our doors, not leaving them ajar.

 

How many precious lives are lost in calamities!

How many innocents fall victims to cruelties!

We cannot blame it all on Providence;

We have to take care for their avoidance.

 

“Discretion is the better part of valour;”

Without discretion we raise a clamour

For assailing the unassailable

And end up in a situation not enviable.

 

For drinking water men dig many a well,

But few of them do with water fill

Water is a God-given gift,

Use it with the utmost thrift.

 

 

 

 

 

The British gave us freedom not out of generosity

But out of their own sagacity.

They had a vision of the end of colonial rule

And they gave an end to their misrule:

 

Man can walk safely in outer space

But not so in his city’s inner space.

Should we, therefore, increase our space research

Or on public morality do some research?

 

Businessmen spend lakhs for advertising

Which from their consumers they are realizing.

Businessmen are free to fix the price,

But the consumers cannot question the price.

 

Farmers market their produce in distress sale

When all prospects of any profit fail.

They are the backbone of the nation;

To give them cheap praise is just a fashion.

 

“Democracy is a form of religion”, says a big jurist,

“It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.”

Are these words coming from just a satirist

Or from a genuine leader of the masses?

 

Partners in a treaty have certain terms to keep,

Partners in a marriage have certain vows to keep,

Players in a team have its spirit to keep,

Followers of a religion have its precepts to keep.

 

Some are unwilling to share their prosperity,

Many others are willing to share their poverty.

In the sharing of wealth and woes

Avoid discrimination between friends and foes.