Our moral bankruptcy!

It reminds me of a beautiful quote of a notable scholar and public intellectual, Ahmad Javaid: “We, collectively, are plagued by a very severe disease and that is to have been reduced to a very low level in almost every sphere of life. Be that our taste of things, faculty of intellect or our moral conduct, this lowliness has become a defining factor of our existence.” Thus, being content with meagreness in everything has paved the way for our devastation at global level. We have mentally accepted our status of remaining at the margins and not playing a decisive role in any given field. Making things worst, we do not seem to try to change this mindset as well. To be ordinary is a disease for any community; to remain content with, it is the death of the community.

When we examine the situation in our government as well as private sectors, it is a very common observation wherein we see officials delaying work for no reason. The thought never comes across their mind that this is both a sin and a crime. In fact, an official who dismisses public pleas on account of unnecessary formalities, is considered to be the most efficient one. Witnessing such conduct, one really seems perplexed whether the people of this society are literate in the true sense of the word. Do we not ponder over the fact that such a conduct from us can undermine our years of worship and render it worthless.

One of my acquaintances was pleading his case under SRO. The official in charge was so determined to point out loopholes in the case that he would, it appeared, make a mountain out of a molehill. The applicant had recently lost his young father and the entire family was going through financial crisis, still the official was unmoved and indifferent. In one another incident, a young girl had lost her life and her family was trying to get the money released from the GP fund account, which was few thousands only. The family was continuously being traumatised, asked for bribe; which made me address the official by saying that I do not see any difference between him and a shroud-thief ( Kafan choor). It is ironic that we have reached such a stage were asking for bribe openly is not considered to be a matter of shame, it has very much synchronised into our culture now.

Now let us look at other important aspect of our society. Trade and business are the backbones of any given society, but here also, our approach is least positive. I, on a personal level, do not subscribe to the idea of online shopping as it dents the local market to a huge extent. To buy and sell in our own local market generates a lot of positive elements for the society. Therefore, I opt for online shopping only in case all other options fail to work. To convince one of my friends towards the same, I was pressing upon him to buy products from local market only.

He, as a response, took me to the market and enquired about the price of a shirt, which turned out to be Rs 1100. The very next day, he was wearing the same shirt, of the same brand and similar stuff, bought from Srinagar. He showed me the bill, it was Rs 700. Another friend of mine, who was sitting there only, checked the price of the same shirt online, it was Rs 400 only. Then we checked the prices of other products as well, a shoe which was being sold at Rs 2400 in the market was available online at Rs 1200 only. Surprisingly, a battery whose price I had checked to be Rs 23000 in the market, was available at Rs 16500 only.

I do not intend to suggest that the prices should be same both offline and online. However, there needs to be a check upon the scale of disparity as well. Is it not the case that the moment Jammu-Srinagar highway gets blocked, prices skyrocket, even though our religion has strict regulations against hoarding and over pricing.

We happen to belong to the legacy wherein honest businessmen are to accompany the groups of highest order. May Almighty bestow us with the sense and vision so to lead a virtuous and productive life.