Nothing pleases me more these days than to read in a paper a ‘positive’ story that speaks of the goodness of man and the well-being of society, that, in turn, brings joy to the heart.
The Sachin Tendulkar chapter is over. Life, it is said, begins at forty and some of the reporting in our papers wished Sachin well in the days to come that touched me deeply. The Hitavada excelled in such reporting and one of its editorials really brought tears to my eyes. What is a joy to know is that life can be beautiful and indeed is and to be told so. The stories running down every one across the whole range of the great and the mighty makes one sick. The media no doubt publishes them on the theory that “bad” news is good news. I read that a 14-years boy, by name Prithvi Shaw has scored 546 runs in 330 deliveries – the highest score ever by a school boy in cricket history. Sachin, it seems, had gifted a bat to him some years ago. So we probably have a new Sachin in the making.
The Telegraph (November 21) had a story that was headed ‘Shawstopper’, which was clever. Prithvi’s father, it is again nice to learn, is a small-time garments trader. The same paper has a story on the discovery of a bacterium that can slowly degrade polythene. Credit is given to a biologist Bhavanath Jha working in a laboratory in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar.
Hindustan Times (November 21) reports that India is winning the battle against HIV/AIDS with infection going down by as much as 57 per cent. It also carries a report saying that Honda expects sales to treble in three years which only shows that our economy is going to get better and better. There is another story that one can get info under RTI without having to reveal one’s identity.
DNA (November 21) has a story that says that a Sikh taxi driver in Australia who returned some 110.000 Australian dollars in cash found on the rear seat of his cab to its owner, has received a Melbourne City Council Award for his honesty. Sure, these are not big stories, but then they are so heart-warming.
DNA in the same issue had another story that said a college student, Sakshi Sharma, from a Kandivli college (Thakur College of Science and Technology) has been given the Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme Award as “the best volunteer”. Sakshi is the only girl among the nation’s top 30 NSS volunteers.
The Asian Age (November 21) has a story which says by 2016 India will have the world’s largest Facebook population with a growth rate of 37.4 per cent. It also has a story about the Republican Party in the US pledging to strengthen Indo-US ties even while assuring the Indian American community that its interests will be protected. And the same paper had another story that said that the Church of England’s ruling body has voted overwhelmingly for proposals that could see the ordinance of women bishops, in 2014.
A lovely story that I read also in DNA (November 21) is of a doctor who referred a patient to a diagnostic laboratory in Pune for a CT scan. For that referral , the lab sent him a cheque for Rs 1,200 which he promptly returned as he did not believe in ‘cut practices’. There are, thank God, doctor like that. He is Dr HS Bawaskar. There is yet another story that has deeply touched my heart. It is a story published by the Mangalore edition of The Times of India (November 25). On the city outskirts there is a temple with historic origins. It is known as the Sri Sooryanarayana Temple of Hoysala origin with idols of Shri Chennanarayana swamy with his consorts Sridevi and Bhoodevi for worship. The temple was originally built during 1018-1038 AD by rulers of the Vishnuvardhan dynasty. It was practically in ruins though devotees still visited it. It badly needed to be renovated. The Temple Renovation Committee drew up plans at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore and devoted were ready to make their small contributions. But what surprised the Committee most was when a Roman Catholic came forward with a donation of Rs 20 lakh. He happens to be a city-based Ronald Colaco who believes that philanthropy should have no religious bindings.
A very rare individual indeed. We need more men like him to build India to all its greatness.
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