If George Vince Gilligan had named his TV Serial Breaking “Good”, instead of “Breaking Bad”, would it have achieved the same degree of international acclaim and popularity? Not likely. Why is it that we are so comfortable with almost all the negative news that is dished out every day by the media, digital or print, day in day out, and then becomes a welcome project for us each time we unfold the morning papers? Adrenaline! Can’t wait for that cerebral “rush” just anticipating all the “bad” stuff we are about to read: Who’s been arrested, did they dump the guy in Tihar? How many died in that terrorist attack? How many potholes across the State? How high was the garbage pile in that other town? Did they all die in that highway pile-up? Is that fire still raging in the oil factory?
By now you’ve had daily diet, your fill of gore and grime, until tomorrow. It beats the stimulation of that morning cup-a-chai that’s gone cold by now. Bad News will always out-space the Good.
Page Two provides more, in detail, sent in by alert civic-minded folks, and activist readers, and the Team from The Newspaper office. Every day it’s stories of potholes; uncontrolled garbage dumping; criminals disturbing the peace; power supply outages; water supplies often contaminated; poor, or non-existent public transport; cabbies who won’t ply, but will play their loot-the-sucker games; financial scams, citizens being robbed of their hard-earned wages; law enforcement agencies, bureaucrats and politicians providing us with an unending stream of corruption and stories of inefficiency and negligence, not giving a thought that they are stealing from some of the poorest of the poor; heart-rending tales of kidnappings and rapes; violence and murder; cruelty to animals, these gentle, harmless fellow creatures, co-inhabitants of our dear planet; unbridled industrial pollution; mindless destruction or our precious forests; shall we go on? And on?
We are not trying to paint a sordid picture of the current state of our “human” society and the attendant social mores, if indeed it is, but we are seeking a way to turn it all around, to start Breaking Good. The Good Life is just around the corner. It’s there for the asking, for every creature on this earth. Today, more than ever before, mankind possesses all the required tools and technology to take us to that state of existence that we were all born to strive for. As humans, life is a battle for survival. All we can do besides, is procreate and die.
However, we have come a long, long way, we have evolved as a species that has attained the ability to make the struggle to survive a thing of joy. And this state of infinite intellectuality exists within each of us.
So what are we waiting for? Let’s start Breaking Good, right NOW.
The task we endeavor to undertake is to bring prosperity, civility and comfort to a society governed by a Leader possessed of Nobility and Wisdom and Justice.
The Task Force
Activists: They are the first line of action. These are the groups made up of citizens of exemplary character and who have acquired the experience and knowledge and possess the most important ingredient, Motivation. They need to provide a steady stream of information as to where the problems lie.
The News media need to fully support them in this crucial activity and to educate the powers that be; this will include almost all politicians, the bureaucracy, the law enforcement agencies, including wayward judges, that their dereliction of their public duties, their corrupt practices are destroying an entire nation. That the monies they earn illegally actually belong to the very poorest of our citizens.
Lawyers: The legal community of citizens must take a full and committed role in helping us dismantle the entire culture of corruption and negligence so deeply embedded in the governing systems of today. Lawyers must play hardball with the people who have been elected and/or appointed to help and serve the general population. They must drag these misguided officials to the courts. The crimes committed by this section of our Indian society are beyond measure, the damage they are doing has to be met by a force of greater magnitude. As every legal-minded person knows, justice denied is a cruel sentence inflicted upon the innocent.
Foot soldiers: This includes everyone. We need to take direction and guidance from the Activists. If you have close contact with them, we need try and offer help wherever we can. We need to communicate directly with the concerned authority to which a particular complaint must be dealt with. Use, where and if possible, email, social media, phone calls, personal visits, send letters by snail mail (cc to your newspaper), whatever you think will work best. Remember, the corrupt and greedy are blind, they have been looting people for years. Their mental consolation they apply within themselves is that they are “underpaid”, and that they must send their kids abroad to be educated, like the other corrupts are doing. At home, they are good clean citizens. They know that what they are up to is low-grade criminal activity. But they will keep this as far as possible from their families, friends, colleagues, and of course the law. When you meet them, eyeball-to-eyeball, you will be easily fooled by their cunning. But YOU are the soldier, you are fighting a holy war for your family, your community, your country.
All this will only work if the Activists, The Newspapers (unless, sadly, a “conflict of interest” comes in the way), and the Lawyers and the Foot soldiers, are alert and vigilant at all times. The Will to see this thru and an attitude of Determination are the main weapons in the fight.
If we cannot do something, that’s fine. But if there’s something we CAN do, and don’t it, that would be the worst tragedy. How then do we answer the next generation?
Jai Hind.
(The author is now a permanent resident of Goa after living in Mumbai, New York and London)
