THE VULTURES ARE WAITING FOR US TO SUCCUMB

The current situation is grody and dreadful and sad. From April onwards there has a sudden spike in the Covid cases with severe intensity and infectivity. People of all class creed sex and faith are in the same plight and every citizen of this country is at the mercy of the virus. Ours is a country with a population of 145 crores ,a humongous task for any government to provide emergency medical care and vaccine within a stipulated time where currently we have two major vaccine manufacturer working round the clock to provide that many vaccines. Obviously it will take time and effort from the government and the citizens.

Time and again the government is educating he masses the importance of masking up, importance of maintaining social distancing and so many other SOPs but we as a citizen we always blame the government and the agencies for their failure or procrastination whereas we callously move about without mask , we organize huge weddings, we break the rules, we argue with the authorities when they try to implement the rules of masking up in public places, so much so that we even show our credentials of being associated with some Tom Dick and Harry who has some say in the power structure anywhere. We organize huge gatherings at religious places irrespective of the law forbidding it for the time being and when stopped from doing so, we raise the religious victim card and try to garner public sympathy.

Now that the pandemic is raging like a wild fire we are prompt in blaming the government and completely absolve ourselves from our responsibilities. Taking of responsibility I am amazed by the role that certain segment of our media is playing. From Morning to night they are just showing death, struggle, and all the negative visuals that help in creating public opinion against the government. Bytes after bytes they go on and on in projecting the grotesque whereas they conveniently put a cloak over the positives. These media houses deliberately creates panic among the populace only to reap the benefits that comes in terms of viewership. To them it does not matter whether it is in the interest of the nation, interest of the gullible citizens, or in the interest of the external forces who desperately wants this country to fall apart.

But there are stories and events and visuals of humanity that is working round the clock to help an augment the limited infrastructure that we have. There are people and sects that have opened their temples, Gurudwaras, Mosques churches to house the needy, supplying the much needed oxygen food and care irrespective of caste creed and religion. Such stories should be covered by the media houses more than showing the piles of dead bodies.

Seeing all these I remembered about the ace photo journalist, Mr.Kevin Carter who shot a photograph of a Sudanese Girl, aged around 6 or 7 years, who was highly malnourished and had given up all hope of surviving and she just stopped in her path and sat down bending forward. Just then a Vulture flew in and sat a few meters away from the girl. Mr. Kevin Cater took the shot of the vulture and the girl in the same frame and titled it as the “Struggling Girl” . The shot is also famous by the title “The Vulture and the little Girl”. The background for the said photograph lies in the UNESCO relief operation which started in the early nineties. The Hunger Triangle, a name relief organizations used in the 1990s for the area defined by the southern Sudan communities Kongor, Ayod, and Waat, was dependent on UNESCO and other aid organizations to fight famine. Forty percent of the area's children under 5 years old were malnourished as of January 1993, and an estimated 10 to 13 adults died of starvation daily in Ayod alone. To raise awareness of the situation, Operation Lifeline Sudan invited photojournalists and others, previously excluded from entering the country, to report on conditions. In March 1993, the government began granting visas to journalists for a 24-hour stay with severe restrictions on their travel within the country, including government supervision at all times. So Mr. Kevin Carter was one of them. Those of you who would want to read the entire story and the events thereafter can google it out. Mr. Carters photograph was published in the New York times dated March 26th 1993 and that created a stir worldwide. He was suddenly catapulted into stardom so much so that he was awarded the Pulitzer prize in March 1994.

Mr. Kevin Carter was flooded with interviews and People and other journalist everybody wanted to hear from him his first hand experience in Sudan. People questioned him about everything starting from what camera he used, how he framed the shot, how difficult it was to enter Sudan and etc etc.

One fine day he got a telephonic call and the person on the other side requested him if he could spare some time for him. Mr. Kevin granted him some time and the person from the other side asked him some of the regular questions that the other journalists and media people had asked. Then he asked ,”how many Vultures were there?” and Kevin answered that there was one. The man on the other side asked, “Are you sure?” Mr. Kevin said in affirmative. The voice on the other side said, “Mr Kevin on that fateful day there were two Vultures at the scene, you were the second Vulture.” Having said this the phone call disconnected. Kevin Carter was dumbstruck and from then on he could not get control over his guilt and he committed suicide in July 1994.

Mr. Kevin was human enough to recognize and realize his fault and he could not live with the guilt and the heavy burden of stardom and publicity at the cost of a small girl desperately trying to cling to her life and dignity before being devoured by the Vulture . Mr. Carter might have been thinking why he could not save the girl that day. He was human enough to not to bear the burden of guilt and therefore ended his life.

Our media is exactly like Mr. Kevin. Kevin ended his life but our media and their elite groups of anchors are not even human enough to feel the burden of the guilt of portraying somebody’s misery and earning the so called accolades. They are characterless to the point where they sell their own motherland. Such is the degradation in their character that they do not even think of ending their lives. They do not feel the pangs of treachery. To such people money is most important. People who are black-marketing medicines, oxygen cylinders ,Hospitals charging patient unreasonable amount of money for they know that the person would pay anything to them to get treatment in this global crisis of the Corona Pandemic, all these and many more are like the vultures living off the flesh of the helpless. These vultures are out and out waiting to kill and devour our nation, our ethos, and our pride as a nation.