Even poor people gains the limelight due to social media!

There are certain charms in life, which are very difficult to relinquish! The first one is naturally ‘wealth’ in any form. The second being recognition among relatives, friends and society! The second one is nurtured by everyone on earth. Even a beggar on the street needs recognition. This is human psychology. Unfortunately, today recognition is linked wealth. We see in the media, obscure persons come to the spotlight due to talents ingrained in them which could not come to the fore due to poverty. Today, social media does the job of introducing unknown talents around the corners of the world. A recent video circulated in the media went viral for the story behind the pathetic scene. A man was seen carrying the dead body of his wife by walking thirteen kilometers to his home! This was noticed by the ruler of Bahrain and he was affected by the pathetic scene. Immediately he told his willingness to help the poor person! And after the video went viral, many persons in India came forward to help the man in distress. In that respect, I admire the role of social media but at the same condemning it for exhibiting unwanted contents which may result in great commotion among the public. The person who lost his wife was poor, illiterate with three daughters to support. Whatever help he get from philanthropic people will surely help the man to find a means of living and feeding his daughters.

Had he been a wealthy person, he would not have undergone such a trauma of carrying his wife’s body for full thirteen kilometers. He would have hired some carriage for that purpose! Hence I said that wealth is the primal charm! Due to the pathetic video, the poor man got recognition from all over the globe! But that is a rare happening and it won’t happen very often. Whether the news is good or bad, social media takes the credit of wide display!

But, neither wealth nor recognition is permanent. People from very poor backgrounds shot to fame in the sports arena. In the Paralympics held recently, a very poor Youngman with limp in the leg was able to snatch Gold in the High jumps event. He was from Tamilnadu and his mother was feeding her three sons by selling vegetables! Only after he clinched the gold in the event, many people raised their brows. Yes, he was not seen in the media before! Instantly, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu sanctioned a sizable amount to the person who brought laurels to India in the World Sports forum. Sadly, he toiled his way to the gold with the meager help from certain sports enthusiasts. In other countries, when talent is spotted, the government takes all responsibility to groom them to victory in world events. India is slowly waking up to the need to groom talents who generally lack the resources. Some medal winners in the past had to sell their medals to eke out a living. This is a deplorable condition. Only the media bring such stories to the people! I feel political interference and bureaucratic delays spoil the chances of such poor talented people. At least in India, after medal winning, the sportspersons are honored with prize money! In one remote African country, the gold medal winner got electrical connection to her home as reward!

The world is a mixture of affluence and poverty. While few people hold majority of wealth, the rest are leading hands to mouth existence. Hence, it is the responsibility of such wealthy people to take care of the poor one in their locality by offering free food, clothes and drinking water facilities. But rarely a wealthy man shares his enormous resources with the poor population. There is great imbalance in the world. While certain countries flaunt surplus resources, there is abject poverty in many other countries. We need to copy the quality of water in this regard. Water always flows from higher places to lower places. Water is maintaining its level. After filling a vessel, the surface of water is always level. Like the water, people who hold enormous resources must let them shared by the poor in society. At least, food, clothing, drinking water must be shared equally among all. The government also must see that the welfare of their citizens is taken care adequately. I don’t deny that most of the rich earn through their hard work and ingenuity. Even Bill Gates started his career from a humble disposition but his adventurous spirit and risk taking capacity made him the richest businessman in the world. But for his untiring labor, Microsoft and Windows might not have gained such prominence today among computer users of the world. The popularity of other systems are subsequent to Microsoft systems!

Today, mobile platforms gains more prominence due to portability, connectivity and cheap voice and data charges. In world level, India is using more mobile devices than any other country and the mobile penetration is exemplary. Even rural households started using mobile devices. Also, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is emphasizing extension of data accessibility to the nook and corners of the country. He feels that many of the welfare measures could reach the remotest locality if there is no communication gap. In olden days, only a radio was the sole entertainment media for the villages. Radio room was one of the primary targets of village uplift program. Then only, even illiterate people can hear about the various new techniques in agriculture and animal husbandry. Mainly weather warning, crop selection and other details of rearing economical crops in each location were broadcast through village radios.

But access to mobile phones in the villages changed the entire scenario. Of course, before the advent of mobile gadgets, cheap TV sets were installed in the villages at some prominent places. Education healthcare and other news were directly relayed by government media. In the urban scenario people subscribe for private networks and watch around 100 channels mostly catering to the entertainment sector. But there is valuable educational, health and other programs which when watched enabled the youth to become knowledgeable. Nowadays, we find even student from rural background compete in competitive exams like the urban students and fair well. Slowly, the media is enabling poor students from backward area to improve their knowledge and awareness and make him aim for decent life. These are some of the positives of media as opposed to the negatives I have delineated in some of my previous posts.