On Spreading Positivity

Negativity easily attracts and rules the mind.

In Odisha the cheap news of Baba Srimad Sarathi eclipsed the death news of a truly legendary figure of India, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam’s wide visions and missionary zeal for transforming the nation into a progressive and prosperous state failed to achieve due media coverage in Odisha because the vernacular electronic media showed more interest in Srimad Sarathi’s hotel visit with lady escort than in Kalam’s ennobling visions.

The empire of Baba Sarathi collapsed like a house of cards and political forces fanned the fire to make it a sensitive state issue. But my question is that when a great soul like Kalam departed leaving a legacy of so much positivity, why we deliberately shut our eyes to the noble aspects of a statesman like Kalam and go on discussing all day long the so-called baba’s jeans-clad avtar and his hypocrisy.

Pleasure can be derived from various sources. Scratching one’s itches is pleasurable but such pleasures cannot initiate a big change for the better. On the other end, pursuing intellectual pleasure and inculcating nobler feelings can truly enrich life manifold. Mass media should be a vehicle for guiding and realizing the aspirations of general public by spreading life-changing inputs for quality life. No one can deny that at present mass media plays a more prominent role than the teachers or educators of all colleges and schools put together. However,the frantic propensity of almost all news channels to spellbound viewers by flashing breaking news captions on the screen is utterly unhealthy for the well-being of the society. Moreover, these channels’ mad desire to hold the highest TRP is nothing but a spiraling course to mediocrity or gradual degeneration.

Classics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have always provided us magnificent ideals of reference to lead life with basic human values unaltered. Many scriptures and good books are there which have opened up new vistas for social and spiritual amelioration. There is no dearth of exemplary lives which make us shine with the glory of an awakened soul. But we never cherish such positive influences. On the contrary the print and electronic media is happy to spread the bad smell of rotten fish all around because it is easily available and is capable of shaking off every member of the society with its terrible unhealthy smell. But one thing should be kept in mind that TRP is not everything. Celebrating the joy of life and staying positive is the greatest achievement of human faculties.  

There is a funny quote, “Be like a proton and stay positive.” This quote is best applicable to the electronic media of Odisha. They need to stay positive and should encourage constructive forces of the society for effecting appreciable changes.