This is a wonderful initiative by Playingforchange.com, a group of musicians from around the world-Russia, US, South Africa, Italy, Mexico, France, Venezuela, Congo. Spain, Netherlands, and other countries. They synchronised to play a song live at the same time from their cities around the world.
Chennai, the capital of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has been besieged by the worst floods in its history. Over 200 people are dead. Road, rail, and air networks are disrupted. Even the power and telephone systems are out.
The city is between two rivers --Adayar and Cooum.They overflowed in the torrential rain that lasted several weeks.
The Army and the Airforce are working round the clock, rescuing stranded people, and dropping food packets. More than 50,000 people have been rescued so far- from multistory buildings, treetops etc and carried to secure places. Currently, rubber boats are the only means of transport in most of the city.
Many organisations are contributing physically and financially to the effort. This is a time for all of us to stand united and chip in. Read further here about the rescue efforts:
Manjunath, an IIM graduate, courted death while trying to expose the scam in UP's fuel business. A corrupt nexus was using the cheap kerosene meant for the poor to adulterate Diesel and make exorbitant profits.
And the poor? They still have to gather dry twigs for fuel. They can't afford the kerosene which is available only in the black market at thrice the original price.
Watch it to see the chilling face of corruption and the brave young man who refused to be cowed down.
This looks nice when you are ensconced in the safety of your living room, coffee and popcorn in hand. But not so nice when you learn the targets of this terminator style war are often innocent children.
Are we priming ourselves for self-extermination with our war games?
A child reared on war movies and games is ready to take on a similar role in life by the time he is an adult. Explosions and sniper strikes are entertainment. I would say the Italian marines' shooting of two unarmed Indian fishermen in high seas grew out of a similarly fostered temperament.
Unfortunately it back fires. It is not always "the enemy" that is the target. These come home to haunt us in the form of school yard killings and mall shoot outs.
It is time for our education to include the oneness of the human race, rather than just patriotic seclusiveness.