Should we be really PROUD?

Here is an email from Vinoth Kumar that calls for our attention :

The points     raised byVinoth are very important. "Are we living in a fools' paradise? and not able to look beyond what we see?" Wg.Cdr JP

Hello Sir, This is regarding the word “PROUD” used by members in our BBM (Badagas of Blue Mountain). People have been using the word “proud” number of times, for ex, proud to be a badaga, proud to be from niligiri etc. Yes, no doubt we are all proud of ourselves being a badaga, but let us assess what have we done for making our community more proud. Obama acquired the presidency by using the word “change”, it was a big hit which elevated him to the highest profile in world. Now his tenure as president is gonna end and what has changed in US? nothing, coz he did not work towards what he meant. The word change is no more special now. “NO ONE HAS CLIMBED A HILL JUST BY LOOKING AT IT”. We have to climb up the hill to reach the peak. We have lot of issues in our community which need immediate attention. Rather we saying ourselves proud, let us work towards making us more proud. We have lot of well educated people with good practical knowledge which is vital than being theoretical. I request all of you to come forward and share your ideas about our community and regarding your sector which might help our community in one otherway. We only speak about the good things in our community, lets discuss about the bad and make it good or at least better. I feel the below topics need to be given priority. 1. ECONOMY AND REAL ESTATE BUSSINESS: “Haasanoor oogi haala kudupudhuna, nilagiri neera kudiyaaku”, meaning nilagiri water is better than hassnoor milk which is known for its thickness and nutrient content. In Nilgiris, Every grain of soil is fertile and every blade of grass is green even in summer. Why are we running towards coimbatore and buying properties in exhorbitant prices? I accept we have to move to other cities because employment oppurtunities are less in our district. Its good we make our presence in other places by buying land, but not at the cost of selling what we have in our native. I know its not easy to maintain a tea estate as there is shortage of labor and moreover everyone wants to be a white collar worker than a blue collar. Apart from tea, the other crops like potato, garlic, carrot, radish, beetroot etc have become like lottery bussiness, it depends on luck than your hardwork. Partly, we can blame the El Nino and govt policies which is responsible for this debacle, at the end we are the losers. Lets forget the govt and do something on our own. We should stop following what our forefathers did five decades back. They had proper seasons, now there is no seasons, its summer 3/4th of the year and rest is winter. We have to change the crop pattern or even the crops. We should try semi arid crops or the arid crops like jatropha or croton. New roads have to be build to reach farms which are far. People who stay in cities please lease the land nearby village to the ones who do farming in villages rather than selling it to someone from outside for construction of villas. Either you can plant trees in farms which are far from villages which might help to please the rain gods and, in case, if govt allows logging in future you can make a kill out of it. Requested people: Agri experts to study crop pattern and panchayat presidents to lay new roads. 2. HEALTHCARE: Overall healthcare facilities have improved in our community and access to hospitals are better than earlier. Asthma was the only curse for our community in the past, but now its overtaken by other diseases, namely diabetes and cancer because of our sedentary lifestyle. It depends on individual, so I dont want to comment much on it. Organ donation, a topic raised by Mahalakshmi, thank you. Awareness has to be created in wide scale regarding this. This has to be done by all of us, should explain it properly to our family members and convince them. Requested people: All of us. 3.MARRIAGE: This is a critical and sensitive issue which has to be dealt carefully. First let us assess what is the reason for increasing intercaste marriages and increasing pecentage of unmarried people in our community. We cannot blame education, job outside our place, or the empowerment of our girls, coz now its a necessity for well being. The main factor to be blamed is we not being a social animal within our community. A decade back, people use to attend festivals and family occasions without a miss where girls and boys from different families meet, proposals happen easily. Now a days festivals are fading, people rarely meet others from village. We can give a number of reasons, travelling, leaves, or exams… but its mainly due to lack of interest. Regarding intercaste marriage as i commented in another thread, i will support it because due to exposure its normal for a girl or boy to fall in love with a person from another community and we are matured and responsible to take a decision on our own. Another reason for me to support intercaste marriage, if a girl or boy marries from another community, he or she will not be allowed to come into village, and at last we being nuclear families, the whole family has to leave the village, its a minus for our community. I thank Mahalakshmi for your comment on another thread, i respect your views, but on a longer run, this will not favor our community. Think like china in longer run than like india being a procrastinator. Requested people: All of us. 4.DEBT: Badagas WERE humble and down to earth, now its the opposite, people are becoming egoistic, as a result disputes are common. I know many who sell their property in native to buy a plot in coimbatore because his neighbor or a relative bought a plot in CBE. People in villages are into debt trap, kandhu vaddi (now a days saala is not at a concern), blame the climate pattern. There are many more problems to be discussed, lets do it and find solutions for them, rather venting only the issues. All of you might think I am a critic pointing only the negatives in our community, I dont bother, my only wish is our community as a whole should be a proud community without issues. As I said let us discuss the problems, the solution, a plan, and a strategy to achieve it. Thank you, Vinoth Kumar [vina.vinasa@gmail.com]