Recently, as a mark of respect to the 26/11 victims, lot of drives happened. People payed their homage in many ways. One of this was the candle lighting event. I thought like many other people, what a sweet gesture until I saw this programme in the evening.
I don’t remember the channel or the name of the programme. This is one, which my Father-in-law doesn’t like to miss. There is a senior journalist and every now and then he puts a lot of politicians on the hot spot and asks them some rigid answers to his questions. I like this show too. On 26/11, the guests were a retired army officer, 2 wives of late army officers. One of the ladies runs an organization, which helps the family of the officers who are no longer alive. When asked about the candle lighting event. This is what she had to say:
These are not the exact words, but the gist of what she said.
She respects and is very grateful that people have cared to remember the men who have sacrificed their lives. But, instead of lighting the Rs.5 candle, if they could have just collected that same amount from all of them, it would have actually helped the families.
This made me think. What she said really made sense. Just imagine, even if 10000 people had lit the candles, it would be around 50000. This could have really helped the families. May be the money which was collected by selling these candles were sent to these families. I don’t know what happened, but if such a thing happened then the candle lighting has actually served the purpose.
Whatever may be the way, just remembering them on the anniversary of this incident and then forgetting the rest of the year, is of no use. If we really need to help them and pay our respects, this has to be a progressive activity.
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