By Roland Francis: The Bucket List and Other Things - Stray Thoughts of a Toronto Goan Source: Goan Voice Daily Newsletter 15 Sep 2013 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
For Indian standards, the trial, conviction and sentencing to death of the men who raped, severely beat up and killed an innocent young paramedic woman student while savaging her escort on a quiet night last December in New Delhi, was completed this week in record breaking time. Even considering that the justice process was fast-tracked due to the national outrage it created, it was still speedily delivered. In India "fast-tracked" can mean three to five years instead of the usual ten to fifteen. It's another matter when those on death row actually make the trip to the gallows. Most Indians breathe a sigh of relief with the thought that a death sentence would now be a precedent and a deterrence to any such crime, a kind of panacea for all the evil perpetrated on womankind in India. That would be quite convenient. But the facts show otherwise. If capital punishment or even other severe sentencing were a true deterrent, US prisons would not be full as full as they are now. Salutary punishment does not really reduce crime, at least in developed countries. There are other more complex issues that have to be addressed by society for that to happen. There are many who tell me that Indian criminals respond well and solely to the threat of punishment. I am hoping that for the sake of women there, they are right and I am wrong. That kind of thinking will save them the effort of treating women as equals, learning to respect them, discarding dowry (it has long been a crime), giving them the same opportunities and privileges as men and doing away with aborting foetuses merely because it will be a female child. Closer to home in Canada, we too breathed a sigh of relief, a bigger sigh though, when circumstances or should I say the cleverness of Assad and Putin delivered Obama out of the corner in which he had boxed himself with his avowed desire to bomb Syria. Though his Congress may perhaps have nixed his request for aerial war, with the people giving him thumbs down, he might still have unilaterally used his presidential authority to bomb to save face and his line in the sand. For him it would mean little - a few billions added to the national debt (even if that could be better used to alleviate the poverty in some of his cities) with no American lives lost. But to humanity it would result in a grievous wound, killing many people, most of them innocent, so facilely described in American terminology as "collateral damage". Further, there would be ruination and destabilizing of an ancient and beautiful country and a body blow to the Christians of the Middle East, inhabitants of that land even before the Roman empire, being converted by the apostles themselves. Widespread and illegal mining destroying a local environment already made fragile with construction and strewn garbage, is looking to re-enter Goa riding on the greed of politicians, on the back of a plea of shortage of revenue and through the rear door of the Indian Supreme Court via a petition that seeks to circumvent and short-change the report of a Commission of Enquiry that resulted in the recent decision of that very court to ban mining. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that the gravy was being sorely missed by the corrupt men who rule Goa and it would be only a matter of time for them to attempt to restart it again. For the sake of the health and well being of the people of Goa who never benefited from the money that rolled in but suffered from its disastrous results, I hope the Supreme Court shoots down that plea. Sustainable mining that benefits both business and people is possible. The Portuguese showed that when they governed Goa. Being foreign, they could have been expected to despoil the land and loot the populace with rampant and unregulated mining, but they didn't. It took our own people to show Goans how it could be done. After you turn fifty you should have a "bucket list" - things to do before you die, however far into the future that may seem to you. Things like parting with precious things you own but which going forward will give someone else more pleasure than they give you now. Perhaps if you can afford it, travelling to some countries you have not been to, unrestricted for time and location than allowed on those standard tours and cruises. Maybe going and living as a guest in the home of some dirt poor family in a hopeless country, experiencing how people sleep on an empty stomach, yet are happier than you and I. It could even be doing something much less dramatic, by freeing up the time you thought you didn't have, to do them. Spending more time with family perhaps, renewing friendships even, with people who blessed your life as you went through it, who are still around but whom you have never thanked or talked to, enough. I am late in creating my own bucket list but not too late to still work on it. Good wishes for the creation and fulfillment of yours. =========================================