A saturday afternoon... U have nothing else to do so u go and sit in a nearby contest going on.... some beauty pageant kind of... but on a very small scale... to let u kno the exact amplitude of the event,say there are just 20 contestants ... (not by choice but because no one else registered)... All dressed up in vivid attires and wearing loads of makeup..they all are wearing expensive clothes and by the way they carry themselves u can say that they all belong to affluent families ,or are not destitute if not very rich...
The contest is going on in the parking area of a Large brand ...We would here call that brand "X" ... Even though it is winters,the sun is shining brightly and all the girls are sweaty waiting for the judges... some wear sunglasses and others just condemn the organisers for makng them sit in the hot sun for so long... The prize of the event "free shopping worth Rs.5000 and a free makeover"
And then they come... the judges ... equally dressed up ... they look affluent and well educated too...and have a good personality.....
Finally the drama starts and the girls are called one by one on the stage for the first round.. Topic : "tell us something about yourself" ..one of the girls give a beautiful answer of "helping the traumatised people of mumbai attack by counselling them" and all the hands come together for clapping...Some others talk about helping the destitute and other social things done by them,equally beautiful....
And then u spot that many "cycle walas" and "thelewalllas" are peering in the contest area(it was in open)... Still the girls do not alllow these people to daunt them and the show goes on...
As the show nears its end,and the final FIVE stand on the stage,you see a young girl,very poor peering into the show... and then you think, is this teh real motive of "Ms X"? One of the affluent girls,for whom the shopping of Rs.5000 may not mean a iota of difference,would win, and that will satiate her hunger for winning for quite sometime,and then she would forget all of this ...but what is the use of that prize when it can not be for good?
All this kind of contests meant for just gaining public interest,cant be made in interest of the public? What is the need for so many contests for the affluent who already have all this,but cant a part of it devoted to the needy who are capable but cant be a part because they cant afford it?
"HELPING THE DESTITUTE" sounds so worn out now,because people now use it only to gain public attention and kudos...
Be it the girls working for YOUR entertainment in a recreation club, or the unwanted girl children of the poor, you can see them digging in the dirt of the dustbins so that they can have something to eat, and so u can see certain people leering over the little girls as they are vulnerable.. Dont these girls have the same rights to have the happiness that others have?
Just ask yourself, What if you were that cindrella waiting for your godmother....And if you dont like that idea,try becoming god mother to atleast one cindrella... give them the happiness they deserve...
