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TechnoparkToday.com>> I am writing this piece out of sheer amusement of witnessing something as bizarre as this. Indians embracing ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for about 30,000 people suffering from ALS in the USA. In case you have not noticed, let me boldify the word USA! Heights of absurdity, isn’t it?; Indians raising money via donation for the Americans. Can you beat that!
Yes my dear friends, Selfies and Tomatina festivals are a thing of passé now as a new addiction has hit the Indian runways and that is none other than ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and considering our age old practice of blindly aping the western culture, I can very well predict that soon our Facebook walls will be filled with people posting videos of dousing oneself with ice cold water in the name of a certain “CAUSE”.
First of all the whole aim of this very challenge is to raise money for about 30,000 people suffering from ALS in the USA. Well surely it’s a noble cause and it completely makes sense if the Americans are doing this in order to raise awareness and funds per ‘se. It’s their country, their people, they are ought to help each other out! My point is why Indians are so proudly endorsing it? Why celebrities like Bipasha Basu, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sonakshi Sinha, Abhishek Bachhan are getting drenched in frozen water, acting like Mother Teresa and claiming to be the angels of the society. As if their meesly contribution would act as an elixir for those patients who belong to a mighty, rich nation like the USA. Oh Come on Guys! we are not talking about Somalia or Nigeria or Iraq here. It’s the USA for God’s sake. They can afford it. They don’t need you to soak yourself in icy water all the way in India, donate and help them in getting the treatment!
We have people out here who do not have shelter over their heads, we have kids here with no access to the regular drinking water, and there are many around suffering from a myriad of diseases caused due to lack of sanitation, malnutrition, medication and what not! Do I really need to list down the issues our country face? You get my point, don’t you?
And the point is that, if this so called ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is your new “It” thing for gaining “Likes” and comments on Facebook and Twitter then all hail your fame! Go ahead and pour a bucket of chilled water on your head and scream eccentrically and voila! there you have a crazy video out there to bask around in glory. Just make sure you call your act as “Lame Ice Bucket Challenge purely for Fun”. But in case you are calling it as ‘Doing it for a cause’ then please stop right now and don’t waste that bucket of precious water. If you really want to act all saintly and make a difference then there is a platter of larger problems plaguing this country. Donate to orphanages, Old age homes, Blood Banks, Health centres, Animal adoption centres. If you actually want to support for the prevention of any disease then support for the likes of AIDS and Cancer which are undoubtedly the leading causes of deaths in our country unlike ALS, whose full form also is not known to many of us!
So let’s just ignore all the hoopla surrounding the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge overhyped by our Bollywood celebrities. Instead let’s donate those 100$(if u have) to lesser privileged folks back in our own homeland instead. Still if you like the idea of uploading videos of screeching while cold water is being dispensed on your head, then go ahead!, it’s a free world. Bathing twice is not bad either!!
Aparna Nair
The author is an employee of Technopark and has penned the book ‘Kabhi Love Bites Kabhi Love Bytes’
Vote For Aparna’s Story in Srishti Creative writing competition by Prathidwhani
Whenever something happens.. whenever someone does something.. there will be always someone like this lady here desperately trying to find a reason to oppose it just to get some attention!!! People like her should really consult a psychologist, find the real cause behind it and cure it before the ‘rot’ spreads to the society!
When u donate money to a charity like ALS, the research is going to help everyone on the planet not just Americans!
Aparna, you’ve got a point there. Scot Harrison’s US based Charity Water founded in 2006 builds up pure water sources in needy villages all round the globe – India included! Even they know what we need, while we do not!!??
A $98m in donations and widespread awareness by toppling a bucket of ice over the head is no less an achievement… great strategy,they’re helping themselves well.
We need to get the cue and help ourselves in our own ways.. high time! Water is precious, just ask those that do not have it.
Lakhs of kids are dying due to diarrhea in India, what an irony at this time, Indians are donating for research on ALS. Spare some thought on this instead of foolishly blaming these kind of writers. You may have difference of opinion. You can express it on a dignified manner than using these kind of cheap statements.
Good Article..I was expecting such a strong view when it started in India..Even though it makes good for charity,in india I dont think its much relevant .Its just a show off to fill the facebook pages. ANd happy that common people cant accept this.
Taking a verse off the bible “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”
I think we have a lot many needy ppl in our nation. A major percentage of indians are suffering from malnutrition, poverty, and nt to say the diesels.
So, instead lets try to do something in our surroundings and then talk big and try rescue the american.
The biggest problem of indians including you is, doing / following things without knowing the reason. we can take the concept – why they are doing it – and replicate that successful model to do something in our indian context. what’s the point in pouring ice water in your head for raising fund for american charity? – do something sensible for india, without wasting good water. what she told is her view about this incident. whats wrong in that?