Drinking and smoking are considered to be universal vices more so in the hindu society at large that generally scoffs at what it considers are drunkards and smokers. Yet my heart as well and the brain plainly refuses to accept the premise that all those who partake of the bottle or the packet are sinners or a bad man, on a scale higher that those who do not. For me, drinking as well as smoking falls in almost the same league as partaking of food for survival. At best these can be regarded as human traits with a slightly negative connotation bordering on health related issues.
I find it strange, often ridiculous
that the society lays a strong negative premium on these traits, while at the
same time accepting bigger vices like corruption or sexual misdemeanors without
even batting an eyelid. Often it places on a high pedestal, people with power
and pelf, regardless of the bloke having his hand perpetually in the till or indulgence
in vices related to the fairer sex.
Whether one is a good human being with the milk of human kindness freely
flowing within him or not, rarely merits consideration. Moreover while goodness
is normally looked upon with awe as well as appreciation, yet the ability to
recognize goodness gets clouded by irrelevant considerations.
Perhaps the society at large is
unable to differentiate between goodness and evil, yet attempts to do the same
on the basis of visible traits like affliction to the bottle or general behavior.
The attempts are however confined to merely scratching the surface and judging
people on symptoms rather than their deep interiors. Often our appreciation of
the goodness or the evil in a person is also clouded by the glamor that the
person exudes based on the power or wealth at his command. And so the bureaucrats,
politicos and industrialists generally command aura and awe despite their goodness coefficient often being in the dumps.
It is likely that our response or
appreciation in these matters has been conditioned by our remaining under mughal
followed by british subjugation for a very long period. It is however time that
our benchmarks for assessing human beings assume proportions at par with the
developed world.
