I met Doeremon

I don’t know if it’s a story of every household, but you know, my kid blackmails me. You stunned? But it’s true, by kid BLACKMAILS me, and Threatens me. Now you would be expecting some spicy gossip about me, but you would be disappointed to know my kid blackmails me to watch his favorite TV program, the cartoon network. He threatens me to go on hunger strike if he is not allowed to watch his favorite cartoons. I have to give in to his whims and watch the programs he loves. My wife being a mother, also sings the same tune as my kid and coerces me to listen to him. With all helplessness creeping in and a dejected look I sit in front of the TV and watch Doeremon with my kid. He looks at me with a sardonic smile happily munching on the food items. He makes every attempt to ridicule and taunt me on this defeat of mine.

Doeremon

That day was no different and I had to give in to my kid’s pressure and watch Doeremon with him. I am not someone who hates watching cartoons, but I would rate it much below in the list of must watch. To my surprise I loved the cartoon and the characters in it. While watching the cartoon, something struck me and I started envisaging but could not continue for long. At dinner my kid explained to my wife how much I loved Doeremon, to which I nodded, not sure to say yes or otherwise. But something in that cartoon had caught my attention and I thought hard for long. That night I happened to bump into Nobita and his friends, and we had a great time, but something was missing until I met this lovable magician Doeromon, with tricks galore up his sleeve. To my surprise he welcomed me and showed all his magic tricks and the gadgets. These were the same gadgets which he lent to Nobita to counter his bully friend Jian and his crony Suniyo. This benevolence on his part for Nobita invoked jealousy in me and I wondered why I can’t have a friend like Doeromon. That very moment I had a sense of déjà vu, and I could trace it to me envisaging something after watching Doeremon. I desperately wanted to meet Doeremon, for I thought I would have the Panacea for my country’s woes.

Doeremon with his magic tricks

Jian the bully

Without any delay I requested help from this new friend of mine. Doeremon though little confused, agreed to hear me, for he could not fathom the thought of me asking him for help. I handed over a list to him. Doeremon, though initially perplexed turned thoughtful looking at this list. The list had some of the major problems that my country India is facing. Rampant corruption which like a cancer is eating through the country, abject poverty, security concerns for the women folk, natural disasters, unrest caused by religious tensions and many more. The way Jian bullies others, these are the grave problems which are bullying my countrymen. Before Doeremon would react and say something I pleaded to him with folded hands to help me and my countrymen tackle these menaces. Doeremon dumbfounded, shot back, how I can help you with these problems? to that I said, can you not give me some of your magical gadgets, like you give it to Nobita? I would use these gadgets to eradicate corruption, poverty, create a safe environment for everyone and avoid the natural disasters. This will help my country immensely and provide better life to its citizens.

Jian bullying Nobita

Doeremon, with a smile ridiculing me shot back and said, he would not be able to help me in anyway. I pleaded again and again but to no avail. He said he does not have any gadgets which would eradicate the perils, conundrums created by the humans. I almost sank to my knees crestfallen. I had high hopes but they all came crashing down in no time. Noticing my despondency Doeremon taught me something which was a sermon of sorts. He said no gadgets or magic tricks can solve the problems of your country or for that matter any other country. The menace of corruption, poverty, security threat is all created by the people of your country. With greed engulfing them, they are looting other people, and their only aim in life is to earn money by whatever means possible. This is the root cause of corruption, and the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, resulting in unrest in the society. With no deterrent in place and hopeless politicians making callous statements about women, what can be expected in your country, but insecurity for women. Politicians and other powerful people, for their own benefit, propagating hatred among people of different religion is only going to create a rift and unrest amongst the communities. Scant regards for the environment, rampant deforestation, illegal constructions on mountains, forests, pollution in the rivers, lakes, oceans is a recipe for disaster, and you humans are not shying away from it. With this disharmony with nature why won’t there be any natural disasters? It’s only the people of your country to blame for this sorry state. 

Thoughtful Doeremon

No gadgets can resolve these issues but only the people, if they wish to. I was stunned the way Doeremon admonished me, but I did agree with him. I thanked him for this sermon, and he too wished me best things in life. Suddenly something woke me from my slumber and there was no Doeremon or Nobita to be seen around. Soon I realized it was a dream. But this dream made me think again, there is no magic bullet that can solve the country’s problems and no amount of tricks or gadgets can relieve my country of the mess that it is in today. To clear this mess a concerted effort is the need of the hour. Without sounding preachy let us all pledge to do our bit for our country and help it make a better place to live, for us and for posterity.