While speaking casually among ourselves about the times through which we are passing, a few friends who are now office-bearers of Zarina Trust shared certain concerns. As a community, have we begun to lose sight of the differences between the important and the trivial, fact and fiction, news and propaganda? Are our views of life changing so rapidly? In the restless rush created by the slogan, 'success by any means and everything within the shortest time', are the values and character traits that we once considered essential being trampled underfoot? This is happening even when human life expectancy is generally increasing. We are becoming street-smart. We are also gaining the skill to fix everything in one way or another. But is this really what we need?
Success is now measured almost entirely by two parameters: wealth and power. If used without moral principles, both can become deadly poisons. In contemporary politics, these two have become mixed in the most dangerous proportions. Should this not disturb us?
Today, it is not religion but politics that acts as the opium that intoxicates people - practical politics. Once we understand this, we only have to look at those who keep inflating bubbles of illusion and call them signs of progress and happiness; those who claim that they are working in public life to serve the people, while in practice serving themselves. We can see how the spell of politics seduces them and how their influence and power keep growing.
We have moved far away from earlier ways of life. We are changing at great speed. Neither seems good. This is our conviction. By 'we', we mean the office-bearers of Zarina Trust.
Our Hopes & Mission
What follows are some of our hopes. The media through which knowledge is circulated - whether print, audio or video, whether mainstream or alternative - have already either been captured by vested interests or placed on sale. The child's voice that could cry out, "The emperor in the new clothes is naked," has been silenced, or deliberately drowned out. We believe many others share this view of the troubling turn of events around us. That conviction led us to begin this forum for like-minded people in Kerala and outside, especially for a youth generation whose minds have not yet become old and tired.
We are not workers of any organization. What we have in mind is to bring to attention various ideas that are often overlooked because of overexposure; to arrange authentic and fresh assessments of such ideas; to organize talks, interviews and discussions in Malayalam and English; and to make them available to as many people as possible, mainly through social media. We hope that the small ripples created by these efforts may grow into meaningful public discussions. We request those who watch our posts to respond to them in a healthy and constructive manner. We also wish to invite the authors of good responses to future discussions.
