Give smartness a break; choose goodness

‘Ghoda ghaas se dosti karega to khayega kya’, seems to be the new mantra! It is the age of commercialization, marketing and branding. All that is fine but are we losing our conscience in that process? Look around. How many people do you trust around you? You will be surprised. Not many. Everyone mostly has an agenda. Every field has become a business. Yes, even the idealistic ones. When you talk to someone, you are not sure whether they are guiding you properly or have their own interest in mind. You go to one person and they weave you into their webs and then there is no looking back... you are psyched into believing you need something by the carefully planned marketing strategies. How, in such a crowd, do you find those few genuine ones? 

I remember the times when my parents used to sometimes just treat patients free of cost. Just because the patients couldn't afford the fee. There were times when people meant well... they would advice well, they would go out of their way to help. There was humanity and sensitivity towards each other. 

There were times when we roamed outside without fear. I remember once I was dropped home by a complete stranger when I lost my way in Delhi. Can you even think of that today? What you would be told is to be careful...of being kidnapped, murdered, burgled, raped, trafficked. No one will say, "Go out without fear coz there are good Samaritans to help you if you are in trouble." 

Now is a time of onlookers. No one helps. They only watch. If you go to people for help, they guide you keeping their own interests in mind. Where they can make money out of you.

Yes, money is important. But when did it take over the good old deeds? 

We are all struggling to survive, saving ourselves from being manipulated into putting our money into something, somehow. ‘Smartness’ is more important than ‘goodness’. Yeah, goodness is becoming a rarity. I wouldn't say it has disappeared altogether. But we have kept it inside us and have forgotten about it. We are stuck in the vicious circle of the give and take world.  Let’s just stop for a while. Let’s slow down. Let’s unlearn and stop being too smart for a change and not brag about how we managed to get clients or customers etc etc. Let’s not treat others like commodities but as human beings. Let’s stop having agendas. Let’s try finding that beautiful someone inside, waiting to help someone without a reason...waiting to hold someone's hand without looking for profits. Let’s try being nice to our own clan, our own people. We are humans remember? And what we are forgetting is—humanity.

(Dutta is a Bollywood actress)