The land, including Karnataka, hosted noble minds both in the distant past and within living memory who espoused the use of one’s tongue to converse and communicate with others taking care to be gentle, honest, pleasing, purposeful, and not to forget, not hurting sentiments. The cornucopia of Subhashitas and Shanthimantras, attributed to those nameless great souls provides a rich and easy-to-grasp guidelines following which ensured lasting inter-personal relationships, the cementing factor needed for a harmonious society. The simplest such prescription of the 12th century social reformer Saint Basavanna that spoken words have to be like a string of pearls, quoted by public speakers of all hues on various platforms seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Not adhering to his words of wisdom is nothing short of insulting Kannada language commonly likened to the fragrance of deer musk (kasturi).

The air across the country is highly polluted due to the presence of particulate matter beyond limits of safety. Nitrogen and Sulphur compounds has got additionally polluted unabated in many more ways, thanks to the despicable conduct of the land’s political class, self-styled VIPs of our times. Their evil influence is there for all to see with helplessness and hopelessness.

The growing mass of the country’s men of straw as it were ruling the roost and glorifying democracy and fooling the gullible aam janata during campaigns seeking their votes has prompted someone to count that mass numerically at around six lakh VIPs. In a contrast of sorts, the mass of people expressing disillusion about the country gaining freedom is expanding by the day. One is prompted to reproduce the words of Sir Winston Churchill while arguing against granting India freedom: “Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles…”

In the foregoing scenario of the elected representatives misusing the trust vested in them by the land’s diaspora, the ongoing verbal diarrhoea, with no holds  barred, amounts of tainted money in crores invested for continued stay in posts of power and authority, as reported in dailies of all hues, is the real cost of undeserved democracy. Churchill’s prophecy seems to be a  gross understatement.