Dime a day

Every day has its ‘day’. We have mother’s day, father’s day, Valentine’s day, world heart day, world kidney day, world arthritis day and umpteen number of ‘days’. Each of these ‘days’ is intended to convey some valuable, useful, ethical message to mankind.

For instance, mother’s day and father’s day signify the importance of according respect to one’s father and mother for all the difficulties they have undergone and the sacrifices they have made to make us what we are today and remind us of our duties towards them in the evenings of their lives. The world environment day proclaims the dangers of desecrating the earth’s environment and the measures to be taken to conserve what’s left of the earth’s natural resources. Media publicity, seminars, rallies and awareness programmes are the common ways of observing these ‘days’.

There’s a day for every conceivable subject. Whether the intended message reaches the target and if it does, whether it has any impact is debatable. But it is deemed important to be seen observing that day, at least in some cases. Further, certain ‘days’ like World Hunger day make one wonder whether such a declaration is necessary to draw the attention of people towards the prevalence of hunger and poverty in the world. How many people are aware of such days and even if they are, what can they do about the issue seems to be lost upon the declarers of these ‘days’.

World education day, world maternal mortality day, the list keeps growing. At this rate, there won’t be any days in the calendar for new ‘days’. Somewhat like the internet which is running out of space for new web addresses. What then? Try combos. Like having Valentines day and world heart day together. To convey the message that the heart that binds can also be the heart that kills, unless looked after properly. Or combining world kidney day with world alcohol abuse day to drive home the message of alcohol abuse and its deleterious impact on the kidneys.

Here in Bangalore we have Bus Day once in a month, to show that the BMTC cares for its commuters by providing fast, safe, efficient and comfortable transport options. Never mind if it’s only on the cushy IT sectors, not on the ‘janata’ routes, where the less privileged travel. Some hitherto undeclared topics suggest themselves now. ‘Corruption free day’ could be one where politicians declare with folded hands before Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait their commitment to abstain from corruption on that one day at least!
Every dog is supposed to have its day. When will the underdog have his day?