Stampede in Ultra - an Eye Opener

I don't remember any similar (stampede) situation of the same magnitude in the past. Media even call it a deadly stampede that put the country again into the world’s top headlines.

A lot has been said about the mishap and commented on so-called negligence and violations of people and the TV network in instituting the needed system and preparation for crowd control and security.

But, there is another area left unexplored and for me this is more important than any other issues involved. The show carries and conveys a dangerous message -- that it may have nurtured (though unconsciously) into the minds of the viewing public –- it tries to offer people a quick and effortless way to get out of poverty by offering “chance” or “luck” as THE solution.

One newspaper even made a symbolical analogy of the event to that of throwing a small slice of meat to the hungry pack of wolves. People had camped outside Ultra for two-three days already. For them chance was the only available and accessible solution at the moment. The challenge was clear, they must seize that chance whichever way possible.

This could be what all the 30,000 people (who were there) had been thinking too. All were tired, starving, caught up by the heat, squeezed out by the crowd, and dealing with all other inconveniences. Some were overly zealous; others were eager and determined but most have proven to be fatally desperate. There were reports that some people even trampled on the elderly, women, children just to get their way into the stadium; unmindful if they could hurt or get hurt.

I must admit the show truly offered a unique entertainment concept that made it a hot lunch-show pick among the poorest segment of the society.

However, it was a dole-out way of helping people; charitable indeed but not truly developmental and sustainable. Up to when can you ask people for dollar donations and give it to the needy? Up to when can you give people fish before you can realize that what they want is to learn how to fish?