Well here we go again! Go again with what you may ask? Well random thoughts occur from time to time concerning where we might be going as a human race. They have led me to the sad conclusion that we are going nowhere; possibly we are on the road to species’ extinction.

Wait, what about this brilliant age of technology, medical advances, a functioning space station, possibilities of jumping ship to cleaner unspoiled worlds that have water and oxygen and all kinds of wonderful animals? Well, not to put too fine a point on it, we had all that and what did we do?

It’s not lack of intellect, brilliant ideas, and lack of ability to produce that are leading to our extinction, but our utter disregard for other forms of life and other genders. A glaring example is the trash we transmit on our TV channels. Here we are next door to a much-lauded Asian giant and what kind of image of their culture do they feed us?

Anyone who cares to take a glance at the daily unending transmissions of ‘Life OK’ on Indian TV can surely only come to the conclusion that life certainly is not OK if the programme’s claims to be based on factual files is correct!

On Life OK we are treated to the image of a society in which beneath the surface of the cosy joint family witha sasu making ladoo after ladoo and grandma smiling benignly from her rocking chair lays a snake pit of greed and lies. Collusion with the groom-their beloved son-to eliminate the ‘bohu’

and grab her dowry is not exactly the image they ought to be giving the world about India Rising. Portrayals about abuses to poor girls or underprivileged girl children are even more horrific. Of course we are treated to the numbers of the articles under which various monsters can be prosecuted and even to stories about women who are equally horrid (as if we ever doubted their existence!). Who are these people? Do we recognise/know them? Unfortunately, perhaps we do!

Nepali cinema’s propensity for’dishun dishun’ and simulated rape scenes says little for the rich traditions and respect for the mother goddesses we profess, especially at this time of year.

I, for one, comfort myself with the maths. If as many murders, horrific rapes of family members took place in our neighbouring country on a daily basis as portrayed by Life OK, or was anywhere near as factual as it is claimed to be, the population will be reduced sufficiently to eliminate poverty in a short time. In Nepal, on the other hand, one questions the values of a society that professes to worship the female aspects of deity, on the one hand, and refuses women equal rights to bequeath citizenship on their children on the other: paradoxical indeed!

Well we have female judges, female speakers, and a female President but look how many men hang around trying to pull strings! How long before women really break free?

Frankly our problems do seem to pale into insignificance when witnessing the mess the world is in. Starting from the alarm over the decreasing numbers of bees to the cruel and methodical bombing of Aleppo added to the frivolous, albeit paranoid, hullaballoo of certain French seaside towns over the ‘burkini’ we seem to be a world headed for species’ extinction: the human species at that!

It was probably on the cards from the time the first squeamish mother encouraged her child to squash one of the harmless spiders, augmenting the child’s fear of a creature that is not on the attack. Every cheap science fiction movie, where bad, inarticulate actors land by chance on an alien planet, depicts huge insects lurking to attack and devour humans. Now what’s yummy about us?

Sorry folks, the way I see it, we are the devourers and unless we alter our behaviour we are headed straight to extinction. So clever are we! Such wisdom; and yet bets are on that we won’t last as long as the dinosaurs. The global warming we preach is surely us! We, our gas-guzzling vehicles and our thoroughly wasteful rapacious use of natural resources – we are surely the ‘iron race’ that the Greek philosopher , Hesiod, prophesied. Have we been destined to destroy since the beginning of time? If not why the brutality and political ineptness?

Right now, at this time in human history I see us as a large-brained animal with bursts of genius but very little common sense! Instead of the universal love and peace promoted by the spiritual among us, we are full of hate and vengeance. What else should we call it when 4 policemen surround 1 woman on a French beach and make her strip off the swimming garment that aids her integration? Are these policemen for real or from a country more intolerant than Saudi Arabial?

The most dangerous animal on earth is the human animal. We hide it behind layers of hypocrisy and cosy platitudes. Nepali politicians take note! Instead of being the measure of all things, we are the destruction! To parody Oppenheimer, ‘we are death!