So, the impending Doomsday is nigh! 21st December 2012 is the deemed date on which the Earth will encounter a cataclysmic event of catastrophic proportions as per the Mayan Calendar. The Mayas, not to be confused with the Indian “Maya memsaabs”, are an indigenous American Indian tribe that has inhabited the Americas from time immemorial.

They are noted for their highly developed language, art & architecture, mathematical skills and scientific astronomical prowess. Their greatest claims to fame have been their pyramidal temples and the famous Mayan Calendar.

Though the Mayan calendar does not explicitly state the “End of the World” on the due date, the readings of the calendar has been interpreted and misinterpreted by many astrologers and students of astrology & sciences over the years and thus we are on the threshold of “Doomsday” as per their findings.

Whether the world actually ends on 21-12-2012 is a question of probably lesser importance? The actual question is, are millions of people all over the world not encountering “Doomsday” in their lives, each day, every day. Have values, principles and ethics not fallen to the nadir?? If no, then how do you explain happenings that we encounter daily, locally, nationally or internationally???

In my home town of Udaipur, a nineteen year student was brutally stabbed and killed by a group of other students over a petty skirmish that started over entry into a cultural programme. A precious young life lost in a moment of stupid madness.

In New Delhi, the capital of my country- India, a 23 year paramedical student and her friend were first heinously assaulted and then the girl brutally raped in a moving bus by a group of young animals. The ordeal did not end there as the duo was then thrown off the moving bus. The valiant “fighter” continues to battle for her life in a hospital in the capital.

In Newtown, Connecticut, USA, the 20 year old son of a teacher burst into a school and fired indiscriminately on the small students and the teachers. The result 28 deaths that included 20 children.

These are just three examples of happenings from the current environment that have been making “News” and are just the tip of the proverbial “Iceberg”. People in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen and Syria to name a few, are they not encountering “Doomsday” everyday? In India, the tribals of Bastar, Kalahandi and other backward areas and the poor of even big metropolises, are they not encountering Doomsday viz a viz their fight with hunger and poverty, everyday?? Are we as a society not facing Doomsday each day in every sphere of life, be it social with its belittling of relations and values, political with its hail of corruption & nepotism and economical with increasing frequent price hikes???

Facing “Doomsday” everyday has probably made us all resilient to the prophesied “21-12-2012-End of the World” which even if it occurs is beyond our control. But past the prophecy date, we should definitely think hard and try to analyze and do everything that is needful individually as well as a society in the form of small actions that are well within our control which could be as simple as respecting our elders and heeding to their advice, saying no to bribing or even abiding by traffic rules.

Doomsday, what Doomsday??? Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and an amazing Year ahead in advance.