01 December,2009 09:00 AM IST | | Alisha Coelho
Awareness. It's almost like a dirty word to my ears right now. It's what I've been hearing for the past few weeks in the rundown to World AIDS Day, International Donor Day, International Volunteer Day the list is endless. It nearly makes you want to christen a Don't Say The 'A' Word Day.
The word has almost become as banal as the beauty pageant coat-hanger expression 'world peace'. Everyone nods slower and spaces their words out when talking about awareness relating to any cause. It's. Almost. As. If. They. Think. That. Doing. This. Would. Make. Them. Seem. Smarter.
Too much of a cynic? Yes, totally. But there's enough reason for me to be skeptical. My colleague Alifiya Khan worked on a story about how the government feels that AIDS NGOs are fudging figures to attract more funds from abroad. How these NGOs can seem strapped for funds when they're holding banquets in five- star hotels with seven course buffets, is a wonder to me and now, I suppose the government is wondering too .
With spin doctors at play at every hand, the word awareness eventually gives way to other words like cognizance, comprehension, understanding and heaps of other synonyms in the thesaurus. How much of this news actually reaches the thousands with no anti-retroviral treatment at hand or waiting for a kidney on dialysis is debatable. However,u00a0 those with genuine intent continue to look the other way as the plastic brigade continues to pander their consciousness by dropping the A word and feeling that their job is now done.
Just for once, I'd appreciate frank honesty. To have an actress make a one-off appearance at an awareness event and admit that she's there to make the launch look good and not cook up some yarn about how touched she was by the good work of the centre she's never visited, or the stories of the patients she's only smiled at for the sake of photographers around.
True, her public relations manager would have to commit Hara-kiri after this made it to the press, but it would be a moment of truth and one when you least expect it. And rest assured those comments would certainly make headlines the next day bringing 'awareness' to those who bask in the glow of that word about the banality of it all.
