Gossiping- A Recent Incident

Gossip- Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as true.

It is human nature to get excited when something other than our daily routine occurs- A satellite launch, a sports match, or even learning some news about someone. A juicy rumor- unconfirmed news tends to spread faster than honest news.

This week in online school- we were reading a story called-

'The Boy who Broke the Bank'

It is a humorous story written by Ruskin Bond, which is about the Perils of Gossip. In the story, there is a young sweeper boy called Nathu, who is very unhappy with his job in the bank because he is being paid less. His friend Sitaram tries to get him a job from Mrs.Prakash, where he accidentally mentions about his low wages. Mrs.Prakash starts a rumor that the Bank is going bankrupt because all the employees aren't being paid. This travels all throughout the small town and finally, everyone gets frenzy and panicked, so they start protesting in front of the bank to return their money. The bank clerks are very confused about why the town has gone crazy🤣

Even though the story is very light-hearted and entertaining, it tells us a very important moral. We need to check every news before accepting the truth. Because the people didn't bother to verify if the bank was really going to collapse, it caused them unnecessary panic and anxiety...

Also, we are in the COVID age with ever-booming technology where rumors spread faster than ever. Fake WhatsApp messages on the Coronavirus causes unnecessary agitation and trepidation. I would like to share an incident that happened recently:-

A family, living in my neighborhood was affected by the COVID-19. It was definitely alarming to my family and the rest of the colony, especially since they live only two roads away from my house. When the health officials came to take them into quarantine and sanitize the area, one of my neighbors shot a video of them getting into the ambulance. The comment provided by her was-

"COVID-19 case in Rajajinagar behind Sai Baba temple. Please be cautious!"

This video was circulated with families and friends through WhatsApp groups. When I called up my friend to tell her about the latest news, she too sent me a video of another case behind the Malleshwaram Sai Baba temple. She was grief-struck because she lived just there. But when I downloaded the video, Lo! It was the exact video taken by my neighbor! I told her that was the video that I was talking about! Then I also got to know that the video had been circulated all throughout Bengaluru with the Landmark of every Sai Baba temple- Rajajinagar, Malleshwaram, BTM Layout, Basavangudi, etc, causing needless fear. 

One way to stop the spread of fake news is to verify them with newspapers or news channels and only if required to convey them to others. 

If we are able to stop the spread of rumors- the world would an honest and wonderful place to live in...

#stoprumors

Picture courtesy- Unsplash