When I was
small, I studied in a school run by a church. Every morning we were made to
assemble in the prayer hall. Before the prayers started, one of the teachers
narrated a story from Bible. Though the primary purpose was religious, I am
sure there was a hidden infusion of moral values in these stories. Since the
stories repeated every year, we did not pay much attention to them after
sometime.
Just a
generation ago, I guess such practice did exist in every other community. A Hindu
is probably told stories from one of their great epics, a Buddhist from Jataka
stories and so on. But today these seem to have vanished and are replaced by
cartoon shows and comics which are predominantly entertainment oriented.
I always
wondered whether this new trend has created some void! Were those stories with
underlying moral values, those idealistic role models, essential for shaping
the young minds and making them better human beings?