Are we literate

The other day I read an article in the newspaper about a program on television related to child marriage. It stated about how popular the serial was and how it's T.R.P. were touching the sky.
At that very instant a weird thought came to my mind about this issue of child marriage. The rich and the so called urban citizens look down to the rural people practicing the act of child marriage with pity. "They are ignorant and literacy alone can show them the light" the urban citizen may say.
I feel this act of child marriage is being practiced day in and day out in almost all the developed and the literally(pun unintended) sound parts of the world. Be it America, Europe or Japan or even Mumbai(to some extent at least). That may sound as a surprise to most of us but let us see what is it that I am exactly trying to say...

The other day I went to a mall and saw a group of young boys and girls in one corner of the food court. I was a "little" surprised to see some of them getting too cozy which obviously means they were couples. They had not even completed high school and here they were behaving like(at least trying to) matured couples as if they were husbands and wives. No one can ignore the fact that this is a common scenario today. You will find children who might be as young as 12 - 15 years and they are already into relationships. I call it a marriage without a marriage certificate.

How can this be any different from the child marriages being practiced in the rural areas. Young girls who haven't even turned 18, getting pregnant, going for abortion, etc.,. This is more frequent during the festive season when the children are given more freedom to enjoy. One may argue that in rural areas the age difference between the bride and the bridegroom is substantial. Well the age difference between many of our celebrities cannot be ignored too. Young prostitutes are selling their body to rich and aged to earn a living. At least the child marriages in the rural areas are being monitored by the elders(though that is reducing day by day).

So why is that the rural areas are look down as being ignorant when we ourselves are behaving in a manner which is equally ignorant if not more. What happened to the education that was supposed to make us literate and bring about awareness.

So my question is "Are we really literate?"

War or Unecessary Killing

Attack of Israel on Palestine
I do not know the exact reason of the war, but i am sure of one thing and that is there cannot be any reason good enough to kill above 200 people everyday. This is a barbaric act and i cannot think of any other adjective which will describe this act as more inhuman. What is more shocking and disappointing that this is page 4 or page 5 news and is hardly discussed in the media. I breathed a sigh of relief when i read in the papers today that India was sending some aid to those affected by this condemnable act. How can Mr. Bush whose war on Iraq left many children without parents, many wives without husbands with nothing to gain except "Oil" take any sides on this issue. I am in no way ignoring or justifying the fact that it was Hamas who fired rockets first, but that does not gives Israel the right to destroy the whole country. Palestine is already in distress and this abrupt killing is only adding to their anguish and grief. This will only help Hamas to garner more support from the people of Palestine.