Saturday, October 17, 2015

Destructive apathy




When someone helps us, we feel thankful and also obliged to do something in return sometime. This is taught to us and it helps in fostering good relationships. But does this rule apply only to human relationships? This also applies to our relationship with nature isn’t it?

Yesterday when i was traveling to office, i saw a lady. A decently dressed female in her early thirties. I was waiting in the railway station for my train to come. She came by and sat next to me on the bench i was sitting. Immediately after sitting she took out a small paper wrap from her bag. It contained those boiled peanuts with their shells on. As i watched she started pealing off the shell and eating those peanuts. And then shamelessly kept on dropping off the shells on the platform where she was sitting. I felt very irritated to see her do this. She was least bothered that she was actually treating the platform like a dustbin. I looked at her in disgust. She returned my looks with a blank stare. I felt like getting up and shaking her wildly and asking her how she could be so careless and stupid about her surroundings. But i did not do anything.

My train arrived. I boarded it and found a seat for myself. A lady, almost of my age was sitting opposite to me. I guessed she should be working in one of the IT companies which adorns the route to my destination. After the train left the station, she took out a plastic cover from her bag. There was boiled corn stick in it. She started eating the corn. I did not pay attention and continued chatting with my friend on my phone. Once she finished eating,she just threw that plastic cover along with the corn stick on to the railway track. I was irritated for the second time in the same day. I seriously was very angry and actually looked at her with frowning face. She looked back at me with a questioning look and turned her face away from me.

I know, these are scenes that we see on a day to day basis. People throwing garbage bags full of garbage on the road. Men peeing on the road side. People spitting on the road as others walk by them. People throwing plastic covers on to the road just like into a dustbin. House holds and factories emptying their industrial and house hold waste and filth into river. Big vehicles polluting the air with smoke and dangerous gases. Big corporations cutting off forests in mass in the name of development. From individuals to corporate everyone abusing nature and its resources in every way possible.

These two small incidents made me think about all this. How can people be so ignorant about all this? Then i realized, lack of awareness is one part of the issue. This could be solved to an extent through proper education and extensive campaigns. But the other part of the problem is terrifying. “Complacence”. When educated people do these activities without any second thought or even a pinch of regret, how can we not worry about the impending disaster on this earth. The very thought ranging from “why should i do it” , “This is not my job to worry” to “Nothing will happen to this earth because i drop one plastic cover on the road”. I have even heard people say, “Technology is making leaps and bounds. Scientists will find another planet to live if this one becomes unlivable. Till i live nothing major will happen to this earth”. But we forget, nature is beyond any science. There is only so much science and technology can do, but there is so much as human beings we can do. Moreover even if we find another suitable planet to migrate to and technology grows to facilitate the migration process, i don’t believe that any common man will be ever be able to afford the migration cost.

Do we like to live among filth? When we complain so much about the filthy environment around us, we conveniently forget the fact that we are the ones who created this kind of an environment. If not directly, through our silence.

This earth has been giving us resources for so many years. Let it be water, soil and air. These are things we cannot do without. We cannot live without any of this. But these are all perishable resources. When we abuse them by misusing or over using them remember, once they perish we can never get it back. We cannot manufacture water or soil or air. Let us give some respect to the mother earth by making sensible use of her resources. When we take so much from her at-least give her back a little bit of consideration for the sake of mankind.

She may not yell at us for mistreating her. But she will definitely give up one day and that day our great great grandchildren may have nowhere to go and will fight and die over a drop of water or a bite of food. If we don’t care for our future generation, then why do we reproduce???

Monday, October 5, 2015

Nostalgia - Part 4


Once you are in the flow, you start enjoying it and want more of it.

This is true in many situations. Sometimes there is hesitation to do things - even those that we enjoy the most. At such a phase we start doubting our own beliefs and abilities. It has happened to me on many occasion. I have realized long back that I enjoy writing. Nothing in particular. About anything that actually inspires me to write. But there are certain times when I don't feel like writing anything. When my friends - who know that I write, ask me why I haven't written anything for some time, I tell them that I don't feel like. In those days, i doubt whether I can really write. Whether I really have it me.

But it's just a phase. That too, I have realized. My wrong English is to be pardoned, though. One spark and I start again. And once I start it's like the waves in the ocean - no recess. Thoughts that have been logged in for a long time start flowing and fingers keep typing.

Words actually give meaning to emotions. That's why writers are sensitive. Because if you can't feel a thing, how can you write about it? A small piece from my old diary - I think this was a result of having tried to put my feelings into words.

No Title

Life seems to be a thorny bush 
I feel like I am struggling in heavy push 
Many things in my mind to say 
But I am so helpless today 
My head is full of helpless thoughts 
But no one about to soothe my heart. 
I keep praying to god - Please give me strength 
And I keep saying to my uneasy heart - 
Do Good 
Think good 
Hope for good. 
Life has a good purpose, 
So go deep into life and don't float on the surface.