An Unseeming Topic

I got on the train from Rajnandgaon, a city in Chattisgarh, India at around 12:30pm on the 30th day of March 2006. I was visiting my Dadi (Grandma) in a prompt decision. Wishing the journey to be exciting if not amazing, I bid farewell to the city.
Drowsily I climbed into the upper berth, a number 43 and tried to sleep in this one baking oven.

Giving up after a while, I sat up to see Mr.48, probably heading for Pune too (in our very own Azad Hind Express), starting to unpack his lunch. And lo, Behold! I saw a new innovative thing that he took out of his travelling bag.

Oh! So well designed, like any other design by man, the great Creator. An object of desire, a must have for all travellers; in fact the railways should give one free with each sleeper ticket.
Oh! What a lovely piece of Art, better fit to be nailed on the Wall. No not the innovation, but the head of the freak who came up with this. How am I writing Odes to this blasphemous, anti-appetizer and what not – of all the things in the world à a disposable ‘Thali’?

I believe man leaves no tables turned to see the complete and thorough destruction of Nature. Of all the things that one would or one could come up with, a disposable plastic Thali!

Where did it all start? Where did we go wrong? How have these plastics come to dominate and command over our miserable lives? Can we not move on, out of this dislikeable, disgusting and do-awayable, ecological disaster, a complete bad design, a disease worse than consumption of the 1800s, a self inflicted injury that is surreptiously closing in on us, like that, that which man fears most.....
.....death.

Something that a poet said...

"The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armor against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade."

...............James Shirley

Meanings

Meanings are what we create, based on past experiences, moments in time and through our own interpretations of those experiences and moments.

When one delves into understanding the evolution of a meaning, one will come across a similar pattern behind the forming of meanings. This pattern is a guideline to the evolution of mankind, importantly the evolution of the mind. Every meaning connoted, speaks of past incidents and events in ones life that has lead to the formulation of a word and the assigning of a meaning to it.

The question that arises in my mind is then, when is it that a person experiences a totally new phenomenon, a condition, an event or an experience and what happens then? Do we simply judge it with regards to what our past understanding is or do we actually appreciate the profundity of the whole?
http://users.aristotle.net/~diogenes/meanmind.htm

What about a child?
Have you ever heard that by the age of 3 years or maximum 5 years, a child has witnessed and experienced all possible experiences that one can come across in a lifetime? So whatever one experiences post that age is a relative experience with respect to ones past experiences.

“The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see --it is, rather, a light by which we may see -- and what we see is life.”

…Robert Penn Warren

Living by the Dead: Reality Bites

Have you ever thought what happens to the waste that gets collected from your doorstep?
One only perceives carry bags, and in fact piles on such bags to use them to trash waste. Thus happily saving on dirtying hands cleaning the waste bin.
What happens to the trash I generate?: -
A stinking lorry collects the waste. Ah! and it then disappear into thin air. Have you ever stopped and wondered ‘Am I producing too much of waste’, waste that can be avoided or ‘Can I do something about the waste’.
This waste in taken away from the urban settlement (easy solution right?) and dumped at a remote location. A mountain of waste thus created is then covered with concrete, as if sins can be locked in a nice box.
Such toxic waste not only is an ecological disaster that causes soil and ground water pollution but also releases into the atmosphere a lot of poisonous gases.
How can we feel safe in such a structure of society where home is till ones doorstep and what happens beyond is no concern of ours, as it does not affect us (does it!) and thus we can dirty our neighbourhood.
The revealing for me happened when on 22nd of Feb I visited the dumping ground for Pune city (India), located 35 kms off city limits. There lay mountains of waste with no signs of life around it (it was a dead place; a spring which had formed a small pond lay dead too, devoid of any life) but for some needy people whose work was to dispose off our trash, our sins, our wrongs (have we fallen so low).
The System: -
Centralised waste disposal system is a disaster as I have come to understand. Waste minimization and waste utilization is the need of the hour. Each individual must be responsible for the waste he or she produces. Creating an efficient in house waste disposal system is a way out of this sticky muck.
Planning waste disposal: -
We all know that plastic is non-biodegradable and thus its usage must be minimized while the biodegradable and other kitchen waste (the process of composting is helpful: http://vegweb.com/composting/) can be easily used as manure for plants, etc. The solution lies in each of us doing our part.
Be Aware: http://www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=9

A lot of work is on, in this area, especially in Delhi (http://www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=52), (http://www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=95), where the citizens are doing their part, supported by NGOs. One needs to be aware in order to bring in a change. Lets move towards the first step in our efforts, towards a clean and green neighbourhood. Mother Nature will do the rest.

"All of us belong to a greater whole, and whether you call it society or civilization or country, it has a deep and profound impact on our lives. Some seek to escape it. Some to embrace it. All of us, though, should seek to understand it."

Anonymous

Kashmir

I have never been there. Thinking of Kashmir creates images of snow capped mountains, wollen clothes, and the Dal lake.

The past of J & K and its people has been terrifying but they have not lost hope. I realise why.

Them people live in the lap of mother nature and are pampered and most cared for, provided for, and blessed by the Lord. They dine by the fires, sitting by the lake, with the snow capped mountains protecting and guarding them and the purest of air to breathe.

but.....

.....pollution too has touched the Heavens. Rise people, for there is no place else to go.

.....or is there?

State of Affairs:

Dal lake: http://specials.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/16sld1.htm

Gulmarg: http://specials.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/02sd4.htm

"Through me is the way to sorrowful city.

Through me is the way to eternal suffering.

Through me is the way to the lost people.

Abandon all hope, you who enter!"

Inferno,canto 3, 1.1

Hunter and the Hunted

The Blog will contain my views on Science, Technology & Ecology (STE) and will delve into issues that have been brought forward or put forth during the class sessions of STE.

It does'nt stop here. I will mainly delve into things that concern me as a CITIZEN of this planet.
I will pose a lot of questions for readers of this blog and for myself to ponder on. I pray I realise my mission and keep the blog ticking away.....


.....tick, tick, tick.


The name for my blog is to symbolise how the mankind sees the world in BLACK and WHITE only. I have taken these two Metaphors (HUNTER and HUNTED) to symbolise Total Damage. What I wish us humans to realise is that you can REPAIR, RECREATE and HEAL. There is place for lots more.

I would like to sign off, by quoting from "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson

"Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me"

.....and the entire Human Race.

...for full lyrics -->> http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/healtheworld.html

I Swear to use as much Green as possible.