Tag: summer

My Summer Travels

I visited Trichy during my Summer holidays. I’ve been wanting to visit Rockfort for a long time, therefore I was overjoyed when my father accepted my proposal, but I wasn’t too happy at the fact that  I had to wake up at 4.00 a.m.

Once on the streets, I was actually happy that we left early. While travelling from Salem to Trichy by car, we had to first leave the breathtaking Yearcaud scenery behind us. In that early hour, the silhouette of Yearcaud was beyond words.

At length, I saw nothing but trees and highways, but while travelling towards our village I was thrilled by a couple of rare sights. Firstly, I have seen goats, grazing the piles of garbage(!) on the streets of Salem but in complete contrast, I saw goats being themselves and grazing grass.That was the first time(and probably the last) I saw goats being – goats.

A few years ago, in a book about a fishing village, I read about a village dog, chasing the town dwellers’ car. This was something I only read. It would be absurd if it happened where I live, but I witnessed this while going on towards the village. A tiny dog, just about a foot in height, kept barking and chased the car. I must say, it was an amazing sight.

Moving deeper towards the village, I was disturbed at the fact that there were plenty of bare lands with boards, of housing plans. The lush greenery was soon to be adulterated by smoky buildings. Those lands had a look of all hope lost. The villages were the only lovable places of India and those would also soon be destroyed of their nature.

This year’s trip to Trichy made me realize the truth in Gandhi’s words,

                   -“India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages”-          

The trip also taught me that India’s life is gradually being sucked out of her, by her own inhabitants.

Alas!

Earth Day; a camouflage

Early this morning, Google via its doodle, informed me that it is Earth day. When I was younger, I remember discussing this is in school. We never spoke of it again. This topic only popped up in essays of exams. No one in school thought of the necessity to educate or even give us an opportunity to mull this over and voice our thoughts. It may have been because we had grown up and we had more pressing matters to argue at school. Honestly, does anyone really get too old to talk about our Earth? I think not, thus after all these years, I felt the sudden urge to analyse this topic.

Today’s Google doodle is brightly colourful. Pity we seldom see such lush greenery in our busy schedules. Moreover, it’s not just our life style that keeps us away from our Earth’s blessings. Summer is ravaging this part of the world I call home. Nowadays, people prefer staying indoors because the sun is ferociously scorching. This, experts say, is most unnatural. Mother Earth is not so cruel as to torture her children. Who then, can we hold responsible? The obvious answer hangs over our heads, only we don’t make attempts to accept it.

It is natural for a country’s government to face pressures. Of late, one of the huge pressures our government has met is the farmers’ issue. Farmers of Indian villages couldn’t bear to see all their crops in a withered state and thus, heartbroken, they committed suicide. This, is not the story of an individual; it is the life of those villagers without whom our plates wouldn’t be filled with mountains of culinary delights.

Why did the crops wither? Why hasn’t the land been drenched from the blessings of clouds? The answers to these queries are found in our junior school text books. I remember studying something about trees being our life blood; maybe there is a connection. Then why didn’t it ring a bell before we bulldozed these trees?

When I appeared for the Board Exams earlier this year, the examiners instructed us to strike out the pages remaining unwritten. It seemed such an ordinary instruction; it happens all the time. On the first day of exam, once I had finished my writing, I had about five pages unwritten. The hall supervisor reminded me to strike out the extra pages. I took my pencil and ruler to follow instructions; I hadn’t felt anything until then, but when I began to draw those diagonal lines, it struck me how many trees would have been ‘struck out’ as such as unwritten; unused. That’s when I felt guilty of our educational system altogether.

Couldn’t we use recycled paper for our writing purposes? Is writing on whiter paper more significant than the future of our generations? Isn’t the price a bit too high? It’s what I feel.

Scientists discover new things even as I write this. Science and technology have opened up the possibilities of what our ancestors considered impossible. We read articles and hear news of the wonderful services Science has done to humanity. Man is now considered (by himself) as the ‘cleverest’ among creatures that has walked this Earth. Hasn’t it occurred to the ‘cleverest’ people that it is the same inventions and discoveries that led to the puncture in Ozone? It must have occurred to them at some point, because it is in some book that I read of it. So, we know enough to write bestselling books, printed on paper made from felled trees, and displaying concern about preservation of trees and of Ozone’s pity predicament.

Also, the entire concept of ‘Earth Day’, seems like an all new veil to hoodwink; one to convince ourselves that we can actually do something to pull out Earth from the pit we have ruthlessly thrust it into.

Stupid people.

Current issue

There is one hot topic among our people today, and boy, isn’t it hot! It’s none other than the current issue. It’s that time of the year again, the time we are mostly in need of the breeze that nature so unkindly denies.

Nowadays, it is not only the nature that forbids us some bliss; the frequent power failures are highly disrupting. Soon enough, it would be a huge political matter, if it’s not already.

People are discussing this everywhere I go. It’s made the headlines of the evening news. This matter is of a great concern to students and those who indulge in small-scale industries . This is the exam season and whether it be studying or attending the exams, students are surely not going to enjoy the heat wave.

Then again, is this really as bad as it’s described? Yes, I don’t deny the hindrances the power failures are causing, but something tells me there’s some good in this bad.

Here’s how it goes: every evening, when my father returns from work, we (my mother and myself) would be watching TV. Not long afterwards, the power goes off. Naturally, it’ll be too warm for us to stay indoors, so we retreat to the balcony. The next one hour is a time to share our thoughts on everything ranging from studies to world politics. It’s not only about social issues either, we speak of anything and everything, our hopes, plans, worries, disturbances, expectations and disappointments.

These dark evenings throw a light into my knowledge of my family. It really helps me to know more about my parents, and even myself, now that I mention it.

We all need that time alone with people we call family, because, even if we have the same roof over our heads, we may not know each other. Understanding each other would be difficult when each is in one corner, either whiling away time in front of the television or the computer.

I, thus, believe that the power cuts, though a barrier to progress, could be a tool to get to know ourselves better.