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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Theeyu Kudikano?

It's sad how nobody is willing to acknowledge the heat that we are so stoically enduring, eyes squinting, mouth set, our faces dripping, our brains like fire. This morning as I was hurrying to entrain, my head on fire, naturally, a woman said:

"Theeyu kudikano?" meaning, "Do you want to drink the fire?"

What a fine expression! Yes it is fire in Bombai, the city I live in. No sooner I am outside than I sweat all over, inside my clothes sweat forms a second layer, almost like a surrogate skin. I guess it is a furnace in Delhi, which is alternatively very hot and very cold in summer and winter respectively. Yet no study has been undertaken how the climate has turned hostile. We ignore what is not convenient, we sweep it under the carpet and think things will right itself. What are the meteorologists doing? What's the media doing except the routine reporting of the temperature? Such a big story opportunity is lost.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet at Copenhagen, despite its bombastic and pretentious sounding name (isn't everything international thusly gassy?) achieved nothing. It spent a lot of money, generated a lot of debate and achieved nothing.

Nyet. Nada. Poda. (The last word means, "Go away, you" in Malayalam, which was what happened in the conference.)

All talk remained only talk. We seem to be on the forefront of sending carbon particles into the air. Everywhere we are burning garbage instead of disposing them off, we are burning the dry tindery mountains to inhabit them and we are de-foresting like hell. I doubt if any trees will be left for the next generation.

We have become selfish and self-centred in short. We think owning an ipod and an iphone and if possible an ipad is the meaning of life. This self-centricism is destroying us.

Okay, okay I am being too pessimistic. I am a bit skittish, things being as they are.

1 comment:

pat said...

You certainly have a right to be pessimistic. We should all learn about the dangers of climate change and change our habits and ourselves overnight or we will have to continue breathing and inhaling the fiery summer vapours - which seem to be getting worse every year.