Are we learning? Do Indians learn?
Everyone is utilising this time to learn something new and make future plans. But, are we observing, introspecting and learning from what is happening around?
Yesterday, I woke up to news alert, “Earth finally fixed largest ozone layer hole above the Arctic, Healing 1 million square km”. Indeed, it was a Good Morning. Then, we have a daily dose of animals chilling on streets, fresh air to take in, improved Ganga and Yamuna quality and Delhi living its best April weather for decades.
"Life isn't just about taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide," came from the mouth of Malala Yousafzai.
Will this persist once the lockdown is over? As it was not out of human efforts but a pandemic that pushed everyone inside their homes. The irony lies in the fact that it's for our own good, yet we see protests. It’s not about divine intervention always!
This lockdown has busted our bubble of being a Superior Race. As we sit and enjoy the pleasant unpolluted air, read the news, investing in some self and family time, we are subconsciously reflecting on various aspects of our being. Whether it was our cruel ecological impact on the planet or running in the rat race that made us forget the real essence of living.
But, the elephant of the room is...
Do we learn from our mistakes? Are we only busy utilising this time in doing some productive activity or are we also observing, introspecting and understanding? Will we learn from this? Will we be thoughtful of our lifestyle or will we continue to live under the shackles of capitalist economic models?!
We celebrated Earth Day on April 22. This came at a time when the fate of humans and nature has never been this urgent. With humans inside this year and nature devoid of any man-made problems, the planet is celebrating and healing itself. It was a definite breather for the planet this 22nd and it showed us his best colours: blue and green.
2020 came with a bang! Or should I say, 2019 ended with a bang and many alarms that were left unwatched, unheard and unlearned by us was out loud and clear to make their presence felt? In late 2019, we lived through many catastrophes. Mad forest fires in Amazon, Africa, Alaska, Siberia, and Australia; unprecedented ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica; the hottest summer in Europe; deadly pollution in India and the near demise of Indian democracy and secularism. Things don’t end here, as we were coping with these impossibly difficult gigantic and complex problems, we were hit by a novel virus that halted the entire world to its knees.
This pandemic left me scratching my head hard. It was a clear reality check for us all if we see. Something very disturbing to me initially was, the day before the first case in Delhi was reported it was all about NRC. However, soon, the very next day with the first case of Coronavirus in Delhi, the reality was crystal clear in front of me.
I feel the best way to solve any given problem or to distract people is to get a bigger one or a new one, and looking at the state of the nations, the planet decided to do exactly that. Since then, it was all about Coronavirus. I wonder what will be the next substitution!!
I see everyone talking about this: How nature is changing, how the planet is healing (mind you without our effort). But, can we sustain this positive change once we are out of this lockdown? Probably, now when everything is still, the government should bring out strict actions too but rather we are worried about the economy. It's a difficult situation, I agree but what is ironical to me is we are saying the economy is crashing when people are actually buying what they really need. Our lifestyle and our unreasonable needs are objectionable here.
We saw supermarkets patrolling customers on their sudden rush to stock up toilet papers. The situation was such that an Australian newspaper went so far to refer to as "emergency toilet paper" situation. Why this rush? It's not a staple of impending emergencies. We see robberies happening, people fighting over toilet papers. Why? We saw people stocking up like maniacs, soon sanitizer was the new holy grail to live by. If at all, this shows, we lack empathy. I see that as a root cause of everything, lack of empathy in people. If you are empathetic towards people, nature and world, your actions will be such and we would have been living in a better place in harmony with nature and humans.
Imagine if empty shelves in the supermarket can cause such a panic, what will we all do when our taps will run dry and temperatures will soar impossibly high. That day, my friend will strike us before the end of the decade. Children love to dress up, wearing stunning dresses, bags and headgears and clips. But, we have 8-year-old Manipur environment activist named Licypriya Kangujam who walks around wearing Sukifu- a symbolic survival kit with plant in a box attached with a pipe giving a metaphor of oxygen masks, emphasising the need to curb air pollution. Innocent children can see it, why can't us who have lived through its implications the most?
The condition in which we are today, seeing the natural healing and living, this takes me back to Greta Thunberg's speech at UN Climate Action Summit in New York, 2019 which stated, "We are at the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!". For long, globalisation and economic growth has stalled the climatic urgency. Clearly, for once when we are not doing both these days, nature is blooming.
Every day, when I sit and spend some time in my balcony witnessing the climatic change, I wonder if I can go out and live it, but then consciously I know if we were out this won't have been the same.
"We are unstoppable, another world is possible."
"What do we want, climate justice! When do we want? Right now!"
"There is no Planet B.”
"Climate change is not a lie, we won't let our planet die."
These were direct indictments against the government by children/people of India who joined a global strike against climate crisis on 24 May 2019, called by Greta. I guess it's time we smell the coffee too!
Places typically choked with worse air pollution saw a drastic change in lockdown. Delhi saw a 60 per cent reduction in pollution over three weeks of March, compared to the same period last year. Thanks to the lockdown, the AQI has reduced to 82 from 161 of last year as per the latest records, falling under the ‘satisfactory’ category.
Hard times reveal true friends, well it would be no wrong to say that hard times do unveil true society too. This pandemic which brought us down to our knees exposed the worst in us: anarchic class division in our society; gendered violence with increasing domestic violence cases; brings the doubt on marital bliss with divorce rate rising; xenophobia; our insensitiveness and selfishness that steeped down to this level that we are cruel against those who are protecting us so that the sun gets brighter again; and lastly, how our lifestyle was so shallow. Flipping the coin, it showed the good side in us too. Frontline workers, police and doctors working selflessly day and night; people learning the true meaning of share and care from basic grocery sharing, feeding animals to making donations for less fortunate. Humanity does reside in us but was rusted by capitalism and our lifestyle.
Though, Coronavirus is the biggest scare of the day, fundamentally changing the life, business, and the world as we know it. The real challenge is yet to come. It is no longer growth time, but a survival pathway. Let’s not wait for the climate outbreak and be a tad bit proactive. As Malala says, "When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful," make sure your inner voice brings out a pragmatic change.
Is just thinking about it makes us different or will it suffice?
Change and global peace do not come from educating our minds, as Malala said, it's a continuous process of educating our mind, heart and soul as with this we'll be a real universal Homosapien, a wise man.
Yesterday, I woke up to news alert, “Earth finally fixed largest ozone layer hole above the Arctic, Healing 1 million square km”. Indeed, it was a Good Morning. Then, we have a daily dose of animals chilling on streets, fresh air to take in, improved Ganga and Yamuna quality and Delhi living its best April weather for decades.
"Life isn't just about taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide," came from the mouth of Malala Yousafzai.
Will this persist once the lockdown is over? As it was not out of human efforts but a pandemic that pushed everyone inside their homes. The irony lies in the fact that it's for our own good, yet we see protests. It’s not about divine intervention always!
This lockdown has busted our bubble of being a Superior Race. As we sit and enjoy the pleasant unpolluted air, read the news, investing in some self and family time, we are subconsciously reflecting on various aspects of our being. Whether it was our cruel ecological impact on the planet or running in the rat race that made us forget the real essence of living.
But, the elephant of the room is...
Do we learn from our mistakes? Are we only busy utilising this time in doing some productive activity or are we also observing, introspecting and understanding? Will we learn from this? Will we be thoughtful of our lifestyle or will we continue to live under the shackles of capitalist economic models?!
We celebrated Earth Day on April 22. This came at a time when the fate of humans and nature has never been this urgent. With humans inside this year and nature devoid of any man-made problems, the planet is celebrating and healing itself. It was a definite breather for the planet this 22nd and it showed us his best colours: blue and green.
2020 came with a bang! Or should I say, 2019 ended with a bang and many alarms that were left unwatched, unheard and unlearned by us was out loud and clear to make their presence felt? In late 2019, we lived through many catastrophes. Mad forest fires in Amazon, Africa, Alaska, Siberia, and Australia; unprecedented ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica; the hottest summer in Europe; deadly pollution in India and the near demise of Indian democracy and secularism. Things don’t end here, as we were coping with these impossibly difficult gigantic and complex problems, we were hit by a novel virus that halted the entire world to its knees.
This pandemic left me scratching my head hard. It was a clear reality check for us all if we see. Something very disturbing to me initially was, the day before the first case in Delhi was reported it was all about NRC. However, soon, the very next day with the first case of Coronavirus in Delhi, the reality was crystal clear in front of me.
I feel the best way to solve any given problem or to distract people is to get a bigger one or a new one, and looking at the state of the nations, the planet decided to do exactly that. Since then, it was all about Coronavirus. I wonder what will be the next substitution!!
I see everyone talking about this: How nature is changing, how the planet is healing (mind you without our effort). But, can we sustain this positive change once we are out of this lockdown? Probably, now when everything is still, the government should bring out strict actions too but rather we are worried about the economy. It's a difficult situation, I agree but what is ironical to me is we are saying the economy is crashing when people are actually buying what they really need. Our lifestyle and our unreasonable needs are objectionable here.
We saw supermarkets patrolling customers on their sudden rush to stock up toilet papers. The situation was such that an Australian newspaper went so far to refer to as "emergency toilet paper" situation. Why this rush? It's not a staple of impending emergencies. We see robberies happening, people fighting over toilet papers. Why? We saw people stocking up like maniacs, soon sanitizer was the new holy grail to live by. If at all, this shows, we lack empathy. I see that as a root cause of everything, lack of empathy in people. If you are empathetic towards people, nature and world, your actions will be such and we would have been living in a better place in harmony with nature and humans.
Imagine if empty shelves in the supermarket can cause such a panic, what will we all do when our taps will run dry and temperatures will soar impossibly high. That day, my friend will strike us before the end of the decade. Children love to dress up, wearing stunning dresses, bags and headgears and clips. But, we have 8-year-old Manipur environment activist named Licypriya Kangujam who walks around wearing Sukifu- a symbolic survival kit with plant in a box attached with a pipe giving a metaphor of oxygen masks, emphasising the need to curb air pollution. Innocent children can see it, why can't us who have lived through its implications the most?
The condition in which we are today, seeing the natural healing and living, this takes me back to Greta Thunberg's speech at UN Climate Action Summit in New York, 2019 which stated, "We are at the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!". For long, globalisation and economic growth has stalled the climatic urgency. Clearly, for once when we are not doing both these days, nature is blooming.
Every day, when I sit and spend some time in my balcony witnessing the climatic change, I wonder if I can go out and live it, but then consciously I know if we were out this won't have been the same.
"We are unstoppable, another world is possible."
"What do we want, climate justice! When do we want? Right now!"
"There is no Planet B.”
"Climate change is not a lie, we won't let our planet die."
These were direct indictments against the government by children/people of India who joined a global strike against climate crisis on 24 May 2019, called by Greta. I guess it's time we smell the coffee too!
Places typically choked with worse air pollution saw a drastic change in lockdown. Delhi saw a 60 per cent reduction in pollution over three weeks of March, compared to the same period last year. Thanks to the lockdown, the AQI has reduced to 82 from 161 of last year as per the latest records, falling under the ‘satisfactory’ category.
Hard times reveal true friends, well it would be no wrong to say that hard times do unveil true society too. This pandemic which brought us down to our knees exposed the worst in us: anarchic class division in our society; gendered violence with increasing domestic violence cases; brings the doubt on marital bliss with divorce rate rising; xenophobia; our insensitiveness and selfishness that steeped down to this level that we are cruel against those who are protecting us so that the sun gets brighter again; and lastly, how our lifestyle was so shallow. Flipping the coin, it showed the good side in us too. Frontline workers, police and doctors working selflessly day and night; people learning the true meaning of share and care from basic grocery sharing, feeding animals to making donations for less fortunate. Humanity does reside in us but was rusted by capitalism and our lifestyle.
Though, Coronavirus is the biggest scare of the day, fundamentally changing the life, business, and the world as we know it. The real challenge is yet to come. It is no longer growth time, but a survival pathway. Let’s not wait for the climate outbreak and be a tad bit proactive. As Malala says, "When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful," make sure your inner voice brings out a pragmatic change.
Is just thinking about it makes us different or will it suffice?
Change and global peace do not come from educating our minds, as Malala said, it's a continuous process of educating our mind, heart and soul as with this we'll be a real universal Homosapien, a wise man.
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Amazing read.
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