The fuss about going Green

Pic courtesy: http://www.metrolic.com/going-green-121170/

The fuss about ‘going green’

Honestly, I don’t understand what all this ‘go green’ fuss is about. There has been an explosion of TV shows, green marathons, walks, talks – you name it! But, how does it matter to me – if the earth runs out of oxygen or water after 1000 years? I won’t even be alive then!

It simply makes no difference to my life. Or does it?

Thar desert - pic courtesy: Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thar_Desert.JPG

A long time ago, when I was still a pig-tailed-school-kid, we learnt about the soaring temperatures (40+ degrees centigrade) in the Thar desert in Rajasthan, and were utterly shocked. How anyone could survive in such hot conditions baffled us! Two decades down the line, today, almost every other city in India crosses this temperature with ease. That too, even before summer strikes the nation! Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat apparently topped 48 degrees in 2010. Hundreds died due to the heat wave. A hill station like Shimla touched 32 degrees C. Monsoons get delayed, people die of hunger and thirst. We could be one of them. It does make a difference.

Winters are getting colder and harsher. Where once snow was a Christmas-time pretty scene, it is now dreaded in many parts of the world. Incessant snow, coupled with rain that makes roads slippery and dangerous, are a bane.

We do not need to wait for 1000 years for the earth to perish. While that might not even happen, chances are that you and I could be stranded in that crazy, unprecedented snow today!

We don’t often realise, that we do not lead isolated lives. A toy manufactured in China from materials that simply cannot be recycled end up in the home of a child in India. Cucumbers imported from Spain may be the source of an E. coli outbreak that Germany claims, killed four people and affected 200 more. Relentless gas emissions from certain countries results in a global-level weather change, in simple terms global-warming!

You see, in this truly global village that we live in, our lives are interconnected!!

The more careless a person is about his/her local environment, the more disastrous it becomes for the earth as a whole.

The thing is, we often don’t realise what all this fuss is about.

Going green. What does it even mean?

Well, to put it very simply, ‘going green’ means doing little things, taking baby steps, to preserve and help the environment from perishing. A yahoo answer says: ‘To “go green” means to live a lifestyle that is more harmonious with one another and the earth. Energy efficiency, keeping things maintained, using cleaners that will not remain in the earth and poison wildlife, reducing trash, reusing and recycling.’  Quite a good definition, that.

Now we come to the difficult part. How do we GO green? What can a layman do, to help the environment? Sounds really tough, does it not? Here are some really simple steps that you and I can take – every day – to go green.

1)      Recycle – I cannot stress enough on this topic. Recycle. Recycle. Don’t just trash your non-perishable goods. Take a good plastic bottle for example. Instead of just throwing it into the bin, see if you could use it for something else. Or worst case, make a recycling bag. Trash all your glass, plastic and metal into it, so it gets to be recycled and made into something else. In UK, the government provides free recycling sacks to every household, and even insists on separate bins for perishable garbage and recyclable goods. Though, a couple of years back, there was a scandal about UK shipping a phenomenal amount of recyclable waste to ‘China’ and ‘India’ instead of actually recycling it. But that is another discussion, for another day. The point is, we simply must learn to recycle anything that is not perishable.

Pic courtesy: http://www.simonlluma.eu/wp-content/plastic_bag_3.jpg

2)      Say No to plastic – I know we have this soft-corner for anything plastic. Plastic bags, plastic storage containers, plastic toys.

All smiles!

Even plastic smiles 😉

But please, try to say NO to plastic. Let us not clutter our homes and lives with plastic – simply because it cannot be recycled.

Once cheap plastic has been trashed, it simply adds to the rubbish dump and cannot be used to make anything else. It is not bio-degradable, takes between 45-1000 years to degrade at sea, and did you know (I certainly didn’t) – it takes oil to produce them and it takes more oil to recycle them than it does to produce.

Pic courtesy: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/delh/delhi.htm

3)      Shake that ass – Don’t get me wrong. I just mean, instead of driving your vehicle to cover the smallest distance, try to get moving. Walk, if time permits. Or ride a bike. Cycle all the way to work, if possible. Or use public transport. Buses, trains, car-pool. It is well worth a shot, at trying to reduce fuel consumption. Saves not just the environment, but your hard-earned money too.

4)      Save money – Reduce electricity bill – Who does not love TV? As long as one can avoid Ekta’s soaps, TV is an awesome pastime. In this weather, we need fans, lights, air-conditioners all the time. but let us analyse our lifestyle, and think, for a moment, if there is any way we can reduce our electricity consumption. For example, instead of running the drying cycle in your washing machine for an hour (thereby even damaging your machine!), can you just turn off the drier after say 15 minutes, and then hang the clothes out to dry in hot sun? Given our soaring temperatures, this should not be a challenge! Again, instead of sitting on that comfortable couch, watching TV all day, go out for a walk with friends instead. You not only cut down on electricity and fuel consumption, but also help yourself achieve a healthier lifestyle.

5)      Be blatantly Kanjoos (stingy) – My 4-year old simply does not understand ‘WHY’ we have to save water. To him, water flows freely in every tap, in every house. So, why bother?

You see, a lot of work goes on in making water potable for you and me. That apart, being water efficient leads naturally to a reduction in carbon, energy and utility costs. Pumping treating and distributing water from reservoirs, rivers and groundwater sources produces approximately 50kg of CO2 per household per year – and a further 250kg of CO2 is produced when you heat water at home. Did you know that: 25% of you energy bill goes on heating water to shower, bathe and clean? Being water efficient can half your hot water use, saving you 12% off your energy bill?

For those of you who are not yawning out of boredom yet, I stumbled upon this excellent website that lists out various ways to go green. (click the link). Do read it, and see what is applicable to you.

So, after reading what all the fuss is about, should you choose to ‘go green’, do drop in a line and let us know.

And if you don’t, then only remember, you do not need to wait 1000 years for the earth to perish. It is happening right here, right now. You and I cannot do anything drastic about it. But we sure can take baby steps towards help the environment we live in.

(P.S: That was not a threat. Seriously.)

(P.P.S: Who are we kidding? Go shake that ass, kanjoos!!)

** This article was originally written for Ek Titli. If you wish to contribute, kindly contact the Ek Title team via their website.

A real treat – Palace of Illusions

(Apologies for having to bombard you with this – but *** A gentle reminder : If you liked my earlier post titled ‘Past Promises, Forgotten Futures’, then please Vote to promote it on Indiblogger, here:http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=34664 *** Thanks  *** And again, do vote for a post, ONLY if you like it)

After having read the review of Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni at Smitha’s blog, I ordered the book from the local library. The thickness of the volume, however, put me off. Until this morning.

I picked up the book, and only a few pages into the story, I could not… absolutely could not.. put it down. I took a couple of ‘essential’ breaks 😉 but was otherwise hooked onto it completely.

The book is the narration of the Mahabharatha, seen through the eyes of Draupadi.

I’ve always loved reading mythology, Indian and otherwise. To me, reading this book was like a flashback of a movie seen in childhood, but this time, in technicolour 🙂

It isn’t boring, I assure you. And for once, I have read a book that has left me with absolutely no words of criticism or nit-picking!

I love the way the author has humanised (is there such a word?!) the characters. She turns a mythological Draupadi into a living, breathing woman! In this character called Draupadi, you will probably see a piece of yourself. Or others you know.

It makes one realise Draupadi was not an average person, specifically a woman, whose life revolved around cooking, keeping house and breeding!!

Draupadi is beautiful, confident woman, with higher aspirations, but is typically trapped in a man’s world. She is intelligent, fully aware of both her ‘desires’ and ‘limitations’. She realises ‘a woman’s place’ in this world, and abides by it.

I loved the way Draupadi beseeches to Arjun, to stop her from being ‘shared’ by his brothers, and where he subsequently redirects his fury and frustration on her, as if she were the culprit, not the victim!! Isn’t that exactly what happens even in the modern day world? In the case of rape, the first reaction is that the victim must have done something, to provoke it.

What shocked me though, was that since Draupadi was to be ‘shared by her five husbands’ – one husband a year, Vyasa ‘blessed‘ her with a ‘boon to become a virgin every time she went to her next husband‘. I almost felt the bile rising in my throat, as I read this. Draupadi or Divakaruni (the author) rightly says, this is a boon, made very conveniently, for the men, and not for Draupadi.

The delicate relationship of mutual mistrust between Draupadi and Kunti is described in such a simple, practical manner. It makes one realise why MILs and DILs co-exist the way they do 😉

Draupadi herself is a survivor. She does not simply make her mark in her household. She tries her best to not allow any adversary into ‘her’ palace, where SHE is the Chief Queen.

I enjoyed the way Draupadi tried to make amends to Karna, for her insult to him at the Swayamvar, but where he refuses to be mollified, and yet, he does his best to protect her from harm, when the court broke into pandemonium!

There is a brief moment where Draupadi (in this book) admits to not being very maternal. She says being a wife to five men, and stately duties sapped her, and she was more than happy, to have her nanny take the children off her hands. Why are ‘women’, specifically in Indian society expected to ‘want’ to take care of children? Why is it not a choice? If a woman does not enjoy feeding her child, does that make her a bad mother? Do we, as a society, have the maturity to realise that a Mother is also an INDIVIDUAL who might simply yearn for more in life, than mundane chores?!

I’ve encountered very severe reaction from a couple of friends whom I sometimes call to watch a movie or something over the weekend. Their reaction is one shock – ‘How can I leave my family, that too on the weekend?’ Its not like I’m asking them to elope!! They feel guilty to even ‘want’ to dedicate some time to themselves. Earlier, I used to feel sorry for such women, who ‘constrain’ themselves. Now, though, I feel sorry for the handful of ‘Draupadi’s that remain, for wanting ‘more’. Strange as it may sound, it is they who are constrained by their wants!

Nevertheless, what struck me most, was the fact that despite being foretold her future, she did not stop it ‘because of the circumstances’.

Image via Wikipedia

Draupadi could have chosen Karna over Arjun. She did not. (Which by the way, makes the reader feel really bad for Karna, who was always the subject of unfair treatment. In colloquial language, Karna got a bad deal!)

She could have given up her life, rather than be a Queen to five Kings. She did not.

Krishna could have stopped the Great War if He wanted to.

There are just so many instances.

Which made me wonder, is Life about Destiny or about Choices? All my life, I thought it was Destiny. Today, somehow, I think, it is probably not as simple as that.

The book isn’t without humour either. There is a reference to Yudhishtra being ‘blissfully unaware’ that people could mean them harm. And to Bheem’s plate being piled higher than the other brothers. It all made them very HUMAN. There is a Yudhistra in each of us. A Bheem too. Some brave ones even have a piece of Arjuna in them.

There were some extremely distressing moments as well. Like, the murder of Abhimanyu. Or that of Karna. Both these ‘hunks’ 😉 were killed unfairly. What really moved me, was the description of young Abhimanyu staring in ‘disbelief’ at the the unfair play by those whom he had always respected.

Caution: This book is not for the judgemental reader. You read, you nod either in agreement or disagreement, and you move on. If one were to start judging any of the characters as moral or immoral, cowardly or brave… then, IMHO, it defeats the purpose of the book. Any book, perhaps.

This book, is the life of a woman. Of her aspirations, her boundaries and her will. One cannot help wondering how similar it is to the story of a woman in today’s world. Not much has changed over the centuries, has it??!!!

I leave you with some snippets from the book…

– This one: ‘Between Yudhistra and Krishna, a woman cannot even enjoy being in misery!’ LOL! I loved that line!

– Or this one: ‘There is a strange freedom in realising one is not that important!’

– Or this: Krishna says to Dhritharashtra: ‘If you had believed all (Kauravas and Pandavas) were YOURS TO LOVE, this war would have never taken place’. Isn’t this exactly what we need today? Look at the Ayodhya issue. If only we believed we were truly ‘one’ – would there ever be bloodshed?!!

The book is filled with glorious and inglorious incidents from the past, but in that, one can clearly draw references to today, and even to the future!!

I hope this inspires you enough to grab a copy of the book!!

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