A Love Letter to My Country:

My Dear Country,

Lately I have been thinking a lot as to why I was born here. What is it that I am supposed to give to you or what is it that I am supposed to get from you? What kind of karma has bound me to you for all these years, not letting me escape?

Sorry, I didn’t want to say it like this but it’s true that I now want to escape. Escape to a land, a place where I can live my life with dignity, in peace (perhaps I am asking for too much). I want to live in a land which will let me be free.

Freedom you say is the birthright of everyone here, so how much more freedom do I need? Yes, what you have given to everyone is one of the most beautiful concepts, to cherish and nourish. I grew up in a small town enjoying every moment of it, not knowing or understanding the hidden layers of a dysfunctional and discriminating society. The books that my father gave me and the education that I got promised of an ever improving and an open world beyond that small town. I grew up with lots and lots of hope and optimism in my heart of an ever happy future. It’s been many more years than three decades and now I am beginning to feel hopeless and scared.

I grew up at a time when life was simple, full of laughter, contentment and no greed. I did not know what discrimination or intolerance was –gender or community or religion or caste or colour or money. Now despite such an upbringing, why am I forced to think of every event, every comment, every movie and every job in relation to a particular group? In a huge land like yours, there is only one city that I feel safe in and that too I can feel is slowly eroding. If Mumbai goes, where will I go? Why do I have to struggle everyday to take the train to office and struggle everyday to return home? Why do I have to sit by the sea and pretend that it’s not filthy? Why has it come to a stage in your land that virtually nothing works in the manner it was meant to be or that virtually everybody has become intolerant and belligerent?

I want to be free. I want to have the freedom to run on the roads at night if I want to. I want to have the freedom to camp alone by a river or cycle on my own all across your place. I want to have the freedom to give up my job whenever I want to knowing you are there to help me to get back. I want the freedom to smile at strangers and get a smile back in return. I want my life to be as simple, full of laughter and content as it was decades ago.

Sometimes I feel that I should have been born 15 years before or 15 years later than I did. I know what I have lost which I can never get back and I do not want what you have to offer me as a sad excuse for a future. I hope I have given to you what I was supposed to because I know you cannot give me more than what you already have. I hope my karma with you is over.  

For, My Dearest Country, I love you a lot but I am finally giving up on you.

Yours,
Unknown yet one in a billion admirer. 

Power Over Power:

I can SO see it happening.

The rabid and one sided views are starting to raise their voices and soon it will become another ‘good’ reason to cut down remaining forests.

The two days of power outage due to different grid failures created world headlines making it the biggest power outage ever (well, with a population like ours EveryThing will be pretty big numerically!...so why the hypocritical surprise and shame?). But in the national dailies, there was one small section which for me stood out with a 72 font size effect – the fact that there is a coal deficit in the power sector.  Coal India, Ministry of Power and other mining companies have been saying this for quite some time. But NOW these outages give them a valid reason to push their agenda through by hook or crook (read one such rabid opinion).  I won’t be surprised if it turns out that all this was all done deliberately to prove a point (well, this shows my level of trust with our leaders)

So now I am scared, very scared.

Because the life of my favourite forests of Central and East India is really at stake. These forests are the last of the ancient forests of India and one of the three main watersheds of the country (Satpuda range). The forests here speak to you if only you know how to listen. There is an energy in the land that is so primeval, so raw and so beautiful that it will leave you spellbound.  The tribals and animals who live here are so connected with Earth and nature that you will be envious. Perennial rivers, streams and lakes are so pristine that you will not feel like touching them.

And with coal mining, the forests, wildlife and a water system will all vanish, a seemingly small price to pay if politicians and companies are to be believed.  But it has never been such a simple give and take. We here in India will continue to be served a four times environment whammy due to this. First, increase in air pollution due to burning of coal which releases lots of CO2. Second, it will destroy swathes of virgin forests (prime coal belt) to mine constantly and feed in to the growing demand. Thirdly, the fly ash from burning of coal is toxic and no care is taken to dump them or use them properly leading to health hazards (Fly Ash in India). And fourthly, combustion of coal for power takes up huge amount of water, surface or underground, which ideally means lesser water for people to consume (Water usage).

So, if the forests go, the people will get the much required power but at what cost?

Since the 1972 UN Conference, India has been making policies and laws for sustainable development and all the subsequent Five Year Plans have always had a good environment focus. Yet somewhere down the line, things have taken a turn and now leaders are asking Development or Environment.

It’s time that India sits and thinks long term with middle path cleaner solutions (read solar and wind) rather than going for band-aid symptomatic solutions. We have a lot many children to answer to in future.

But you, my friends can Start Here with Junglistan.