We hate trees

And we don’t care two hoots… climate change be damned!

Overnight trees felled and carted away, stealthily. Though they claim it’s being done legitimately and with permission. The reasons are plenty - roads to be widened, flyovers to be built, the metro-rail is coming through here…hey, someone could get electrocuted if the branches weren’t trimmed. It could be you!

Probably, the ‘babus’ then came up with a brilliant idea, over ‘chai’ and ’samosas’. Why take the trouble to trim these branches year after year…let’s remove the trees itself. We’ll save costs for the department and the city will look neater too. No brilliant, irregular, leafy green to break the clean lines of tarmac and concrete in the city. ’wah’ ’wah’ we’ve outdone ourselves, lots of back patting, bring on the chai and samosas.

So out came the tree-cutters. And they’ve been at it since then.

And we’ve been complaining about the freak weather, traffic congestion, pollution, respiratory problems… whining and more whining. That’s all we seem to do.

Any wonder then the trees continue to disappear and everything else seems to deteriorate around us.

500 bucks - the cost of a meal or a chance to go to school?

My sister keeps late hours at work. Her mode of transportation back home from office is the ubiquitous auto-rickshaw (3 wheeled motor taxis particular to India). From the area where her office is located, she would never have an easy time getting home in the evening, having to deal with the whims and fancies of the drivers. Most not willing to ferry her or trying to fleece her and so on. Invariably, she has a tale or two to tell when she gets home. So, it was quite a surprise when she came home a few days back and related a “different” encounter with an auto driver.

The man turned out to be very garrulous and talked about everything - the state of the city, the traffic, the roads etc. And soon he was talking about how he had got stuck in a bad traffic jam earlier in the day when he had gone to pick up his son from school. My sister then naturally asked him which school, how old his son was, which class etc. And thus the story unfolded…

He has two children - a son and a daughter. Both studying in the nearby govt school. This academic year he had decided to get his son admitted to a private school because he thought the child would have a better education. The school’s regular fee for the year was somewhere to the tune of Rs 10,000 - 11,000. So this man requested the school authorities to reduce the fees as he would just not be able to afford them. But he insisted he had to educate his son in that school only. The school then reduced the fee to nearly half, around Rs. 6,000 for the year which he was asked to pay in instalments of Rs. 2,000. To this the auto-driver said he can’t even afford that much and he promised to pay in instalments of Rs. 500/-

This itself was going to be tough for him as this was money he really would have to slog for to save up. He drove a hired auto from which he had to each day pay the owner Rs. 350/- as rentals. Over and above that what he had earned was his he was barely enough just to feed anc clothe his family.

My sister felt so bad she immediately offered Rs. 200/- (all the cash she had with her at that time) to the man. He took it saying - “mein na bhi nahin keh saktha kyonki mujhe abhi iski sakth zaroorat hai” (I can’t refuse this as I really need the money… deperately). The reason he had gone to fetch his son from school that morning was because his son had been sent back as he had been unable to pay the 500/- instalment.

Did the man cheated my sister by telling her this sob story? I don’t know. If he was, then I guess, it’s just her bad luck. If he wasn’t, the money would have made a huge difference to his son - between going to school or staying home until his father had gathered enough money to pay the fees.

When I heard this, the thought that struck me was how casually we take a Rs. 500/-, we probably don’t give a second thought when we spend as much on our clothes, a meal, sometimes more on a pair of shoes!!

Moments in Life…

There are moments in life
when you miss someone so much
that you just want to pick them from
your dreams and hug them for real!

One of those numerous emails that keep floating in and out of my mailbox. I would most likely have deleted it without a second thought. But, something made me hang on to this one. And now when I open it many weeks and months later am struck by how true it seems. I would have laughed, all those years before if someone had said I would read this one day and want to cry. Not today.

No vote, No existence

Scene: A demolished slum on the fringe of a well-to-do area in the city. 25 houses demolished overnight and residents - infants, children, women, aged included - thrown out with their bags and baggage onto the streets. It’s been 5 days…rainy ones at that. 

Today: a couple of so-called local politicians and some bureaucrats are paying a visit. This has come about only after some NGOs and their volunteers came to the aid of the hapless people - they protested in front of local authorities’ offices, got some media coverage, started petitions… generally made a nuisance of themselves till the concerned ‘powers-that-be’ took note.

There are whispers of behind-the-scene dealings between the land-owner and the politicians. Rumours say that the landowner is a politician himself. The politicians make some noises, promise succour and leave. The evicted slum-dwellers are watching the goings-on, unable to comprehend anything beyond their shelterless existence and a shaky future.

A few days later: People from the NGO have gone to meet the elected representative of that area - read ‘politician’ - to follow up on his promises. The man makes some polite conversation and asks his secretary to take down the details of the situation.

At one point, they draw a blank, “they are slum-dwellers…where will they have papers to prove residence”, asks one of the representatives from the NGO.

There’s complete silence. The politician looks up in surprise. He then asks, “You are wasting my time and yours too. Why will help them? They are of no use to me, they have no votes to give me.” Blunt and to-the-point.

And there died the hopes of the 25 families of regaining their homes… they’ve now become just a statistic in the list of a million such families across the country.

An ant’s life… :)

A few months ago, while discussing life and the purpose of existence (yeah…yeah…same old stuff!) a colleague of mine said the most unexpected and strangest stuff - “I often feel that an ant’s life is much better than a human being’s. It’s such a routine life, their only aim and also their only worry is to find and store food. As much as possible. They don’t have the problems we have e.g. (the unexpected bit) an ant’s not constantly wondering why is my boyfriend not talking to me, why did he say what he did…is there something more to it…” All of this articulated most vehemently. And I did the most natural thing…laughed. I was so amused, I was laughing till tears ran down my cheeks.

And I have often wondered why she had made that analogy. Hmmm…

Calvin & Hobbes

It’s been years since I first got hooked onto the inimitable Calvin and his partner-in-crime, Mr. Tiger - Hobbes. And I have, also, over the years read the strips over and over again without ever getting bored or tired of them.

Off late though, I have been wondering who did Bill Waterson really start creating the strips for - the kids or the adults? As a 6 yr old Calvin’s vocabulary seems more in line with that of a 26 yr old. Consisting of “gravity is arbitrary”; “dictatorial impunity”; “empiricists”; “self-actualised”; “extenuating circumstances”; “pestilence”; “elixir”; “needle-like proboscis” it would make even the average adult reader pull out a dictionary.

Irrespective, the duo have ardent fans across continents and one can only be glad that not many below 16 yrs dig the comic. Imagine, the plight of a dad who is subjected to polls regularly and his position analysed or parents who have to deal with headless snowmen or protesting snowmen or the snowmen ‘torture gallery’.

Nevertheless, I do believe Bill Waterson is a creative genius and has given his readers many a funny moment and shared laughter over the papers at the breakfast table. 

Whatever said, I think Calvin rules and Hobbes more so!

http://somegoodsomebad.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/pic1.gif

some good…some bad?

i believe there’s enough sadness in the world, so why watch sad movies, read sad stories, listen to sad songs…?

And then if we don’t know and understand the ‘other side of life’ (assuming we are reasonably happy, content people)… aren’t we deluding ourselves or being ostriches with our heads in the sand, hoping the ugliness of life can be wished away?