G - Simple Equation

February 8, 2004.


Something different is tapping my mind today. City life is so
demanding, there is absolutely no time to stand and stare, look around
and enjoy the beauty of nature. Cities are turning into mass concrete
bodies, people having very little time and place to give to Nature.
When I think of robots, isn't our life functioning like a robot. By
chance the daily set schedule is conked, the day's function rumbles.
Life is moving at a very fast pace, every moment we have to race or be
the loser.


Everything is so different in a jungle. The trees, animals,
birds and reptiles, we need them all for our survival. There is the
intricate and intimate relationship between the various constituents of
the jungle, including even the tiny termites city dwellers try
desperately to fumigate from their homes.


Termite mounds hide within intense activity and contribute
greatly to forest biodiversity. More than 200 species of birds feed on
termites as do monkeys and bears. Termites work methodically. A mound
resembles a modern city system with air-conditioned rooms.



The Sal tree in India, tall, tapering to the skies, arms
outstretched upwards. The Sal tree stands for 100 years at least; even
when felled it stays preserved for 100 years and it takes another 100
years for the rot to set in. The leaves boast its utility in the form
of disposable plates and bowls, man has racked his brains and joined
and shaped them. Man's creativity. The wood adorns the houses in the
shape and form of furniture and other wood art.


The Banyan tree tells us how its aerial roots strengthen the
tree as well as harbour a variety of life forms. The Banyan tree, with
its religious reverence is one sure root to
preservation.


Religious rituals are on the wane and so there is not much
demand of the Durba grass, how no puja is thought complete without this
variety of grass and now much importance is not given to this grass
whose virtues have been extolled in Hindu mythology. High rise
apartments have housed families giving them little chance to grow this
grass in the spiraling dwelling places.


Nature, environment and culture are considered to be as vital
for survival as are the brain, heart and backbone in a human being. It
is believed that human encroachments into forests and denudation turned
tigers into man-eaters, because human activity reduced biodiversity and
deprived the tiger of its natural prey.


Conservation of forests is a must for a friendly survival. A
simple thought crossed my mind and I thought to include it in my
journal.


In this fast changing world, I can see countries trying to
run on the fast track. So much is spent on mission to the Moon and
Mars. Some are ready to take their first flight to the unknown world as
soon as it is confirmed and established, the possibility of living
there. The arms race always has been the cause of destruction and
devastation. Each and every country feels, might is right, and so have
entered the arms race. History is evidence.


Sundays make all the difference in my life. A day to relax
but the thought of Monday, just can't say how I feel about it.
Childhood days, I yearn for those days, silly; those days will not come
again. I can recollect these lines from the poem "Lines Written In
Early Spring" by Wordsworth,


If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?


Hatred, disbelief, treachery, is making its way slowly and
steadily, making life difficult.


A simple equation ? as I sit back I think about Iraq, was
there any WMD at all?