Air Pollution: Clearing the Air

Fresh air and sunshine are the two things that never fail to cheer a despondent soul. But, of late, fresh air has been so scarce that it has created a huge scare. Anybody who was born in a time when fresh air was abundant, and ambled a mile up and down the verdant path, felt the wind blow in his face and lungs swell up with joy, distracted by a chirp there or a wood sorrel here would understand what we have lost. But it is not just pleasures of idling and ambling in the benefic Nature that are being missed. The lament is about the life giver turning foe – threatening to invade the inside of our systems with insidious intent- to strike at the source of very Life that it was supposed to support!

Diwali dealt a damaging blow to environment especially to the Air. After the lights darkness fell as a pall of fog cocooned the capital city of Delhi. Air Pollution in Delhi surged reducing visibility to 50 m .Toxic air made people and the government   hit the panic button calling for urgent and immediate action. Air-pollution saw new high levels of particulate matter finer than 2.5 mm searching to 900 mark. This was much higher than the permitted safe limit. In fact it was 15 times higher than the prescribed safety limit. It was seen as an emergency situation and immediately a set of measures were implemented included closing down of Schools for three days and shutting down Badarpur power plant for three days.

But Delhi is not alone and Lucknow followed suit. In fact all major metropolitan cities are grappling with the problem of surging air pollution .in Lucknow cheer broke out amidst winter lovers, who mistook smog but soon the cheer gave way to worry and concern for clean air is the basic right of each Indian.

 What is smog? Why is it so dangerous? How does it materialize out of the thin air? According to Wikipedia the word itself was coined in the early 20th centuries as a portmanteau of the word smoke and fog to refer to the smoky fog, it's opacity and odour. The word was intended to refer to what was sometimes known as P soup fog.  It is an air pollutant. It is a cloud causing low visibility and for it to qualify as smog there should be enough pollution, smoke and moisture in the air. This kind of visible air-pollution is composed of nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxides, ozone, smoke or particulates among other things. Human made smog is derived from road emissions, forest and agriculture fires and photochemical reactions of these emissions. The smoke and other particulate matter combine with fog when there is high humidity and low temperatures to form smog.

Though modern smog as found in los Angeles according to Wikipedia is a type of air pollutant derived from vehicular emissions from internal combustion engine is an industrial fumes that react in atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emission to form petrochemical smog. But Delhi's problems are further complicated and aggravated by the burning of stubble in the neighbouring areas.

Smog has serious impact on human health, but ground-level ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are especially harmful for senior citizens, children and people with heart and lung ailments such as emphysema, asthma, and bronchitis. It can inflame breathing passages, choke lungs, causing shortness of breath, pain on inhaling deeply, wheezing and coughing. Nose and eyes irritation can be caused leading to the drying out of the protective membranes of the nose and throat and even interfere with body’s ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness, rendering us vulnerable to death. What would be the harmful effects of prolonged, early life exposure to smog as air-pollution needs to be studied to arrive at any estimation of long-term damage to human health and impending death.

Wisdom lies in learning from others’ mistakes. China too had faced such apocalyptic air pollution just before Beijing Olympics.

 And again in 2015. There are lessons that we can learn from China’s approach to the problem.  Treating it as an emergency, it declared war on it. Smog  is the enemy. Particulate matter that was spewed from countless cars, power stations and steel plants. It shut down its schools, factories and construction sites and stopped half of its cars from plying on the roads. These measures helped in improving the quality of the air. But the gains were temporary and the measures ad-hock.

Dr. Jim Zang, professor of global environmental health at Duke University writes "we have particles that have a diameter smaller than a virus, human hair is very big compared to these. The larger ones will be deposited into the lungs – that's the biggest worry. But recent scientific evidence shows that when the particles are small enough they go into the bloodstream as well and they can go directly into the brain too ". In this study he found that even with temporary intervention the resultant improvement in air Quality percolated to the healthy young adults having a positive bearing on their cardiovascular and respiratory health indicators. Economic slowdown complicates the issue of environmental protection men home, and economist at the Harvard university China projects establishes relationship between economic slowdown and a negative bearing on air-pollution control. "It is a complicating efforts to continue to convince people to put in costly pollution equipment and to think about energy-saving technologies

India too has woken up to the threat of menacingly high levels of air pollution in its cities. Though it has not yet dealt a silver bullet to rescue the cities but red alerts have been raised. Last year Delhi mobilized its resources to implement Odd-Even formula to keep half its vehicles off roads in the month of January. This year too schools were closed, power house shut down, public transport buses running on fossil fuel being replaced by battery operated ones, extension of Metro services, ban on stubble burning, and recently a ban on manufacturing and storage of fire crackers.  Though the benefits reaped are only temporary and defy any long term consolidation yet the red alert is a positive step and is a sign of progress in governments understanding of how they should react and respond to these extreme conditions of threat to environment. Extreme situations demand extreme remedies. All stake holders have to cooperate in the implementation of well thrashed out, long term policies for the curtailment of surging air pollution seeing its impact on Human health as well as the health of our planet.

http://www.treetake.com/expert-columns-details.php?id=18

LOSING GROUND: WHITHER HAVE ALL THE GROUNDS WITHERED?

                    Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet”.

                                                                        William Hazlitt (Table Talk, vol.2,'On Going a Journey’)

 Whither have all the Grounds withered? It seems the children of my city have finally lost the battle to their parents, over ground! In bygone era the city of Lucknow had earned the sobriquet of "the garden city” or the city in a garden. The City of Nawabs boasted of many gardens that find mention in the literature of the time, but were gradually lost to development. But in recent times, it seems the sobriquet of the garden city has been taken rather too seriously by the People of Lucknow, especially in the aftermath of the culling of trees, their sacrifice to clear ground for pet projects of Treeless Parks of Stone, which were then razed to be raised again-resurrected in more magnificent form than the before...and the process of went on! This seemed to galvanize the residents too and each locality went on a spree of local park development program---seizing playgrounds and zealously clothing them in verdant livery. Each playground metamorphosed into well-manicured garden, aesthetically laid down flowerbeds and a serpentine jogging track of interlocking tiles for the health conscious! But this generation of the joggers was doubly blessed- a generation that grew up playing on these playgrounds, which it had now wrestled away from the current younger generation and banned them from playing in these zones lest they spoil the newly laid gardens!”. “Catch them Young” is what the wisdom says and yet the “wise “are guilty of Depriving the young generation the basic right of access to a playground”. Shrinking living spaces, and paucity of time had already  pushed children into a chair in front of the T.V. and kept them there, where they further lost the battle of the remote (T.V.) to their parents .Now outdoors too they have lost ground to their parents and Quite Literally so!!

Children have lost ground at school too. Though Schools  have mushroomed all over the city-right from kindergarten to nursery, junior to senior secondary, but are cramped into high-rise buildings sans the playground. The “field’ has been eaten up by the monster called Urbanization-unplanned, unbridled and unhindered expansion of cities coupled with escalating, inhibiting prices of Real Estate. The boom here has boomeranged and spelled doom for the grounds and leaving the ground zero with zero ground!

“It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents” said Eric Hoffer. A couple of decades ago, cities in India, including Lucknow, boasted of many “grounds” that were accessible to young children and were used as “playgrounds”. One could see children playing Cricket matches with the dedication of a professional or football just for fun, one could even catch a group of youngsters loitering about aimlessly just for fun! These grounds were where children took refuge from stress of studies for recreation and roamed for fun, unsupervised, masters of their mind, laughing, chatting, cracking jokes or even fighting and then making up- in short learning life skills! Summer sun was never too hot to sacrifice a game of Vish-Amrit or Den or other indigenously invented games nor were winters too cold to deter them from playing hide and seek or Antakshari or flying kites. Contests of cycling were common sight. Many a singers, players, orators, teachers, creative writers and diplomats were carved and chiseled on this Terra

Firma! “Nature  is a tool to get children experience not just the wider world, but themselves” says Moss.

Return the ‘Play Ground’ to the children or increase the number of the hospitals! No, this is not a cynical pessimist’s view of future, rather a realist’s warning for the writing on the wall is very clear. Let us pray that our children do not fall prey to diseases. Just five minutes of “ Green exercise” can produce rapid improvements in mental wellbeing and self-esteem, with the greatest benefits experienced by the young. The children do not have alternative open places to indulge themselves thus, which afford   physical and mental health benefits of getting kids. Outdoor activities, especially unstructured, formless free play helps children develop a large number of skills- learning social skills, executive functions and behavioral skills as well through play. It boosts problem solving skills, self-discipline and enhances focus. Socially, it improves cooperation, flexibility, and self-awareness. Emotional benefits include reduced aggression and increased happiness. Running around and being active promotes good health and keeps obesity away- In neighborhoods without a usable park or playground, the incidence of childhood obesity increases by 29 percent concludes Darell Hammond. It relieves stress in children – It’s no surprise that children today are a stressed lot incapable to cope up with the pressures that life offers. Spending time outdoors increases focus in children relatively and helps increase attention span. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, lots of kids are suffering from vitamin D deficiencies. This vitamin has several health benefits, including preventing kids from future bone problems, diabetes and even heart disease. Going out and playing in the sun boosts vitamin D. A study reported by Optometry and Vision Science found that children who spend time outside have better distance vision than those who primarily play indoors. In a nutshell, children will be smarter, better able to get along with others, healthier and happier when they have regular opportunities for free and unstructured play in out-of-doors-concludes an authoritative 2005 study by American Medical Association.

In this age of gadgets and social networking-facebook, cable T.V. etc, fewer children interact with nature. Heavy demands are made on their time after school and it is heavily pressured unlike ever before. They are expected to spend in profitable pursuits and in constructive activities like afterschool activities, coaching, organized sports or instructions in hobby courses-singing, dancing, painting or sketching. No time for kicking your heal outdoor, so to say. Unlike before, parents do not want their children getting dirty.

Unlike before safety issues too have restricted children’s hours that they spent out-of –doors and how they spent them. The culprit is “Stranger danger” the fear of abduction by an unknown adult, writes Jon Henley in the Guardian. Children are not allowed to “stray” far from home.

Children are compelled to spend most of their time inside their homes-studying or watching television or working or playing on Computer. Indoor environment is two to five times more toxic than our outdoor environment. The International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organization have concluded that 80% of all cancers are attributed to environmental rather than genetic factors, including exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, many of which are found in household cleaning products. The World Health Organization (WHO) agrees, reporting that almost 3% of the global burden of disease is due to indoor air pollution. We spend as much as 90% of our lives indoors nowadays and researchers are investigating our exposure to indoor pollutants as contributing causes to rising incidence of autism, allergies and toxin load. In the short term, indoor air pollution can cause irritated or dry mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, respiratory tract and throat. It may also cause dizziness, fatigue, fever, forgetfulness, headaches, irritability, lethargy and nausea. Researchers have found that childhood diagnoses of allergies, autism, Asperger’s and Tourette’s syndrome are linked to indoor pollutants such as dust,
PVC flooring and second-hand smoke. The list is long and scary.

To children know a lot about nature, but indirectly, through television and may visit nature resorts but do not experience it directly. They do not know the names of plants and trees, have no interest in the avians, which –as it is, are on the decline in the urban havens. I was surprised to find out that in a class of about eighty students in a B.A. freshman class only two students owned potted plants at home and had interest in gardening! The American writer Richard Louv defines the phenomenon as ‘nature deficit disorder”.  The Playgrounds were a sure way to cure this. We have destroyed the connection between the children and nature. In the current scenario, where we are languishing with a bleak scenario on the Earth front, we need to restore this connection urgently and immediately so that our children fell connected with their habitat, feel it , experience it and most importantly understand it and value it.

In India 14^th November is celebrated as Children’s day. This year let us return to our children their ‘playgrounds”, havens of health to which they can return in hoards, reminding one of the sojourn of flocks of migratory birds that come to congenial grounds...!!!

COME SEPTEMBER!!!

In 1961 Hollywood unleashed a deluged of entertainment upon the people with a romantic comedy film titled Come September starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida. Come September and Delhi, the Capital of India,  is hit by a deluge- but of a different kind- a deluge of swelling population of Aedes Aegypti- a small ,dark mosquito of approximately  4-7 millimeters with typical white markings on its legs and a marking of the form of a lyre on the thorax. Delhi screeched to a halt and so did many other states and cities. The news headlines screamed to announce that the industry was hit by a slowdown, and work on roads and bridges delayed by months. The reason- the population of the migrant workers shrunk by 20%. Why? Stung by the miniature mosquito. While the country lamented the loss of its brave hearts in the battle on the border, there were many who battled the disease in the heart of the country anonymously. Those in the position of power passed the buck while others went head hunting- and the common man groaned in pain, waiting for action. Some blamed it on the complacency of administration, others on corruption, and a few others on the boom in the Realty sector-with indiscriminate construction work in progress, the mosquito found many aqua bodies to proliferate! As the disease spread its burning breath and the death toll hit North, the administration scampered to action. By then it was already too late- the disease claimed victims indiscriminately- from a few month old to the elderly and in quick succession.

  But September comes every year, and leaves behind a trail of woes that create havoc in the lives of ordinary, poor people, that defies any quantification of loss incurred as in the industry above. It is that time of the year when viral fever, Dengue and Chikangunia stealthily lurk in the nooks and corners of schools, offices and homes, stalk people stealthily and then strike the unsuspecting . Though you and I may not have been visited by it ask Rani, a domestic help, who works part time at 5-6 houses to eke out a living She has been trying to save money for her youngest daughters to buy crackers on Diwali, new cycle for her eldest daughter, and a question banks for her son preparing for boards. She started to save money after Holi, come September and all the family members, already underfed and malnourished, become easy prey to these ailments. Numerous visits to the doctor, who of course would be an unqualified one, and lack of strength to do work  further complicates the problems and they often find themselves out of work!

This has cascading effect. Most of the families in the city where women go out to work rely heavily on these domestic help .With them out of action, I am sure, a lot of working women too would have to take leave from their work to attend to their duties at home .

To further assess the damage, one only needs to attend a PTM in any school. A lot of children suffer academic loss for not being able to attend school and many have to forego the crucial midterm exams. Children, forced to keep away from school are the worst suffers- their future hangs in a balance- September is the time of assessment and evaluations in schools. Those appearing for the boards or others in the university suffer the risk of losing a year! Opportunities are lost and Futures are blighted.

But all these are nothing when one realizes that these diseases pose a great threat to life- they may become fatal.  The huge number of mortalities makes it imperative that stringent preventive measures must be taken and much in advance –at the onset of Monsoon. The Municipal Corporations should ensure timely and proper collection and disposal of garbage. Proper Drainage is another area that needs attention.  Roads should be maintained and all potholes filled. Water should not be allowed to stagnate and Fogging should be done as prevention and not just as remedy. Children in school should be educated about these diseases and exhorted to check their homes and surroundings for any signs of water stagnation. Hospitals should be readied for speedy diagnosis and treatment of such cases. People themselves should act as pressure groups for the timely and proper delivery of these important services. If we join hands and prepare ourselves then perhaps we too will say COME SEPTEMBER!!!

A BROKEN BICYCLE

For past few days I have been preparing to write an article on redundancy of the institution of marriage in the era of Polyamory,live in relationships and infidelity and the peace of life outside the institution of marriage when a chance meeting with this person reversed my hypothesis---
This afternoon as I was getting into my car at the local patrakarpuram market an elderly man approached me. As he spoke to me I could not take my eyes off his hollow, fissured cheeks, his yellow broken teeth , a creased forehead - more a result of straining his eyes to see sans specs despite the failing eyesight and his shabby clothes. He looked old beyond his years. He drew my attention to the flat tyres of his bicycle and sought my financial help to remedy the situation.To make sure that I was not being conned by an impostor, I threw some questions at him that he fielded with ease- he informed he was a daily wager, came to the labour market from the suburb, about five km away, failed to get employment, that his cycle had broken down,could not walk 4 km back home,hadn't eaten and nobody helped him either. He was seeking 20 bucks to get his cycle mended so that he could return home. On further enquiry he informed he had four brothers who lived separately with their families, but he remained unmarried as his parents passed away when he was barely 20.Without a wife or children , he lived a lonely life with no retirement.
Though not totally taken in by his story and still trying to weigh him I handed him 40 bucks .His new found affluence brought a glint to his otherwise dull eyes.he thanked me profusely saying I had given him more than he needed.
The thought that someone could extract money by fooling me was preventing me from helping him generously. But one last glance at him and the look in his eyes broke down all barriers- I became ashamed of my skepticism and mistrust and finally dug deep into my bag, pulled out money that would be enough to cover his meals for a couple of days.
Now a greater dilemma hounds me- is marriage redundant or still alive and kicking -despite the onslaught of polygamy,polyamory, live-in relationships, virtual relationships? It has been used and abused and exploited as a means of social and economic security. It has been deployed as a ladder to climb up  the social and economic class and not to forget its utilization as a veneer, a tool of concealment of ones different sexual orientation. Relationships are dead- long live the institution of marriage!

P.S. But at least one thing has been put into perspective - happiness is not contingent on marrying or not marrying. Marriage is merely a CONTRACT the terms of which are not equally poised and are violated more often than one knows. If you look upon marriage as an institution that At least guarantees Companionship, then even there it has failed.

Pic credit internet

OH MY HEART!!!!

Heart Of The Matter!!!!

Oh my Heart! How will you hold

All my secrets new and old?

In vain did they struggle any way!

For you hardly gave anything away!

The masked aprons, some blue some green

not to be heard but only seen,

In hushed voices, discussed for a while

"We will reach the Heart of the Matter"

They declared with a smile.

The hustle and the bustle,

The rustle and the tussle,

The injections and the vials

All united in a trial,

I did not resist in all wisdom

As they invaded my Temporal Kingdom.

Lilliput like I lay all dazed

My Heart raced,yet unfazed!

Oh My heart! How will you hold

All my secrets new and old?

Some patches here, some wires there,

Connected to a monitor, all set to share,

A long paper scroll, a coded message,

some peaks and vales, some scribbles there,

I tried to decode through the doctor's visage

He looked at it for a while ,

Then declared with a smile,

"We shall reach the Heart of the matter !"

Oh my Heart will you dare?

How could you lay all my secrets Bare?

The masked aprons, some blue some green,

Voyager like,sent  a camera down the blood stream

The monitor crackled, the heart protested madly on the screen, 

it could no longer hide, the room resounded with a scream,

The men and the machine at last succeed,

 Oh my Heart! But Do not yet concede!

Or all our secrets will be hauled,

When you were Touched, Broken or mauled!

Do not seek revenge to tell all!

You are mine after all!

Oh my Heart! how will you fare!

 You hate me so much or you don't care!

My memories rush in a rewind,

Pictures of the first crush rush to  mind,

Anesthetized by Cupid's arrow,

but soon crushed to tears in sorrow,

How you hurt! you did not mourn for long!

Soon another love came  along,

 the sun seeking the Earth after the Rain!

But the Trail of Love blazed in vain

the flames of love were doused again!

Oh my Heart! You know life is not fair!

Don't hate me, keep me in your prayer!

 

Yet again Dear Heart you refuse to heed

not to seek out love that's not meant to be!

You danced into your beloved's arms

to bask in the love lorn gaze warm

Bruised and battered, yet not  altered

you looked for love, never faltered.

Oh my heart, I didn't know the Art

to cheat or deceive or to play with Heart!

I confess, I let you suffer

when I was timid and failed to utter, 

sacrificed love at duty's altar

like a boat abandoned In the middle of  the water!

Oh my Heart! You are Touched again ,

 but cold glass and fervid metal work in vain

struggle to pry from my bosom livid,

the buried  secrets of love, still vivid

 I knew our secrets you will hold 

and not give away our love new and old!

Those masked aprons, some blue some green

Now neither to be heard nor to be seen,

 shut the screen and turn around

"We have found nothing ",they sound.

Thus far you have been so bold

will weather the  brave new world!!

vulnerable, unable to bear the strain

you smile,  my words are spent in vain

The chest ready to receive new treasures of love!

And the Cupid, ready to strike ,awaits in the COVE!!!

THE CHILBIL TREE!!!!

          The potency of growth is not determined by the size of the seed. A small winged seed that was torn away from its parent in its sleep and thrown down on to the ground in the middle of nowhere , beaten  by rain and glaring sun, it clung to the ground and did not give up. Decades later it stands tall in the middle of august company, raising its head tall, reaching for the sky majestically, much above the rest. Yet there was a time when it was competing for survival with blades of grass ! When it woke up and it's sapling pandiculated it found itself in an  endless jungle of blades of grass that wanted to bury it again -forever! They felt threatened that some day  it’s shadow will engulf and destroy them forever. But others dismissed these fears as groundless for “ when did something that came out of seed as small as Chilbil's was a threat!” So it survived. It looked around and found itself in an enclosed lush green compound  with some eager , energetic girls and a few focused women engaged and in learning and teaching! The august company of Mahua or Indian Butter Tree- , Goolar-. Jamun-, Aam-, Sahjan-,  Kachnar-, Ber-, Ashok, Bel- looked down upon chilbil and refused to embrace it  in their fold! Now Chilbil  wanted to bury itself into the ground out of the feeling of worthlessness!   One day, a young girl was rehearsing a speech  out side the faculty staff room, recited these lines- “ All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”      On the wings of the wind the words reached the Chilbil -it found  its Mentor- the Wind  had always been there, caressing it, nurturing it , often  playing with it’s leaves to cheer it up, and  even tickled it to bring Chilbil out of its despondency. But Chilbil failed to see this love in it’s moroseness and failed to acknowledge its love! Yet wind  continued to bestow its love on Chilbil unmindful of its blindness! But , now, hearing these words of the girl, Chilbil reciprocated with love . Soon it bloomed  and bore fruits . But Alas! While people flocked to the  Mahua--- because it’s Bark, flowers, seeds and heartwood are used in the treatment of inflammation, sprains, epilepsy and digestive disorders.Its Fruits are considered as aphrodisiac and seed oil laxative and good for rheumatism. Jamun’s fruition was eagerly awaited and Mango’s fruit was so much in demand that people didn't even wait for it to ripen. Chilbil Fruit brought only frown and curse from the gardener ,who grumbled-"The entire place was to swept to get rid of worthless Chilbil Fruit." The young tree was ashamed of its fruits but was helpless-had to give in to Nature’s way. But it bore only very few fruits and that too on the highest extremities to escape ridicule.One day the wind gaily came whispering “ Your seeds are Blessed- who so ever shall have patience to collect them and peel  them –and consume them , not less than 21, will be blessed with wisdom and success- if she kept the information to herself”. -  The Chilbil was all ears! It was elated, but immediately immersed in sadness thinking that now even the  wind , its only friend had taken to mockery and ridicule! The wind reassured Chilbil that every word of her proclamation was true. All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports-obviously, the omnipresent wind too had heard the girl’s speech. Riding on the wings of wind…the campus reverberated with the whispers and gradually one  saw stray students sitting on the benches , under the tree, aimlessly reaching out for the seeds. Soon the numbers swelled. Then one saw groups of Girls seeking out Chilbil seeds and counting them before applying themselves to the tedious task of peeling them for consumption. And thus it became a ritual with more and more girls flocking around the tree  every day! Chilbil was happy! It basked in in the attention that was being showered on it. But it's happiness was short lived. Riding on the wings of wind the following words broke his spell of joy-"This year the students are sure to fail! Instead of studying they  waste their time under that worthless Chilbil tree collecting its seeds and eating them with such dedication as if it was a panache for Success! Silly Girls! "  Chilbil was broken and distraught. It wanted to be loved and cherished but not at cost of the interest of the students. It summoned the Wind and blamed it for the mess. The wind denied having trifled with the future of the students and firmly stood its ground. The things came to such an impasse that tree refused to have anything to do with the wind. Wind too screeched and howled at chilbil and they parted ways. 

So months passed! They continued their separate solitary existence, until rains came and took away some of the heat of hatred and bitterness too! For the students had returned to the campus, all happy and cheerful, having done exceptionally well in academics! Everyone was awed by the results! This was balm for his wounds! Chilbil felt elated and in its excitement called out for the wind that had since started keeping company with the clouds.Thinking that the tree was in need of some help it rushed down only to see a beaming chilbil! Excited chilbil tightly embraced the wind immediately and thanked it profusely. But it was still   intrigued  "were its seeds really blessed?” The wind replied “The Real potential lies buried in each one of us just as you were in that little seed! A genius lies latent in each one of  us! We just have to provide conducive conditions to bring it to the fore! We all know that practice makes a man perfect, so when those students foraged for your tiny seeds they learned to identify a goal and to focus on it . When they successfully collected 21 seeds in that graveyard of dry leaves, without giving up, they learned perseverance .And when they peeled them they learned to work assiduously, without getting distracted over a long period of time .And finally when they ate them they learnt to carry out things to their conclusion and not to give up midway that is to complete the task without giving up! These are steps one needs to practice for attainment of success. And they practiced it every day! So by the time they sat down to study long hours for good exams, they had already undergone the necessary training!!!! If it seems like Magic so be it! But your seeds are certainly blessed!In the words of Lucy Stone ‘Hence forth the fruits of the tree were for women of knowledge, and for the healing of the nations.’

All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.(Chief Seattle) Riding on the wings of wind, some whispers reached the Chilbil Tree again. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. (William Blake). So one day a group of people came and declared-"The Tree was too tall for comfort and had to be felled. The measure of a tree is neither its wood, nor its girth of its worth. Some trees are considered to be mystically connected with the fortunes of people and places. Just as the Chilbil tree at Gonda, which sprouted from the tooth-twig of a saint, was supposed to be mysteriously connected with the fate of the last of the Gonda Râjas , our Chilbil tree had come to be linked with the fortunes of these girls on the campus. But alas when it had just discovered it’s worth it was to be felled. Today nothing but a stump remains where once stood a majestic Chilbil tree whose seeds were blessed. The Chilbil tree continues to empower girls. They mount on the stump that is now used as a platform to practice declamation, debate and speeches: To articulate Dream, Desires and Destinations! It is  now sometimes a window -to let in the New rays of light of knowledge into their minds and sometimes a Door- to cross the threshold of stereotypes , to break the barriers of superstition and ignorance and to cross over to knowledge and wisdom. Thus the Chilbil tree continues to GROW even today and its fruits are still  blessed!

Booked!!!!

I must confess, i am not a book worm and unable to finish a book at one go!!A good book is not a glass of water to be gulped down a thirsty throat!Rather,it is like a glass of wine in the hands of a wine taster !! Right from the cover page to the jacket,the book up to the last page is to be savoured in all its aesthetic resplendence. To me a tactile experience is first step towards this aesthetic journey. To hold the book in my hand, to flip its pages, to smell the fresh print which is no less in joy than to smell Petrichor after the first monsoon showers!! There results a sort of partnership between us. It becomes my companion to my place of work and various other places that my work may take me to...to fill up all unproductive moments. And when we do part company, the dog corners, the well thumbed pages, a broken spine, a scribble here or an asterict there, some highlighted phrases or uncommon words, a greasy page or an oily fingerprint---they all tell the tale of our journey together.

And many years later when I leaf through it's pages again, like the chronicles by a stealthy secret stalker, it lets tumble out the facets of my life that i never thought could be encapsulated in such a manner and Here!!!! I drown in the moments again!!!!!