Day 52: We need to learn from the world of nature
I am walking for the past 52 days. If you ask me what are my views so far— from what I see, I would say, that we are watching and marching towards a slow death of the known world. What I think has happened and what many before me have been saying, is that the top of the culture is profoundly intellectually bankrupt. There is no plan except to keep pedalling stuff until the forests are gone, the rivers and oceans are polluted. It is not as if the people doing this are cruel— they are simply clueless. They have run out of steam. And so their answer is to try and keep this game going as long as possible. With gaming addiction within the youth, with endless political distractions, with bollywood/hollywood, with cults of celebrities and ministers, with spectacular media trials, with mafia and mass murders and endless circuses that keep everyone busy. The people at the top and bottom are thinking that sooner or later, the ship is going to hit the bottom, the dam will burst! But still they say, let’s make sure that its later, not sooner, because my kids are at the university, I am paying my house loan, I have a car loan to repay and I need all this to be taken care of before all this falls apart.
It is not that we are seeing this for the first time. There have been many instances in the past where such huge institutions, after running its games for millenia, simply ran out of steam. This, I feel, is a time of chrysalis. It is when the butterfly is fighting to come out of the cocoon. We are at the end of such a cultural epoch in India and the world at large. In such a confused time, there is nothing that fills this void. Vultures are waiting for such opportunities to stimulate the thought patterns of such a confused society. Unfortunately, in such times, there is nothing that is consciously thought of, and thus we accept every wrongdoing as a part of change. In such times, to stand alone, be a spectator atop that mountain, when the whole world rushes towards despair, is the only thing that one can do. Our job is to steer this truck towards sustainability, morality and ethical conduct.
The world that has existed for the past millions of years is dying and we are being entertained while watching it die on our devices. Our hunger for more— more food, more property, more cars, more travel— all this is burdening the already fragile ecosystem of our earth. Now, because we see everything as a product, we no longer take from mother earth what we need, we take excess. We don’t take crabs and fish just for our family, we take it to sell it in the marketplace. We are in a crisis of excess. Everything is commercialised. Everything is on sale— land, water, rivers, oceans, mountains, valleys. The ghost of extreme capitalism is going to haunt us for many years to come.
A man I met yesterday roared at me, “I want this development. People like you don’t realise that our kids are sitting jobless in the villages. How is that chemical factory, which provides jobs and keeps them busy, bad then? Isn’t it better than sitting on the walls and drinking alcohol?”
Calmly, I responded, “I too expect progress. Your kids should work and they should get better opportunities, but is getting a job in chemical factory where he inhales toxic fumes and reduces his life cycle, development? Are your dreams not killing him then?” Listening to this he went quiet. He knew his mistakes. He too was a honest farmer like many, but the speeches of ministers and other high ranking people had infused such toxic ideas of progress, that he couldn’t see my point.
Maybe he slowed down after watching me smile even after hearing him speak a few bad words about me. This is what we need to do as a society. Speak to each other. Don’t put people in categories. This guy, right wing, bad guy. That guy, liberal, leftist, idiot. People are people. We have to have the calmness to change their views or atleast have the tendency to accept different opinions.
“I see your point,” he said quietly, his blood red eyes had softened. He continued, “I am a farmer too. I wouldn’t intend my kids to get slow drops of poison, but this bloody stomach. It doesn’t let me sit in quiet. I think if he doesn’t get a good job, he will be left behind. If not that chemical factory, the society will kill him slowly. I agree that there are better options. That non-polluting industries would keep our ecosystem in tact. That green zones would keep our forest and river beds thriving with wildlife. Afterall, I can see this because my ancestors gave this to me. Our farm is a blessing from my great-grandfather. He developed our farm while keeping the nature in tact. It is true that I have not done my bit.”
That’s it. He already knew his mistake. My words only made in introspect a little. That’s my job. Not to give you answers, but to make you question a little. To tickle the streams of your imagination, so that the rocks that have blocked your ideas, might move a bit. They give you room to think differently. And what has blocked our thinking, you ask?
Phones! These phones have disturbed our society. No, I don’t mean they are bad. There is obviously a lot of good there. Take this for example, you are reading all this. I can share parts of local wisdom through my phone to yours. Isn’t that amazing? But these same phones are perpetrators of hate speech, of endless addictions and distractions. They create digital images of ourselves which we run around to match upto. Not just the guy sitting in the village, but our ministers too are addicted to the image that their phones have created. These fantastical image of themselves push them away from reality. Technology isn’t our humble servant anymore. It is overpowering us. It creates and manipulates our thought patterns. It disturbs an already fragile society. It spreads hate not love. We have a lot to work on!
I am being invited to schools and colleges. Students ask me questions that I cannot answer alone. We as a society have to answer these questions. What is the answer to the excess plastic pollution? Who killed/kills the jungles? If we need to progress, how can we keep our nature intact while pushing for progress? How are we deaf and numb towards the screams of nature? These are interesting questions indeed, but the society has to come together to answer them. We should put our ministers to test. We should put ourselves to test. Reduce our needs. Ask for better outcomes and hold them accountable. These kids don’t yet know that their parents are voting in the name of religion and ideology. The true essence of religion is long forgotten. They are unaware that the civics lessons taught to their parents in school, have vaporised in thin air. They talk of pollution and corruption in one breath and then vote for the corrupt and pollution-promoting people in the other breath. I don’t say that one party is right and the other is wrong. Every time we form collectives, we create firm ideas. We need to become individuals.
People say, keep up the fight, we are with you. Let me say this, this is not my fight alone. If I were to fight, I would be a lone man standing on a rock at the edge of the sea. The incoming waves would gulp me down their throat and take me quietly in their belly. I am not a messiah. Let’s not put names and forms on me. I can’t change anyone but myself and you can’t change anyone but yourself. We will all have to change. You will have to start it with yourself. Shake off the numbness, wake up from the deep sleep and see this world for what it is. How it is becoming.
I see two distinct worlds, the world of nature and the world of man. In this world of nature, man has a place. Yet in the world of man, nature wanders homeless. We need to put our gears down. Learn from the world of nature, because she brings us together. She gives us everything we need.
Thank you for the help provided so far and for being a part of this walk! I now have a team assisting me and if financial support can be provided to keep them going, then please do so. here’s the link
For Indians who want to support'/contribute, here is the UPI payment number GPay or PhonePe- 8983726737
The idea of this walk is to highlight the issues, spread an ecological conscience within the people, listen to them and bring them together to see if we can bring about a change that can move towards a future that aids people rather than pushes them away from their homeland.
If you can help me by contributing for this walk, then please do, I could start a kickstarter or manage crowdfunding through some other website, but none of those options are available to me here in India. So, I will be dependant on your donations. You can contribute through paypal - here’s the link. I will send out a personalised postcard if the donations are above $30 and if it’s above $100 then whatever comes out of this walk - a book, a documentary or anything else - you will be the first ones to receive it.