Cars, Creatures, Crowds!!

Cars, Creatures, Crowds 

 -Hector Dsouza  `

The Earth will heal itself. Humans will be gone and the Earth will live on'. Andrew Kemp, Urban Gardener, Detroit. 

 From the solace of our expensive, luxurious cars we watch the world pass by. In the foreground lies the specter of more comfort as we race to be more liberally expansive towards growth. All of this comes at a certain cost, for most of us it hardly matters. Our well-being does!! At the other end of the spectrum, many of us have large hearts. Dating back to many centuries, we hardheartedly accepted the principal of non-violence or no hate to inferior creatures. 

 We saw proliferation of natural habitats, a huge increase in four legged creatures, mammals as well as aquatic species. The avian numbers were encouraging, as well. For the record we now have the largest population of Tigers (3000+) and Asian Elephants (25000+). We embraced people, our population grew in leaps, today we have the largest population in the young category, worldwide. In itself, its good news because demand will always outstrip supply for FCMG products, trendy wear, contemporary creations and value-for-money products. `

Use today, throw tomorrow' is something we have all gotten used to. Earth, finds itself in a conundrum of sorts. Not being able to bear the continuous onslaught of Man over Nature, its spews its venom once every few days in different parts of the world. Tornadoes,Hurricanes, Cyclones, Avalanches, Earthquake, Heat Waves, Live Volcanoes are more common today than ever before. Same goes for rising sea levels, reduction in ground water levels coupled with increasing salinity. Mother Earth seems to be responding in the same manner Man behaves: Callously with Utter Disregard. Even more apt expressions are: tit-for-tat or a famously quoted Hindi slang - `Jaise Ko Taisa.' 

 A midst all this churning an acrimonious drama being played day in, day out, we are desperately trying to balance it out. Cars needs roads to move on, if not development will fall into tatters; creatures need space to grow and reproduce in their natural habitat, if not they will become extinct; humanity finds itself almost in an endless quagmire. What if, we allowed the forest cover to become a natural canopy `providing shade' from global warming as well as water to quench our parched throats. What if we built more concrete roads so cars can drive faster; the whole population would become wealthier with nations would prospering? The tug of war game will continue for some more time as these are all equal influences, Cars, Creatures & Crowds – all seek Control!! Who will win this epic tussle? It finally boils down to the necessities of life. We need Oxygen to survive. Covid taught us many lessons. `Without Oxygen we are Dead'. When we lose the ability to breathe, even artificially induced external supplies will not help. Is Covid an alarm bell seeking to shake us out of complacency? Do we need to now introspect? And extrapolate our concern? Being a genial soul, Mother Nature gives more than it receives, every surviving tree provides oxygen to mankind. 

The only problem here is Oxygen is invisible, unlike a beverage or an alcoholic drink where a price can be fixed. Probably this is where Humanity fails. Not acknowledging nor valuing the bounties of Nature. Sadly, Oxygen is not Bitcoin, hence most lose interest!! Only those who experienced the trauma of being unable to breathe will acknowledge with full humility this well worded beautiful phrase. `Without air or the ability to breathe, we are dead.' `Invaluable' is a word that comes to mind. Oxygen, the pure air we all strive to breath can only be compared to a priceless painting or the world's largest diamond. Is there a connection between Cars, Creatures, Crowds? For sure there is; first we should be willing to step out of our cars and let Nature be.