It was Delhi before “gas-chamber”

Photo : chai for me and inhaler for my daughter , as we start our morning.

I woke up to a quiet morning with little time to myself. Autumn mornings and a nip of cold , the swirling smoke of warm tea tracing memories in the air. A rare delight, it was not. Delight is when you are happy but now the pleasant memories of autumn morning are safe somewhere in the past. A day off from school because the air is unsafe to “ Breathe” , was the last reason imaginable. Yet we live in a world stranger than Orwell’s 1984. Now we look at autumn morning form behind glass doors with green plants and air-purifiers adding freshness to the room.

The other day my daughter had breathing trouble in class and her classmate was quick to share her inhaler. I was shocked! Not At the quick thinking of child  to offer inhaler( offering first-aid knowing we do not share inhalers ) but at how the world has evolved from once sharing pencils and lunches, to this generation sharing “inhalers”.

Now , the school checklist each morning is inhaler and mask, followed by water, lunch, books & RFID. The school doesn’t allow sharing food due to health issues, I do not allow re-filling water bottle outside due to NDM 1 scare in water supply and the government doesn’t want us to Breathe due to polluted air.

“Vote- seekers” (politicians) call Delhi “gas-chamber” as though they will win empathy of citizens. Those in places to bring change have left it to citizens to do the needful.

Writing slogans, car-pool, online petitions can hardly put a dent in the bigger problem.

A problem that governments of various states can easily work-out together and resolve, after all it’s the lives at stake.

Innovative techniques to reduce farm stubble have to be used. Also alternate crops like maize should be grown, instead of paddy , that leaves such stubble and lowers ground water reserves. After all the wind will blow from west to east for now.

Cars are a major source of pollution but so are bigger transport vehicles like trucks but then what about the silent problems like road-dust on streets. A study by IIT- Kanpur in 2015 revealed that that cars and jeeps contribute less than 10% of particulate matter while trucks are bigger culprits. Also road dust that accounts for about 35% of tiny particles known as PM 2.5 in the air, followed by vehicles.

Construction sites are equally responsible for pollution as are restaurant and hotels.

Perhaps on a more neighbourhood level, civil society activism is needed where RWAs can pitch in to address issues like road dust, planting more trees in neighbourhood and leaving less carbon footprint in every possible way.

The urban jungles can use more green and less concrete.

However, for “vote-seekers” the problem to resolve immediately is the one that gets votes, not humans suffocating in capital of India which is leisurely termed as “gas chamber”.

If we are in gas chamber then what does it make those at top responsible for putting us in it? Need I say more or is it understood?

The only difference is we are all in the same “gas-chamber” – the haves, the have nots, the policy makers, the vote-seekers and the voters.

 

right to Breathe (clean air)

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. – Albert Camus

image source : pixabay

The Countdown to Diwali has always been associated with the beginning of pleasant autumn mornings when the air is cooler and the tea cup in morning feels warm, not hot. As a child I eagerly counted days to Diwali as soon as the effigy of Ravan was burnt on Dushhera. The wait for Diwali was full of endless to-do lists : buy firecrackers, visit friends , Diwali lights,  Diyas , rangoli designs ideas (the unspoken competition of who makes the best rangoli) and of course our homes inadvertently becoming “ mithai ki dukaan”. On the day of Diwali we eagerly awaited for Lakshmi-puja to be over quickly so that we could burst crackers.

After Diwali , there was the mandatory illness due to allergies.

Now that was my magical childhood. Magical despite the pollution as childhoods often are presumptuously magical.

My motherhood has a different story. Come autumn , I enjoy the mornings from a distance, as though looking out the window but reminiscing in past. I stare outside thinking how much trouble it will be to manage my daughter’s breathing issues. She will miss out on dance and sports due to it. When she is in school, I have to ensure that my work revolves in a periphery of maximum 20 minutes drive to school, as the numerous emergency calls from school due to my daughter’s breathing issues are scary.

My to do list for Diwali still begins after Dushhera which includes Friends to visit, gifts to buy, rangoli design and most importantly stocking up on masks, mosquito patches and inhalers.

Am I blaming Diwali for pollution? Am I blaming change in season for mosquitos leading to dengue mania? Am I saying that it’s various kinds of pollution caused by us which are making us sick?

Am I blaming the farmers for burning stubbles that fill the Delhi air with unbearable smog clogging our lungs and making children fall sick?

Can a different farming technique prevent this cause of pollution across major parts of North India?

Am I blaming the pollution in metropolitan cities caused by variety of factors and not just one?

The toxic gases & particles emitted from bursting firecrackers are more dangerous.

Even though  India’s carbon emissions have increased by 5.2% in 2015 contributing 6.3% of all global CO2 emissions, even though global emissions remained unchanged (researchers at the ‘Global Carbon Project’.)

We are not alone in fireworks, The July 4 fireworks in US emit the equivalent of 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (Source inverse.com)

However, cultural celebrations are not the lone cause of pollution.

Industrialisation without consideration for environment, decrease in number of trees per capita , increase in urban density of population, rapid urbanisation with environmental disregard , and mobility of population are amongst the prime reasons for India being ranked 4th in carbon dioxide (kt) emissions (2,454,968 kt)

The difference between reasonable restrictions and blanket ban is the degree of trust put in citizens to be responsible humans. The demand for clean air or even the Right to Breathe is because somewhere over and over again our government has failed to give us holistic economic development.

Thanks, to the Supreme Court’s ban on firecrackers- No one will buy and sell firecrackers in Delhi, it’s a breathing respite. But there will still be buying , selling and burning of firecrackers . There will also be pollution on the other 364 days .

I have an urban jungle in my house and balcony, even though having greenery in house comes with the fear of mosquito-friendly existence. The added electricity bill due to air-purifiers makes me guilty of  consuming electricity by burning fossil fuels in order to have clean air. 

Perhaps now is my turn to demand Right to breathe (clean air). We live in times where high-speed data is more important than clean air. A generation that can tolerate air-pollution but not mobile phones without internet connectivity (carcinogenicity of cell phone towers is a debate for another time )

For now we are gifting plants on Diwali as my 9 year old feels that’s the best gift along with sweets.

Does pseudo-faith supersede humanity?

We returned on Sunday 27th august, since Monday is school day. In evening the rumour mills started about schools being closed on Monday. ( since the deraviolence might spread more after the quantum of punishment is announced on 28th August ). .
A late night tweet put speculations to rest as schools remain open. On Monday morning the watsapp messages kept increasing, mostly parents who were asking each other if they were sending their kids to school? In one class 16/ 20 were bunking school. In another 12/20 would bunk. Then other friends, from other schools all over Delhi, were both contemplating and deciding in the same sentence as to not send the kids to school.

The mass bunking had begun.
Fear crept in and had taken form of inaction in action.
The last time I remembered something like this was more than 2 decades ago when a certain place of worship was demolished. Fear then , fear now. The common denominator is always a pseudo-faith that supersede humanity.
A shaken belief in government and administration reminded us how vulnerable we are in the hands of those who are to protect us? How unsafe we feel when small sects of blind-faith erupt like volcanoes.
Dera verdict is victory of the silent victims against a greater established organisation well funded with muscle, money and masses. .
Sometimes the truth echoes greater than the noise of violent mobs.
Faith is a beautiful emotion as long as its put in the right place.
Peace out~ Prachi .

Why can’t journalists handle public criticism?

Lately, I found articles by a certain journalist, rather ordinary -only stating obvious facts. The certain journalist in question is incredibly ingenious and has the ability to mingle with commoners to find stories.

UP elections make the state a battleground, a wedding and an examination all in one- also it makes journalists partisan.

The certain journalist until a week ago was saying Muslim voters are in favour of  BSP, then this week he attended a BSP rally and said Muslims are not in favour of BSP.

        As for his first opinion, I commented “it wasn’t true that all Muslims were supporting BSP”. Also that I’m glad actual voters don’t read his newspaper. For second article, I said “he doesn’t need to attend a rally to know this. It is “common knowledge”

The certain journalist, right there on social media posted “why are you being so condescending? You want me to block you?” I said “sorry for being condescending. Blocking is your personal choice?”  ( well do we ever ask permission before blocking someone?)

     Anyway out of curiosity, I decided to check after few hours, and the gentleman had blocked me.

I got a good laugh out of it,because journalists can’t handle public criticism. Cricketers, athletes, artists, actors,  even POLITICIANS can handle public criticism, but not a journalist. Pray tell me, why journalists can’t handle public criticism? Their articles are not holy grail that I have to abide by it as truth. I have a thinking mind, a questioning mind, and I shall use it, even if I offend a few!

BJP swiped a majority of seats in UP during LokSabha elections of 2014. However, what is under-reported is the margin of victory. The voters did not decide against SP, they decided against the Government in Centre. At that time SP under CM Akhilesh Yadav was only 2 years old. The seeds of development were already sown, and now in 2016 the fruits are here.

“achche din” vs “kaamboltahai” is the true match of election this year.

Achche din were a promise of hope, of change – a subconscious neuro-linguistic programming tool often used by Politicians, where nothing substantial is promised. However, CM Akhilesh Yadav has  acted upon his manifesto of 2012 and over-achieved. Here is a leader that the populace has started to trust. He is not selling dreams but making dreams come true.

UP for once is witnessing development as a political agenda and not just religion and caste based politics.

So, in February I will caste my vote- a sacred relation of faith and trust between me and the EVM.  The silent voices of UP voters will be heard when results are declared on 11th March. And no journalist can block it.

Do you “ask Siri” or “just google it”?

Pic courtesy- K.LeMieux

My daughter was telling my husband about Worli art & I was about to ask him to Google it( for visuals explain art better) but watching him patiently listen to our daughter , I stopped. Memories of reading books (sans illustrations) and imagining the features of characters, the scenery and so on flashed across my mind.
Can I let Google stop us from expressing ?
One morning before going to school I told my daughter to keep an extra jacket . Somehow it almost always rains around Indian Republic day. Before i could pass down my memetic wisdom , I heard the now familiarly annoying sound of Siri “how can I help you?”
My daughter told me weather doesn’t look good -Courtesy Siri.
In the world of “Google it” and “ask Siri” the questioning mind is finding answers without human interaction of the real kinds. We talk thru Facebook,watsapp, snapchat & Twitter.

The element of surprise when meeting Friends after long, is gone. Now we are already updated about our friend’s last holiday, the last movie they saw, also the last hot beverage they had -thanks to Facebook. Also the exotic holiday locations and novelty food you can barely pronounce is very familiar- thanks to google.
When running late for meeting, google maps is there to tell the alternate route ( come on we live in a world of alternate facts)
You no longer need to ask for directions unless you don’t know how to read google maps (I remember local press-wala (ironing guy) & paan ki dukaan were the traditional route teller. When at Uni in Melbourne we kept melway in the car for directions)

When was the last time you opened dictionary to look for meaning? I wonder how many out there still have a dictionary (the paper bound and not the app)
We learn recipes from blogs and YouTube – you also learn how to exercise there! Or just press the round button of your iPhone and be transported to “you in wonderland with Siri”.
Fashion is no longer discussed with friends rather searched in quite comfort of mobile-phone by visiting blogs and Instagram.
We would rather Google about the burning relationship trouble than talk to friends (in person)
Even cure for depression is available on Google and rarely in the comfort of your friends. Since most friends are rocking their life with awesome selfies and food clicks (even though a lot of awesomeness is fakebook )

Political opinions are formed on Facebook walls and long debates are published there while shorter ones are saved for tweets.
If you don’t understand fascist from pacifist and neo-liberal from epistemological nihilist – Google it !
I recently saw Britannica being used as objet d’art at a hip pub in Delhi’s Khan Market. When I was younger it was my go to book in quick need of research.
The only good humour was a note at our doctor’s wall “Patient will be charged extra for annoying the doctor with any self-diagnosis gotten off the internet”

About Author- do not Google as those who don’t exist on first page of Google- do not exist at all. No point asking Siri as she/he can’t pronounce the name