Don't let it burn ...

Millions of victims of the the inferno that has been raging for nearly five weeks in the western and central parts of Russia set about trying to rebuild their lives while most of Russia's leaders are too slow or negligent to react; many of whom sources have it, are away on vacation while the country burns.

More than 50 people have been killed and hundreds of farmers have lost their only crop of the year to the flames. Fire-fighters continue to push back the blaze and some think the worst is over and the victims set about reclaiming their lives, till the worst of the bad news hit the Russian's with the force of a tornado. The fires threatened to revive one of the worst disasters in the country's history. On August 5th, after the blaze had been going for almost a month, Sergei Shoigu, minister of Emergencies said fire-prevention teams were focusing on forests around Bryansk, one of the regions most contaminated by the Chernobyl accident in what is now Ukraine. When the nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, it emitted hundreds of times the radiation of the Hiroshima bomb and coated most Europe and the western Soviet Union in a radioactive haze. If fires hit the forests around Bryansk, radioactive particles could be stirred up along with the fumes from the fire and a new zone of contamination could emerge. On the 10th of August Greenpeace said 20 fires were raging in the forest affected by Chernobyl and 3 of them in the fallout zone of Bryansk. Three days later, a deputy for the regional parliament in Bryansk, Lyudmila Komogortseva, found that the radiation levels in the burning forests were 6 to 12 times higher than they were before the fires began.

The government denials came thick and fast, claiming there is no need for panic as the reports and statistics were false and lacking official sanctions and that the RCFH, the state forestry agency was spreading "false information ". The government's immediate action was to cut off all independent information and media sources on the disaster from reaching the public unless it had passed through the scrutiny of the ministry.

Now the question remains; Is the government there to save themselves or to protect the people?

And more importantly, in our quest for an alternative source for energy how far are we ready to go and how many live are we ready to jeopardize?

Clearly we have witnessed the destructive power of nuclear radiation and the irreversible effects it has on the environment and all living things. The site of the Chernobyl disaster still cannot support any form of life after nearly two and a half decades- and if nuclear energy goes global then a few major disasters could make the whole planet inhospitable. 

WE LIVE ON AN ISLAND WE CANNOT LEAVE..... stop destroying it !!

It is not about survival of the fittest; it is about allowing everybody to survive.

Nature and instinct drives every living creature be it human, animal or plant to fight for its survival. It was Charles Darwin who gave us the theory of natural selection; a phrase which is so casually used these days. Till sometime back I used it as naively as all the rest, then I had a rather casual chat with one of my professors in the college cafeteria from which surprisingly I gleaned a rather deep understanding to the concept of human evolution. Though the concept of natural selection coined by Darwin was strictly based on animal and plant evolution, we can learn alot about humans if one just comprehends that language under a different light.

Most think that Darwin was talking about how individuals must adapt to survive; but look at it in this way- Man is a social animal and it is very natural that the survival is not dependent on individuals but the society as a whole and that to me is the most interesting feature of human evolution. Today in this world where crime, corruption and injustice are so prevalent that goal is fading away. We have been drawn into this false sense of security in believing the fact that we can survive on our own and don't require society. This has led to the oppression and harm, humans inflict on other humans. Whether we talk about how women still have to struggle for equal rights in this male dominated society or whether we are still fighting a secret war against apartheid. Most think that the world is rid of these sins since we are educated and intelligent beings with a conscience. For all my readers who agree to the above I will ask a few questions, ones which my Prof. had asked me then; Rape , domestic violence, prostitution, female infanticide, distinction based on the colour of one's skin these are all real problems which still exist in this world which we now call a "Global Village", then where is the freedom and the chance for one to evolve to the best of one's abilities?

Who decides who should live and who should die? When all it takes is a pistol packing junkie to end one's life, who guarantees the right to life and liberty ?

We call ourselves the most intelligent and civilized of all creatures but I ask;

"ARE WE EDUCATED ? OR NATURE STILL DECIDES WHAT WE DO AND WE CAN BLAME OUR ANIMAL INSTINCTS?

"Flirting with fate, we weave our destiny
A war of human greed and insanity.
Thousands of weapons to play this dangerous game,
when all it takes is a bullet with your name ...  "

Invictus

"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul...."
                                          William Ernest Henley

While incarcerated on Robben Island prison, Nelson Mandela recited the poem to his fellow African prisoners and was empowered by it's message of self-majesty. He was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting against the heinous crime of apartheid yet a single verse helped him survive and give hope to others around him through those troubled times. There is no greater strength than one's belief and I am proud to be dark-skinned because I believe in people like him.

" No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes naturally to the human heart than it's opposite."

                                                                                                                 -Nelson Mandela, 1995

Not all who wander are lost…

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost

“Ring ring ring ring ……“, the alarm blared out at six-thirty in the morning. Opening my eyes to the slow rumbling of tracks under me, reality started to creep back to me from my fanciful slumber. On a train towards a new life, the last leg of my long journey from home. This is the story of how my life as a journalism student begins.
Coming from Kolkata more than a thousand miles away I didn’t know what to expect in my new life as a first year student of Manipal Institute of Communication or as most call it affectionately MIC. So anyway at about twelve-thirty that afternoon I arrived at Mangalore station caught a cab and headed for the small town of Manipal on the edge of the famous Western Ghats of India. On reaching my home for the next three years I was greeted by a rain soaked quiet town surrounded by a carpet of green as far as the eye could see, a stark contrast to the concrete jungle I grew up in. It was a refreshing change and I actually stood taking in the surroundings when abruptly and rather rudely my dad nudged me along asking me to quit day-dreaming and get a move along towards the apartment.
Later that day after a rather annoying lunch with my father explaining to me how this is a new and more independent chapter of my life and I should be more responsible and all the mumbo jumbo designed to keep our curious minds at bay and follow the strict norms of society, I decided to explore this new home and also a welcome relief from my father’s constant lectures. Roaming around this town the one thing I quite readily imbibed was its peaceful and demure nature. Being a calm and composed person myself I felt at home quickly. The greenery and fresh air coupled with the slight almost tickling drizzle of rain was the icing on this peaceful cake I was so eagerly devouring.
Wandering about I stumbled upon this place the natives call “End point”. Standing in the garden towards the edge of a cliff face overlooking the ghats, the enormity of this vast green expanse sprawled out in front of me left me speechless- staring almost ogling at mother nature’s beauty. The earthy smell of rain rising from the soil mixed with the myriad of flower scents was intoxicating me and mesmerized by this charm I was held spell bound for moments I couldn’t or cared to count. Thoughts of what someone had told me back home drifted into my mind- “It’s a new place don’t panic you will adjust soon just hang on …” – Gibberish, I felt completely at one with this new surrounding that made me feel really happy and washed away all sense of apprehension I had about my choice of coming all this way from home to pursue my graduation.
Finally I meandered my way back to the apartment, a little soaked but completely satisfied with a wide smile on my face. Dad noticing this almost metamorphic change in me from the passive and lost person I was all through the journey asked me “will you miss us son?” to which I replied I most definitely would, further he asked would I miss home and almost without thinking I answered from my heart- “I am home..."

I think we are a product of all our experiences.

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from

         time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
                                                                                         Oscar Wilde

Growing up in a nuclear family with both my parents working professionals, as a child I was left to myself for long periods of time. I am thankful for those circumstances, for the lessons I have learn't from self-exploration and discovery I don't think I would've learn from any external source. It is in every parent's nature to be protective. I believe falling down and learning to get up is better than someone explaining to you what happens when you fall.
Learning to fend for oneself and to make choices for yourself is very important to me and whether it was to eat ice-cream before my lunch (when I was seven years old) to what I should do with my life, I have always found it easier to make decisions drawing from my experiences.
Life teaches us through various experiences and success follows the ones who learn from them quickly. Not everything that one should know can be taught by others, some are instincts and some are the products of our experiences. As I grow older and turn back the pages of my life I would know that I have lived life to the fullest, not by all the academic degrees but from the experiences I would have had. 
I hope my readers are inspired to experience all that life has to offer because life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.