What happened, honey?

What happened to you? How could you change so much? I always believed that I could blindly trust you, because you were the most pure in the entire world. If anything went wrong with you, it could be easily detected. We would take corrective steps, so that you maintain that pure and pious nature of yours. So pure, I thought, you were that man's best friend stayed away from you and did not dare to cross your path. For the past seven years, my day has begun with you only!!

But then, this greedy and ignorant world overcame you. You got pulled in its drive to derive the maximum benefit in shortest possible time. I was so naive, that I couldn't realise that someone as pure as you could be dragged into this trap. It was a bolt out of the blue for me. A, rude jolt, a wakeup call, that none in this world is untouched by its character.

The Indian society's ecological guardian, Centre for Science and Environment, and its director, Sunita Narain, announced to the nation about your adultery. Yes, my dear honey, their extensive survey and tests declared most of the honey being sold in India is laden with antibiotics. A further jolt was that these antibiotics have been banned in most of the developed world. Those who trade you as a product, injected the innocent bees with such antibiotics, so that they do not fall ill and continue producing.

Sunita Narain says that your downfall began when a few ill-informed people thought that imported bees are a better proposition, as they can produce more of your ilk. But, those imported bees were not familiar with the Indian conditions. They started falling ill and dying. To avoid this, they were injected with antibiotics and over generations they still continue to consume such stuff. Perhaps, not realising that they are spoiling (and have now already spoilt) our relationship. These antibiotics have now percolated into my body and have probably caused irreparable damages. You were supposed to keep me healthy by detoxifying my body. But, you have contaminated it.

Dear honey, with a heavy heart, I would like to tell you that I am ending our relationship with immediate effect. It can only be restored if you restore back to your former self. Pressurise your masters to reform and to restore you back. Only then, come to me. I will welcome you with open arms.

My 101th post: this one is for Mother Nature

Alright, my blog is 101 posts old. I completed a century with my last post on the Bombay blood group. What began impulsively in 2005, has now become some sort of a passion. My blog allows me to thrash, trash, praise and do all sorts of things without caring too much about the results. That's probably because my blog isn't influential enough to stir some heads.

So, I thought, I should dedicate this post to Mother Nature, who has been unrelentingly providing us with everything we need, asking nothing except to care for her and nurture her, so that she can continue with her largesse. And don't be mistaken. I'm not smitten by the "Go Green" brigade. Rather it is frustrating to hear those guys, who keep on proposing incremental changes but nothing path-breaking.

The inspiration for this post came after hearing and reading all the talk about why bio-fuels are expensive. Most people say that bio-fuels are expensive, because the process of breaking down complex carbohydrate compounds, present in the feed-stock like corn, sugar cane, into smaller alcohols is difficult and contributes significantly towards the final cost of the fuel.

This is what happened with fossil fuels too. Today's petroleum based fuels have come about due to anaerobic decomposition of dead organisms. The process of decomposition has been going on for over hundreds of millions of years and was undertaken by Mother Nature. But, we haven't paid her anything. Instead, we are recklessly consuming these fuels and causing an irreversible harm to Nature. If there was some mechanism, to pay the Nature, the charges of breaking down dead organic matter into fuels, probably we would have seen more sensible use of fossil fuels. We are currently enjoying free fossil fuels, that are provided to us by Nature herself. Perhaps, this cost of conversion should be charged to the user, and the money put to use in environmentally beneficial activities.

Of course, we humans do not have the patience to allow nature to do its job. These fossil fuels have been formed over hundreds of millions of years. But we want to produce maximum amount of fuel in a given time. Therefore, we have to pay the cost of accelerating the decomposition process. This is a water-bed effect. Increase the time of production, cost will reduce and vice-versa.

So, when people talk of costly bio-fuels, remember that we are freeloading on the fuel that Nature has converted for us. She isn't charging us the conversion cost, but, on the contrary, bearing all the collateral damage.

The silent arrival

It is the first week of June and the weather, warm and humid. The temperature is not much of a problem, but the humidity is. Add to that, the winds have almost come to a standstill. And as the days progress, the humidity makes conditions even more worse. But, there is a silver lining to all this. The increase in humidity, winds not blowing anymore, and a steady temperature are an indication of an impending monsoon. As we enter the month of June, the question on everybody's mind is- "when will it rain?" Get up in the morning, with humidity circling your body, that is the first thing that comes to your mind. Air-conditioners are running to the fullest and their exhaust lines are draining more water than recirculating air.

Nature too, tries to play hide-'n'-seek with man. It teases us with a cloudy weather in the morning followed by an extremely sunny afternoon and a warm night. Every morning, looking up in the sky, there are prayers for it to rain today or get postponed till the time one is prepared for rains. I have to still buy an umbrella. So, while I pray for the rains to come on time, I pray that it rains only in the night, so that I am spared till the time I buy one.

In this part of the country, generally, pre-monsoon showers are accompanied with thunder and lightning. The clouds hover in the sky for the entire day and by evening, they start roaring and sometimes scare the hell out of people. But, they serve as a warning sign. It is akin to the monsoon saying- "Ding Dong! Next four-five months, it is my music and my song". Ever since Lagaan was released, everytime these thunder showers occur, I am reminded of the song "Ghanan ghan ghan ghir aaye badaraa". And it is this warning sign that keeps many ready for the monsson.

But, Nature again wants to tease. Probably trying to show who's the boss. With no looming clouds and an almost clear evening sky yesterday, I was sure that it will take atleast a day or two to for rains to begin. This would give me enough time to purchase my umbrella and ready my rain-sheeter for this season. And in night, while I was returning from the lab, there were silent drops. No thunderstorms, no lightning, nothing. The drops started pouring in sliently, evaporating almost instantly as the hit the hot parched earth. There was an aroma of freshly wet earth all around. The drizzle continued silently for some more time, enough to send people running helter-skelter. Clothes hanging in the terrace were taken off, windows facing the west were closed to prevent rain water from entering the rooms. Slowly, the rain water was cooling the parched earth. The monsoon season was on track! But then, Nature had a few tricks up its sleeve left.

The drizzling, as silently as it had started raining, the end was more silent. The clouds quietly drifted away, the sky cleared up, with the bright moon shining into my room. The next morning, I woke up to find the sky cloudy again, just to see bright sun-shine two hours later. Ghanan ghan ghan ghir aaye badaraa....

P.S. The monsoon is set to arrive in Mumbai on 7th June, as predicted by the Meterology Department.