Napoleon had cautioned long ago that "Mankind's worst enemy is fear of work". But centuries have passed but the fear of work doesn't seems to go away.
One of my ex-colleague used to question "why we need to complete this today while we could do it tomorrow?" Another one's philosophy was to leave office early if you happen to reach for work late. "one should not be late twice in the same day" he used to advice.
But the winner is one who left office in the morning because his boss wished him "have a great day!" Obviously he had figured it out that he could not be in the office and have good time.
I looked high and low all these days to find a word that would describe this attitude towards work. On the 6th of March 2018, I got this word sent to me and I am glad to share with all who were not aware of it.
Everyone would unanimously agree today that the
need for saving water is no longer an option, it's our responsibility towards
the generations scheduled to arrive in our planet in the future. When we say
generations, it is not limited to a specific race, species or lifeform. The
earth belongs to all.
Life is a balance between what we can control
and what we cannot. There is however, another dimension to this old sayings…Life
is also a balance between what we should try to control and what we shouldn’t.
While any idea to conserve water, #CuttingPani, is potentially a noble
initiative, we should interrogate it with all seriousness to make sure that it
would not send wrong signal. Inadequate consumption of water will have negative
implications leaving the world with a generation of dehydrated people, quite
similar to the anorexic population of today.
Our bodies are made up of about 60% water, more
or less and constantly loses water through its excretory system. This needs to
be compensated and the commonly recommended quantity is eight 8-ounce glasses
per day amounting to about 2 liters. Not many of us reach this target on regular
basis and some health gurus are of the opinion that majority of the population
are on the brink of dehydration.
The other extreme of this spectrum is “water
intoxication”, which occurs due to excessive water intake resulting into
abnormal brain function and could be fatal in extreme cases. Although not as common,
when it takes place, the excess water dilutes blood sodium levels and causes
fluids to move inside cells, which then swell producing potentially
life-threatening effects.
I believe, the message transmitted upfront need
to focus on drinking more water while the appeal for “drinking water
conservation” remains subtle. Restaurants and businesses could start using
smaller glasses allowing people to ask for a second helping if they are very
thirsty. That way we do not propagate the message of “Drink less and Save
more”.
Few odd ideas for conservation of water usage
from various aspects of our daily chores could be as follows. All of these
without touching the drinking water segment and avoiding a wrong psychological
message:
There has been no significant development in the
way we wash our clothes ever since washing of clothes has been in practice.
Making washing machine more water efficient is
one way but there could also be machines that washes using microwave
technology. One need to take on the mighty soap lobby to succeed though.
We could also develop clothes that doesn't catch
dirt. We should be able to brush it clean like most animals does. After all our
apparels are supposed to be second skin.
Could we not develop utensils that repels grease
so that it needs little or no water to clean them?
Can we not make grease trap mandatory in our
houses and not limit those to restaurant kitchens.
Our bathtubs could come with dedicated meters
built into its body that would measure every time it was filled and charge us
at a higher rate.
Why can we not make the tap water potable and
ensure that the plumbing network is sanitized regularly so that we do not
hesitate before drinking.
We can also make technology less expensive so
that we could use pneumatic waste clearance technology in our WC so that the
demand of water is minimized.
We need to plant more trees as this is the only
way to produce more water.
Let’s have #cuttingpaani with a pinch of salt.
Hello,
I just signed the petition, “#CuttingPaani” initiated by #Livpure. I think this is important us and the coming generations. Will you sign it too?
Once again they met today. Few hundred meters from
the crossroads. The area was abuzz with morning activities as usual. He was ahead of
her but when they looked at each other the earth seemingly stopped rotating for
a moment.
He took his Cartier shades off and she removed her Gucci.
The eyes did all the talking as the RJ played a romantic song on the local
station.
Silently she said, “I
will follow you wherever you go“
He pleaded “Please do
not let anyone come in between us “
Selena Gomez went on …
I've been set free
I am hypnotized by your destiny
You are magical, lyrical, beautiful
You are...
And I want you to know, baby
They went up to the traffic lights and stopped again both eyes
fixated. Then the signal went green.
But he was a bit too fast and she could hardly keep up with
the speed. Distance grew between them and some other car came to fill the growing
space between their cars.
He went straight ahead while she took a right turn. At the
next signal he felt lonely as her eyes were no longer present in his rear view
mirror. Eyes became moist and he put back the shades ….
Ron was happy to be back in his city during the
season of festivities. As he navigated through the now infamous Traffic Jam,
old memories started to show up at every turns.
It was not too long ago that he was that angry
young man who at times felt like a rebel without a cause. He was going through
a difficult time trying to keep up with the whims and fancies of the rebel
within him and that upset him even more.
Usually fellow students avoid such characters,
more due to stern instructions from doting parents than by choice of their own.
But Ron had a different shade too, he had the capability to bring comic relief
to serious situations. In addition to being annoying, he could recite, sing and
pull out a fast one on almost anyone. The folks knew he would flip a sad moment
into a celebration even before the tallest hand could make a trip around
the face of the clock.
Path leading to a career of choice was not one
adorned with rose. On the contrary it was a challenge. Once at the
dinner table, he mentioned matter-of-factly that he would like to be a stand-up
comedian. Dad’s reaction was quick with the signature sarcasm,
“Splendid idea! I shall definitely cherish
being called the joker’s father”. No one came to his rescue nor was in a mood
to listen to his argument.
Next morning he took it up with Ann hoping to
find support or sympathy. “Complete your engineering and then pursue stand-up
comedy.” His girlfriend promised “Baby! No matter where I would be, I shall
pack my suitcase and come running to attend your first show. I am aware
that Jerry Seinfeld had made it big but it takes many a failures to get one
Jerry.”
The car stopped at the signal and he
contemplated how difficult it was to motivate a person who was as disillusioned
as him. He remembered the words of his favorite teacher. “Ronbir”, she
had once said “get good enough with anything and someone will pay you to do
it”.
He looked up that the billboard right in
front of him and said… “How true she was!”
We form a cusp generation, as we
started treading the cyber path after we graduated from a teenager. Not too
late, but it was not too early either.
Long distance calls were
exorbitantly expensive and the known way of communication was through letters. Phones
were meant to be used in case of emergency or to deliver short messages like …
“I reached hostel safely.”
Message was not the only interesting
aspect of letters, it was the entire Jing bang. The pen pals, the paper, ink color,
handwriting and not to forget the precious little things on the cover… the coveted
postage stamps. I enjoyed every aspect of this process and it’s not only stamps
I collected, I also treasured many a letter.
An artist friend managed to remain untouched
by computers creating an opportunity to communicate through lengthy personal
letters. Not frequent, but immensely satisfactory feeling, nevertheless. An
email announcing the receipt of my letter last year brought down the last
bastion of letter writing.
On a train to London in December,
we witnessed travelers writing festive cards like our olden times. Like London
city, many traditions remained preserved, I explained to my daughter.
We decided to send our personalized
cards around the world. A first time experience for our daughter to buy stamps,
affix those before dropping them off.
No one chose to send back a card. But
undeterred, I shall trying again to revive this old tradition.