Short'er' Stories of Strange Love


He told her to wait for him, she wasn’t that dim. He wrote her many a letter, she just slept with someone better. Waiting at the station he planned his future, then he saw her with another man and in him grew a creature. He walked up to them and she feigned surprise, but he saw her disguise. He looked her in the eyes and waited for an apology but it didn’t come and his head became foggy. In disgust he boarded the nearest train, while his wife waited outside the station in vain.

In the 3 stooges, he was a stooge... She worked at the Moulin Rouge. Together they defined unusual, their glamour under stated, they lived lives that were frugal... When she walked the streets, he hid in the shadows, on stage while the crowds cheered him, she measured up her foes... Jealousy walked in and it ended in denial and refusal... Now their love was no more unusual.

Jailed for a crime he believed he did not commit, he finally got his justice... He would sit in the dark and think about her and their last kiss... He would torture himself wondering where it all went wrong... 12 years since he had met her it had been so long... Walking out of jail he remembered her sweet voice sing, looking around he waited for her while he fiddled with his ring... Then she appeared with beauty in every stride, she still looked like a newly wed bride... They held hands and walked into the sunset, promising to pay off every cent of their love’s debt.

With the gun at his head he searched for solace, while his heart raced at an ungodly pace.. He remembered all the times he imagined this day, his mind argued and fought with him to pray.. He couldn’t understand why there was this ungodly pause before his end, maybe he had to reconcile with himself before he took the next bend.. He looked up into her eyes and saw the memories and the love disappear, until he heard himself say “Just end it Dear”.

The crowds cheered the return of their hero after so long, as she ran along his horse reminding him of their song.. She had waited and always knew he would be back, in his absence the warmth and love she did lack.. As she regaled in the victory parade, she saw the love in his eyes had begun to fade.. As he reached the city square he waved his blood covered sword to the crowd, and on it was her lover’s head with all the love sucked out.

The Business of Creation



All that is created is by Him we believe. But I guess its safe to assume that even he has a process to it. Life in a B-School teaches you that all that exists or moves has a framework supporting it and a whole load of research backing it up or else there would be no prudence in believing in its existence. So let us take this thought a step further and explore how God creates a human being. Reliable sources tell me that God has a focus group up there that does all the thinking and gives him insights into his next creation keeping in mind existing products and prevailing market entry strategies in place. Even though God is a monopolist in the human being creation process, he still believes in strict quality control and due to increasing demographics which he has to cater to, he has adopted the ‘Just In Time’ ideology from his Japanese creations.

Business intelligence provided by one of my strategic partners have given me an insight into the creation process adopted by God along with a focus group, a technique he has adopted from marketing research firms and ad agencies on Earth. Apparently he was quite impressed with the way his many earthlingsTM have evolved and in an effort to integrate human competencies with celestial innovations, he has begun a new approach to his creations.

To get the best out of his production cycle he has reduced it by a few steps thereby reducing costs and designing an extremely cost efficient system. The use of focus groups in deciding how the ‘new person’ must be is a positive step in the person development cycle as it helps glean consumer insights into the development process. These focus groups have been decided keeping His ‘global delivery model’ in place adopted from one of His favourite companies ‘Infosys’. This model allows him to decide on a focus group keeping in mind that his ‘person’ maybe launched in any market as determined by his ‘Delivery’ team and the market or customer who is in the right position to receive it. This approach has been ratified by the in-house research team and the ad agency that has taken the job of moderating these focus groups. No blind tests are allowed in these focus groups as the ‘person’ is too sensitive to such judgements. The ad agency has been working towards finding customers for the ‘persons’ created and this is a long drawn out process which begins nearly a year in advance or much more in normal cases. The ad agency is paid only after the client enters the final 9 month ‘person purchase’ window and is eligible for a further 20% commission in the case of ‘persons’ instead of a ‘person’ being acquired.

The focus group keeps changing as and when a new perspective is needed and if the focus group approves a ‘person’ which turns out to be a failure in the market. Case in point being ‘persons’ like Osama Bin Laden, George Bush, Mayawati and the likes. These ‘persons’ have been huge failures and case studies are being designed to understand what went wrong with these ‘person lines’. The entire category was disbanded but due to rampant counterfeiting, many more such ‘persons’ made it to the market like, Dawood Ibrahim, Lalu Prasad Yadav and the list goes on. To counter this problem consultants from ‘person development and integrated improvement’ consultancies were brought in for big bucks and they analysed existing markets, past markets, created revenue models, SWOT analysis, developed Aaker’s Brand Identity models for existing and future ‘persons’, developed a BCG matrix to understand the current available ‘persons’, spent some more bucks and finally submitted a comprehensive report that stated that:

‘Person lines should be altered to a point where the overall corporate strategies can be in line with business strategies to orchestrate a flank attack on counterfeiting to further improve the overall productivity and reach of the ‘person lines’ and promotional strategies so that consumers may differentiate ‘persons’ on the basis of high quality standards and improved competency benchmarking which in turn will add to the value creation frontier and bring out the superior capabilities of the manufacturer who besides running a smooth lean manufacturing process can also produce new ‘persons’ which can cut across new demographics and redefine existing business practices and establish their own set of best practices.’

The consultants spent a huge sum of money and in return have given Him not much to go on. He has therefore decided to abandon the entire project and go back to the old process of development where he makes all the decisions and no focus group or ad agency or consultancy affect his thinking. It’s just Him, His imagination and the world. He decided that people should meet on their own, decide to procreate on their own and he will just provide the raw materials. He would no more be the CEO but just the Chairman and observe the ‘person’ development stage and would then enjoy the ‘person life cycle’. His only profits would be the lives He would get to see change and his company has promised daily dividends irrespective of bull or bear markets. He has shut all futures and options markets for the ‘persons’ he produces and has opened the ‘hopes’ and ‘wishes’ market. And finally in a move much appreciated by industry observers, he has gone public and much to the joy of his under writers, the offer has been oversubscribed many times over. He has collected in his Initial Public Offering, millions and millions of prayers. Profitability is high, profits are sky rocketing and the business is back on track…

Me Brit Obsession


Ever since I could call me self a lad it’s been a blighty existence. Was born polarised with me undying hate for the blimey Brits. Hated their guts and would loved to have taken each of them down one of those dirty Southall alleys and kicked some white cockney yellow. The mention of the British would wind me up like an old Geordie seeing his pet Newcastle getting the Queen’s thrashing by some lowly unheralded Conference boys. I couldn’t swallow the fact that those sorry bobs were allowed to pillage our country like some village pub. In this constant hatred for these hapless half wits I suddenly discovered a messiah sent straight from Edinburgh royalty. They pranced in shining red and no they were not that sodding Rudolph the old gaffe. These were pure blooded, steeped in Victorian legend warriors. I am talking about those lads from Manchester (not actually Manchester but from a place I call, The Temple), Manchester United.

I lost me Indian citizenship and became a tax paying Mancunian. These were no roadside, showboating, all shirt no trousers football club (Clearly referring to Arsenal). These were a bunch of guys brought together by the Queen and the Earl to pump some hope back in these bunch of no use ragamuffins who had an entire 20 miles to call their own. The Brits have taken part in more wars then they have knickers which has left them in a very disillusioned and shoddy little corner of our world. Yet Margaret Thatcher’s ghost will let you know that they have the greatest football league in the world. I aint one to disagree with that all conquering declaration or it will be ‘off with me head’. The Bar n Clay Premiership is the tight lipped white man’s best contribution to the world (considering it has more of the world than the Brits in it) and its greatest kid has surely been the Red Devils. When they walk onto that patch of green called Old Trafford, the ‘Daily Mail’ reports that George Bush actually grows some ****s, Marks and Spencers shuts down, the dimwits at the Queen’s gates actually feel something in their pits, a small village called Wortherstirtescheshire suddenly wakes up from its slumber, some men in blue across in Manchester suddenly realise all their wives are sleeping in the barn with the wrong horse, some dodgy Merseyside goons wake up to realise that they may not ‘walk alone’ but they surely’ sleep alone’ and finally in a small French village called ‘The Emirates’, an Arse (Wenger) promises to emulate the Red Devils next year.

And then as the whole nation holds their yellow bellies, eleven men begin to restore some dignity into what is an empire that has had its ‘sun set over it’. They glide like warriors would have in the days when being a King or Queen actually mattered in that island surrounded by bolshie. Young kids sit glued to their telly with Sky TV bringing patriotism into a country which still doesn’t know if its America’s b***h or c**t, it teaches kids to aspire to be something better or atleast teach that obese bloke to beat the Asian kid, who he racially abuses, in class, and not in the playground. They try to inspire a nation to look beyond WAGs, the Tories and a forgotten history to a new future where a low ass, dole collecting Humphrey Dickinson can sit up and be proud.

So stop regaling in those Russian roubles, Arabic dhirams and those Yankee dushbag owners. Stop talking about those 500 million pound signings and 600 million pounds debt. Stop calling it the best league and then recalling those statements the moment no English team makes it to the semis of the Champions League (Fulham are in the Europa league final and a mighty cheers for that), just sit back and hold that mug of beer (atleast you farts got that right) and tune into a Man Utd game, it may not always be pretty but it will sure make you want to get out there and do something worthwhile. Make your Queen proud before one of those nitwit sons or grandsons get the crown, coz then you will have nothing left to be proud about. And yeah Gordon, stop getting your pants Brown.

PS – Sincere respect to Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond, The Beatles, Guy Ritchie, Kiera Knightley, Aston Martin and Jaguar. Fiji is a part of the commonwealth still, I think. You guys may as well migrate there, save some face I say.

a one morning stand


‘Are you going to do this or should I?’
She had green eyes, a slight twinkle in them which adequately hid her deep seated despair and exploding paranoia. Her name was Tania and beneath all her exuberance now there was a silent prayer, pleading with the lord.
‘I think it makes more sense if you go. He won’t make a big deal then.’
Aakash was calm and collected. Not because he found himself in situations like these often but because he just always was. He didn’t want to overreact now and nor did he want to get all excited like Tania. As far as he was concerned there was nothing wrong and they both should just talk and the previous night wouldn’t seem that scary anymore.
But he couldn’t be more wrong.
Same old story..
Boy meets girl in an upmarket pub.. guy too smart for his pants..girl too hot for her heels..sparks fly..they dance, they drink..they drink a lot, they kiss a lot..they lose their bearings, they lose their head..it all seems fine, its an adventure..nothing to lose, all to gain..its just one night..the rest clears itself the next morning..the world isn’t the same anymore..same old, same old.
‘Really? I’m the girl and you want me to go?’
‘Well I can’t use what you need to buy. I won’t tell you to buy a pack of condoms so how can you expect me to buy these tablets.’
‘If only you had bought a pack of condoms last night or atleast one, we wouldn’t be standing here.’
The funny thing was that if they had been sensible enough to do that the previous night they would not have been standing here. Aakash would have been at work in his bright and snazzy office where he was the National Creative Director of a leading Ad agency. With three awards for his recent Nike print campaign, Aakash was on top of the world. Perspective and clarity had set in. A little haze, some smoke and a loss of inhibition had brought it upon him.
Tania was a journalist with a city tabloid which had taken celebrity gossip to not only the bedrooms of its readers but also of the people they reported. The irony for some reason, though abstract, was sending chills across Tania. She knew better than to be in a situation like this. She had warned and preached and begged many a friend to be careful of this very night and especially this day. It had all come apart.
‘There are too many people there. I am used to buying it from a departmental store where you can easily put it along with all your other stuff and not have too many eyebrows being raised.’
‘But Tania we don’t have that luxury today. We both messed up last night. We just got to move on with this and get done with it.’
She didn’t like his tone one bit. I mean a little compassion wouldn’t hurt. But he sounded like a god the previous night. How can men change so easily the moment the sun rises? A question no woman has been able to answer yet. She wished all this hadn’t happened but a small part of her thought the previous night had been magical. In his arms she felt alive again. Her job, her life and her friends made her forget reality. With him she felt real again, one with herself and one with him. Aakash felt like a guy she could have spent her life with. He was fun, extremely funny, a great looker, intelligent beyond imagination and amazing in bed. She really couldn’t ask for more but then maybe she was looking for something more and the way the night had unfolded worried her. For all her broad minded thinking, she wanted a guy who would take care of her and atleast buy her a bunch of pills if she asked him to.
‘The more time we waste the more pointless this entire exercise becomes.’
Aakash just couldn’t understand why he needed to do this. He also couldn’t believe he had been so reckless. He had been there before and he had come out alive. But this time was different. Tania was not just another girl. He remembered every moment of the previous night so vividly. From the moment he offered her a drink at the bar to unlocking the door to his house to feeling her hair in his fingers and then feeling her body in the darkness and then seeing her face in the moonlight which came through the window. He would never forget the look she had on her face at that moment. For the first time it felt so right. He had never expected to feel like this with anyone because he felt love was something he wasn’t ready to experience. Wait! Why was he suddenly thinking of all that? Solve the problem. Move on.
They finally walked together to the store and stood at the back of the 3 customers that were at the counter and kept looking around waiting for them to go. Eventually they walked up to the counter and stood in silence expecting the other to speak.
The pharmacist looked at them blankly and then looked at Tania for some reason as if he knew why they were there. Aakash laughed a bit in his head and conveniently turned to join the pharmacist in staring at Tania. Caught in between the stares Tania couldn’t stand her ground anymore.
‘ I need contraceptive pills. I don’t know the brands because I usually never need to buy them because I usually sleep with men unlike last night.’
Touché! , thought Aakash to himself but he was a little offended.
As the pharmacist went to the back of the store to get the pills, Aakash edged closer to Tania.
‘I think when you were screaming out my name for about an hour last night, I was pretty sure you were sleeping with a man.’
Tania blushed but then collected herself. ‘I guess I was mistaken now, wasn’t I?’
The pharmacist returned with a whole host of packs. He laid them out in front of Tania and without saying a word asked her to choose. Tania was absolutely baffled and really didn’t care which one she picked but then she couldn’t afford to buy something that may solve the problem and create a new one. She picked the brand which she had recently read about in a magazine.
Aakash watched in wonder at Tania selecting, frowning, cursing under her breath and finally paying. He still remembered looking at her the previous night somewhere between his fifth beer and her third vodka while she kept speaking about her job. She had this wild innocence about her and an easy charm. She could make you want to grab her and kiss her yet you would want to just sit for days listening to her. Her hands moved around a lot when she spoke, her eyes flashed wildly yet she was always looking at you. Her eyes seemed to ask many questions which just didn’t need answers.
‘We are done here. Let’s go now.’
‘Let me drop you to work Tania.’
They both got into the car and began to find their way across town in silence. Tania’s mind was still lost in thoughts of the previous night. She couldn’t believe how gentle he was. She had been with such monsters in the past who just seemed to be competing with themselves. Aakash was just like a cool summer breeze but so easily and much to her excitement could change to a devastating blizzard. He had at no point let the passion die and he spoke to her like they had been together for ages. She remembered him talking about his childhood and found it extremely fascinating that he could be so animated and so open about all that he had done all his life. He actually liked talking and listening, a rare combination in a guy. She distinctly remembered the look he had on his face before he slept off. It was like he was asking her to stay.
She turned to look at him driving and thought she could see the same look on his face now.
The roads were completely free and Aakash was a little annoyed at the lack of traffic and for once wished it was there. If only he could speak to her about what was in his mind but she seemed extremely pissed off about the events of the last night. He knew she wouldn’t be too happy with any recollections or praises for what had happened. He really wanted to take this night beyond just a medical shop and a drop to her office.
As they drove into the building where Tania worked, she looked at him for a sign. She didn’t want this connection to end with a few contraceptive pills and a boring drive. These are not the memories she wanted to end it with but he seemed too determined to end it at that. She just wished he would turn, hold her hand and ask her not to go.
As she got out of the car, Aakash just hoped she would ask him for dinner tonight or atleast a coffee.
‘So thanks a lot Aakash. Hope you have a good day and meet you around sometime.’
‘Yup please don’t thank me. Take care.’
Their eyes mingled in each other’s for a while and then he pulled away and drove while she looked for a few moments hoping for him to stop. Aakash looked into the rearview mirror for a few seconds and then saw her walk away into the building.
Their one morning stand had come to an end...

My 21 year long journey

From the peaks of Ladakh

To a tent in an ammunition depot in the dark

Under a shady tree on a railway track in Binnaguri

To walking with a wild elephant in Bengdubi


Driving an imaginary bus in Karu

Sitting in the fog of Mirik lake with a view so true

Staring in wonder at the world’s largest brackish lake

In Glenarys, the world’s best bakery (according to me) eating a cheese cake


Going to Nepal for the day just to shop

On 280 kilometres of straight road in Rajasthan without stop

In the centre of India between the marble rocks

To run 15 steps into China I pull up my socks


With no electricity for 5 days in the lap of heaven

To learning to ride a horse at the age of eleven

Living in a bungalow opposite the place Snooker was invented

To seeing a Havelock sunrise on a hammock that was rented


Laughing at the sight of two donkeys at the gates of Pakistan

To the orange tree which through the year had fruit on it in Bhutan

In my life I have seen all this and more

Never will die my desire to travel, find and explore

The P.M.Somanna stepping stone to success/distress model

No amount of preparation could have prepared me for this. Yes the internship and the project and the expectations were all in the backburner. But was I ready to work in an office? Will I ever be ready? For all of you who have read my vision statement on my blog, you must know i’m extremely pleased and surprised that you have and if you haven’t then please do. In that I have outlined how I have always intended to get into advertising. One of the many boyhood dreams of mine, what with all the guts and glory that comes with it. But then the ‘grown up’ in me kept reminding me that I need to be more serious and fulfil the wish of the MBA and pick up the highest paying job you can get. No doubt that made sense, considering the demands of the banking system (the educational loan) and the expectations of the family and the ‘heavy scrutiny’ extended family.

But today as I sit behind this desk during my internship and type this out, i’m having an epiphany. A kind of collective wisdom seems to be settling like a parasite. The question it’s asking me is very simple, ‘Can you sit behind a desk and work for the rest of your life’? I am not casting any aspersions on the work I am doing as it is extremely interesting and quite the test of my abilities to think. But with the patience of an ambulance staring at a red light, I have come to understand that this body aint made for this kind of nitty gritty which leaves me with the compelling and extremely disturbing question, ‘What you gonna do now you dimwit, impatient dork?’ If you can’t sit behind a desk and work then in which world are you going to be allowed to fulfil all the expectations of the above mentioned ‘jury of expectations’?

I begin to wonder where all these realisations are going to steer my final intentions. I look around and observe the intensity with which everyone seems immersed in their work. Such a sense of purpose and direction which reminds me that those are two things I have never had all my life. It is something you need to develop and I decided to let them go by and in the greater scheme of things it may just come back to hurt me. But being a little purposeless has always helped me not enter any one way streets. The freedom to wander into the side streets and the ‘no entries’ has kept me alive and wandering. I have never been bogged down by my own expectations because they have always been limited and I have never looked at the topper in class and stared in awe. Just some respect and move on. I have never set myself any benchmarks or milestones or agendas. It is just a combination of short term goals spread over a long period of time.

So let’s figure out a plan now. The ‘working behind a desk’ seems to have its inherent problems, the money that may come up with it is mainly attractive so that I can pay off the loan and that leaves me with the search for the job that will really make me happy. We shall use the ever famous ‘P.M.Somanna stepping stone to success/distress model’:

STEP 1 – Find a way to park my bottom on a chair behind a desk for long enough

OR

Continue work on my novel and send it out to publishers and keep my nerves crossed

STEP 2 – Learn to apply all that I am learning in school at work and figure out what works for me

OR

Assuming the novel gets accepted, then go firing ahead or energise my blog and start doing some reviews

STEP 3 – Accept reality and move on with a life that is not so bad

OR

Create my own reality and live the life I have always wanted to.

Hmmm... Watch this space.

NUMBERS

The ones i have lived with:
11 cities from paradise and hell
8 schools of learning and miseducation
12 houses lived in solitude surrounded by crowds
7 states that reinforced my belief in India
500+ classmates whose diversity taught me about people and most importantly, individuals.

The ones i let myself live with:
2 short stories - Can i write no more?
70% in 10th and B.Com - Could i do it different?
2nd list of SDM IMD - It did make a difference. Didn't it?
1 book by Orhan Pamuk - Is that criminal?
30 pages too less of my first novel - Will this be the difference between 'ordinary' and 'what can be'?

The ones i live for and allow me to live:
85% in 12th - Comfort, hard work or committment?
4 Best Manager Titles - A testament to me...
1st President of Mangalore Amateur Gavel Club - An effort not gone in vain
11 players in red - The one constant in my life
200+ pens, pencils and 1 keyboard - Given my wandering mind a place to live

a green promise

6 billion people sit back and watch the world die. We don’t sit quietly I agree. We make movies like the ‘Day After Tomorrow’ and 2012. We write books proving and even disproving global warming (Mr.Crichton, may your soul rest in peace). And then we have the ultimate show of faith, at Copenhagen.
A 100 countries came together in the beautiful capital of Denmark to mend a broken world and realign its objectives. The Kyoto Protocol only led to a rise in carbon emissions and global temperature and a loss of faith. But what happened in those years was the emergence of countries like India, Brazil, South Africa and the biggest of them all, China. The shift in power has been understated and China’s dominance underrated. The world has watched the quintessential super power, America, plague and plunder the world over the last decade only to rise from the ashes with the advent of what is, many believe, a new beginning with Nobel Peace laureate, Barack Obama at the helm of this ‘low on ideals’ and ‘high on political and moral blabber’ nation. With these ingredients in place, the world congregated in what was to be the greatest and most important summit of all time. At least that was the way it was built up and the way we perceived it. A few years ago the world met at Doha to finalise on a binding deal for world trade which fell flat on its face. But we can live without agreements on trade, but I’m sure a failed climate agreement will spell a lot more than a trade deficit. With the hope of the world and with thousands of activists claiming justice for our planet, our elected leaders sat in the jury room deciding the fate of the planet.
The papal elections happen behind closed doors in the Vatican and the doors remain closed until all the cardinals assembled elect a Pope for the world. The one minded dedication towards this process is unfaltering and has no option of another round of talks. This very protocol has helped millions of Christians around the world to believe in the sanctity of the process. A process very important for the faith and deliverance of these people. So then I wonder, maybe the leaders of our world, should have been put through the same process. There is obviously something right in the papal elections because it has never failed the world but Copenhagen not only failed but also brought to the fore some terrible realities that maybe the world is not ready to face yet.
REALITY 1
WE ALL LOVE BLAMING THE USA
For all the power it wields and for all the deeds it does, the US somehow is always the scapegoat for when things go wrong. Am I sounding a little patronizing towards whom many would like to believe are the ‘enemy of the world’? But the reality is that for all the reasons we blame the US, we just show our overriding ignorance and just how fickle we can be. As a developed nation, the US already has an uphill task of suddenly changing their extravagant ways and cutting emissions, but for all those doubting their resolve, time to be enlightened.
Barack Obama for all the criticisms he endures, is a man with a definite vision but not backed by the same commitment from his senate and his people. In his effort to pass legislation to cut down emissions in the US, he has torn the country into two halves. A majority of the youth, who in the future may have to suffer the consequences of decisions made now, are in favour of what Obama wants to bring to the table. A huge number of green activists in the US are the youth and are backed by Obama who feels that only they can take the message of immediate action to the people. On the other hand, this tough legislation which in turn charges an individual or corporation for polluting can send the American economy into a spiral because it will at its very root increase the prices of basic amenities like electricity which is produced using coal and with an increase in the price of electricity there will be a causal effect on the prices of everything produced in the free market. Therefore even though Obama’s ideas are radical, they will change the face of the US economy forever.
But for this legislation to go through, the senate must approve of it and with all the Republicans against any such move, the Obama administration is left with a political battle of galactic proportions added with the small task of convincing certain Democrats who will be letting down thousands of coal workers in their states if they approve of such a policy.
There is light at the end of the tunnel though. While the country remains divided, in Texas which is the greatest contributor to America’s oil reserves, a paradigm shift in its energy production is being observed. Wind energy is the new mantra and with the profits its bringing in, saving the environment has become profitable. One of the very few success stories but one which can inspire a nation to move ahead and be the leader they at least claim to be.
REALITY 2
CHINA: NO MORE CROUCHING OR HIDING
At Copenhagen it wasn’t the US or Europe that took charge but it was China that bullied their way through and took the mantle of being the leader of ‘the needy’, which includes all developing nations including India. For all China’s endeavours to moving towards greener solutions for its energy requirements, they still heavily depend on cheap coal to make ends meet. China has blazed a path which they will find very difficult to turn back on so they decided to take a little shortcut, piggyback on US shoulders. China used the media and the non committal stance of the US to great advantage, when they turned the summit into a joke by not accepting any of the regulations and made the US looks like the ‘bad boys’. In a closed room meeting of all the top leaders of the world, while every head of state was present, China decided to send a representative who for every idea proposed by the gathering had to call his boss to get an opinion. While Obama, Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown and other leaders fretted and fumed, China flexed its ugly power in what ended up becoming a façade and absolute disgrace to the spirit of the summit. Unfortunately, India joined China in this embarrassing display of impertinence and even though a few face saving promises were made in the end, the entire purpose of a joint effort was lost in the show of strength of the new leaders of the world.
REALITY 3
WE THE PEOPLE : WE CARE A DAMN!
Amongst all the chaos and lack of maturity shown by our leaders, we stood by and watched, not with bated breath but with the least possible concern for anything that happened in Copenhagen. We have seen more excitement and tension for the football World Cup than we have for this world saving conference. Were any of us even concerned of what may come out of the conference? Or had we given up on our leaders?
If we had given up on our leaders, then do we have a solution? Or are we atleast ready to be a part of the solution?
Maybe all of us are not capable of parting oceans but we surely can wet our feet for the planet we live in. Let’s not wait for any signs to begin work on saving ourselves. Let’s not wait till a low lying nation like Maldives gets submerged or wait for drastic weather changes. Let’s promote the spirit of going green. The government is planning to reduce duties on electric cars, let’s buy them as our ‘city car’. Ask your architect to build you an energy efficient house. Go to
www.carbonfootprint.com and see how you can reduce your carbon footprint. Take less print outs. Put off the lights. Make a difference to your world. Let us not just sit back and hope for a calling, just start your day a little different tomorrow.
Our planet will not be saved by our elected leaders, it will be saved by the decisions you make today. Let those decisions not be monumental, let them be simple and easy to implement and we will not need another Copenhagen or Kyoto. Just take the green promise today.