I have a strange dilemma now. I live to travel but I don’t want others to travel. Now-a-days I go to places and don’t tell people about it. Reason? I had gone to Ladakh some 6 years back when there were very few tourists and no Indians. Blown over by its beauty, I recommended it to all my friends and other strangers as well. Now look what has happened. It’s becoming a mini Manali…tourists pouring over in that ecologically fragile zone destroying it slowly. Somewhere I believe it’s my fault. So these days I keep quiet.
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I have been in a reflective mode these past few days….wondering as to where we all are headed. If wheel (I personally would add tissue papers and safety pins!) was the best thing that has happened to mankind, then I believe the www is possibly the worst. Too much info and easy access to everything leads to people not valuing anything. I mean, it does make life easier….but we did live happily before that happened, didn’t we. Technology is supposed to get you closer…that’s what all the ads say. But people, friends and families are moving away. All the magical untouched corners of the earth are getting infected with humans. Too many people are demanding too many things. In the end, it’s just you and a super busy life so that you don’t get the time to think how alienated you actually are.
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Earlier I used to love aesthetically decorated houses. Now I like houses that are a bit cluttered and filled in. They feel warm, lived in. I get better sleep in these homes than clean sanitized ones. But when I get my own home, it will be neither. I am a minimalist. I don’t buy things because I don’t really need them. Maybe that’s why I like the houses in villages. Clean, white washed, bare minimum and yet so livable. Many people find it difficult to understand given that in these over materialistic times, not wanting seems like a crime.
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I don’t know how to deal with rich people. They have a different style of talking, of doing things. They have a confidence which comes only with money. Maybe that’s why we as a nation deal with the westerners like the way we do. Maybe it’s not really about the colour of the skin but about money. I wonder if we were a rich nation, would we still be in so much awe of the white skin as we are now?
7 comments:
Just chill...! Your post, to me, is reeking of arrogance. Till few years back it was just me (read elite class) and now it's masses. Well... each one has an equal stake on Earth. Spreading the word is never a bad thing... Not doing so is hoarding. Hoarding breeds constraints. And a constrained life is painful and leads to arrogance. Cheers!
heh. ok, so us poor people got there late :p
but you know, this is not just a word-of-mouth thing, its also to do with easier access, changing economic structures and so on... what i'm trying to say is that it was bound to happen, at sometime, one way or another...
and just like i dont have a problem with accessing a place, but sometimes do have a problem in the way they treat it, its the same story with the www too - what we do do with it..
not wanting is not a crime, the perspective is that as a nation, we've only recently gotten used to consumerism, perhaps there's a cycle that has to be lived through.. :)
and excellent point on the 'white skin'.. its quite a possibility :)
great post :)
Sameer: Hey!! i didnt know u still come here :-). hmmm aggrogance?? interesting. maybe yes. my point is that just like the way one is responsible for one's family...one should be responsible for the earth as well. its an arguement that can go on forever. i feel that the one of the way i can contribute to saving the ecology is to hide. convoluted yes....but thats my way of looking at it.
Manu: hahaha....u know what...i was expecting u to defend www vehemently. chah!! yes, i agree to all that u said. its a cycle but what worries me is that people follow blindly...bad examples at that. why cant they follow bhutan for ex. a simple ex. at hyper city here people shop for 5k but they refuse to pay 1 rs extra to get things packed in eco-friendly plastic bags! why cant people stop for a sec and just think.
bips
2 points.
Firstly, someone like you who thinks of the earth so much shouldnt like tissues this much.
Hankies might have been a bit dirtier, but infinitely better for the earth, you didnt have to cut forests to keep manufacturing them, one hanky lasted a long time..
In fact, one reason why the west using tissues rather than good old water to wash their bums is such a disaster environmentally :-)
Secondly, the point about white skin being given respect due to money. I dont really think so from experience. Because in our country most of the Indian vacationers are way richer than most of the white travellers, but the whites will still get preferential treatment in places like Goa for example..
cheers :-)
Nachi
nachi...consider this. if u give a person (any person on the road) a 50rs note and a dollar and ask him to pick one. he will pick up the dollar even though 50rs has higher value than a dollar. its perceieved notion. a deep set psyche. its there even in me :-)
bips
@Bips - oh yeah I still read your blog! That's the magic of RSS feeds - see you posted a new one and I remembered an old story!
Agree on the responsibility bit. No easy solution to my mind. Guess even the 'pollution' is a natural process in His scheme of things?
am tech challenged sameer...still havent figured the rss feed thingie. btw what story?? am curious now....:-)
ohh dont post here if its not supposed to...u know what i mean...
bips
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