The seer

The world that was for a long time concerned only about economic development has  now started to show real concern towards global warming and climate change. Well, the reason is obvious; the signs of irreversible damage done to the environment is beginning to unwrap itself and the situation has now become ‘ its now or never’. If the focus of the 18th century was colonialism, the 19th century was all about economic development and competition. The need to amass wealth led the countries, industrialised ones in particular to focus on economic development showing no regard to the environment. We are now paying the price in the form of Global warming.

Global warming is not just a big problem, it’s a gigantic peril facing humanity. In October 2009 the government of Maldives held a cabinet meeting underwater to illustrate the stark reality facing the nation. Yes, Maldives is slowly sinking in to the Indian ocean. Due to the rise in sea levels many islands like Maldives are slowing going under the ocean.

Not just the Maldives, increasing climate change could lead to a  disastrous crisis for South Asia, a BBC News study said that if global temperatures rise by about 4-5 degree Celsius in the course of the century — as they are projected to — the South Asian region could face a wave of migrants displaced by the impact of climate change.

Millions of people now live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in what are called low elevation coastal zones. If sea levels increase, millions of people will become homeless. The entire of Bangladesh will be flooded in water. The study said that the Indian coastline is also extremely vulnerable. Several large cities within the low elevation coastal zone like Mumbai, Chennai and kolkata will go under the sea if the present growth rate of greenhouse emissions continues. Cities like London, Tokyo, New York and many across the world also face the wrath of the oceans.

The consoling fact is that most countries have woken up to this threat. Even the US which until recently downplayed global warming has accepted that immediate action is needed to tackle this situation. The importance given to the recently concluded Copenhagen summit received is proof enough. The Copenhagen accord though has generated mixed responses, it is atleast a step taken. But one major criticism for this accord is that it has not been fair to the still developing countries. Two countries, U.S and China are together responsible for more than 40% of the total Carbon dioxide emissions. But the accord does not place any legally binding emission cuts on these massive polluters and other developed countries. India is responsible for about 5.5% of the total Carbon dioxide emissions mainly due to its high population. However, when per capita emissions of Carbon dioxide are measured, it will give the relative proportion of emissions. Though India ranks 4 in total emissions, when we consider per capita emissions, India ranks at 139 among 200 nations.

However, we cannot take this as an excuse, whether developed or developing, all nations have to solve this problem together. And as an individual you and I have to do our part. We have to work towards reducing our individual carbon footprints. Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, product or a organisation.

The number of hours we drive our vehicles, amount of paper we use etc are all contributing to our carbon footprints. Countries and organisations are already doing a lot of research to manufacture products that are as eco-friendly as possible. More organisations are moving towards environmental friendly policies. We as individuals can do our share in reducing our carbon footprints by being responsible and avoiding wastage of resources at every opportunity possible.

Calling ourselves an intelligent species, we humans have not just put our future at risk but also the many species of animals and plants at risk of extinction. It is our responsibility to correct this mistake and make this planet liveable for all living beings in future.

Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world. - Richard Branson

The trip to kozhikode was very satisfying. Though the real purpose was to attend an interview at NIT calicut, the next day I spent at the Tusharagiri waterfalls was the best. My interview was on April 08, 2009 and my friend Vijay was accompanying me.

My train West coast Express was scheduled to depart at 11.30 am and we almost missed it by 5 minutes, thanks to the MRTS train from tidel park that tested our patience. The journey was not at all boring, considering my friend vijay whom I consider an extreme extrovert. Taking fun of people in the train and the chicken briyani that I brought along made sure time sped fast. We reached Kozhikode station at 1.00 am and set to look for a room despite advices that it’s not that safe to go around this time. Luckily we got a room in Hotel calicut heritage with the help of an auto driver and I got ready for my interview. The interview was good if not great and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I actually thought that the interview would get over before 1 or 2 pm in the afternoon, but it stretched to almost 7.00 pm. Unluckily I was the last candidate in that batch. We had to wrap our plans to kappad beach and decided to hit kozhikode beach which was just 3 kms away. We decided to have food at a very good restaurant whose name i dont remember, it was just opposite the beach and they serve, Arabian, chinese and traditional food.

We decided to try our some Arabian food and ordered a plate of Khuboos and Chicken shawarma. Khuboos is made with maida and is thicker than a naan but softer than a roti. It has a wafer like thick layer in the middle and thin layers of maida on the outside. We choose Chicken shawarma despite warnings from the waiter that it’s non spicy dish. Eaten with mayonnaise, it turned out to be quite good. Then we ordered a plate of Garimeen, a large fish fried with its fins, parottas and a plate of garlic chicken. We ended with a 4 scoop icecream called titanic. All this costed Rs 350. Quite cheap, considering this might have costed the double in Chennai.

Next day was the trip to Tusharagiri waterfalls. We missed our direct bus @6.00 am and had to travel by 4 buses and a jeep. We came to know that there is a hotel just outside the entrance that is famous for its non vegetarian dishes especially duck and rabbit. We placed an order for a duck gravy @Rs350 and hit the falls. There are three falls, falls1 is most easily accessible but you have to climb up the hills to get to the other falls. We got  Santo thomas as our guide. Its better to have a guide if you are planning to visit the falls up the hills. We took a bath in the falls1, the water pouring down the hill was fantastic and clean. But the water that’s stagnating nearby is dirty and infested. It seemed that not many people bath in the falls1 and the rock under the falls was very slippery. After almost an hour under the falls, we decided to climb to falls2, climbing the hills with a large bag on my back was very tiresome, only if I had found a safe place to leave the luggage.

Under the falls

The view up the hills and everywhere we travelled was green and blue to the eyes. No wonder they call Kerala ‘God’s own country’. Our return train to chennai was at 8.00 pm and we wanted to reach the station atleast by 6.00 pm.

We hit the hotel anxious and also doubtful if we would be able to digest the 1.5 kg duck we were promised. But we disappointed when the duck we were served was less than half a kg. we asked Robin at the hotel who explained that this was left after cleaning the duck. We started the feast, though with a slight disappointment. I was tasting duck for the first time and was kinda doubtful how it would taste, but it tasted great with roti. We actually wanted to have more of it. Then we ordered a duck omlette and a kerala meals which tasted super great with fish gravy.

Yin-yang turkeys

We also wanted to hold a duck for a photograph and Robin asked to try catching one ourselves. So began the duck chase. With, all the ducks running around, I finally caught one and we exchanged poses with the duck. We were supposed to the hold the duck by its neck and it was really scared and was screaming making sounds like donald & daffy, which made me feel kinda bad.

The duck Hunter

With the help of Santo thomas we got a jeep to Adivaram from where we got a direct bus to KSRTC. We bought some alwa’s and chips @ pallayam and got into the train ontime.

The only thing that was missing was time, there were so many places to visit and we just didn’t have the time. We could not afford time for our camel ride in the beach, an ayurvedic massage and a boat ride in the back waters. May be we should plan another trip for atleast 4-5 days. Another good thing about this trip was that we made quite some friends. The advantage of having an extrovert as a friend is that you would either end up meeting some old friend of his or you will make new ones easily. We met Farooq a bus conducter from trichy who knew Vijay’s friend. We made friends with Santo thomas, who promised to make arrangements for an accomodation the next time we visit, we got the Phone numbers of Robin and the jeep driver who were all so down to earth. And if you can mix some cheta’s and o’s in your talk you can get faster replies from everyone.

I have uploaded some of the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/seer321/Kozhikode

I do want to go there another time with a lot of friends.

While we will be casting our votes for the coming parliament elections next month, there is another vote we have to cast. “Vote against climate change and global warming, Vote for Earth”. The Earth hour campaign did not miss me considering the king of propaganda it have been receiving. The more people take note of it seriously the more successful the campaign will become. This is what we must do as part of this campaign:

“Turn-off all your non-essential lights on March 28, 2009 from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm.”

As someone who is worried about the future of our planet, I pledge to do my part to help this campaign. I’m going to switch of all the lights in my home and hit my terrace, get some fresh air. Switch off all electrical equipments except for my fridge. and I’m going to tell as many people as possible to do the same. I’m sure what one person does-does make a difference.

If this campaign becomes a success in our country, we are going to prevent hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Here are is interesting information about the energy saved because of Earth hour 2008.

For more information about the Earth hour campaign visit (http://www.earthhour.in).

Vote for Earth