“Save our planet”, this cry gets louder and louder everyday but most of us pretend to not hear it. As I sat thinking on the lines of pollution, climate, environment et al, I wondered what would my feelings be if I were the Earth. Feelings of anguish, anger, helplessness pervaded my being and I felt that I should write down what Mother Earth herself would surely say if she could express herself.  “I am more than 4 billion years old. From a ball of molten lava it took me millions of years to cool down, in fact my core is still burning liquid. As my surface cooled down, to my delight, I started supporting different forms of life. Over millions of years, my body brimmed with trees, fish, animals, birds of different hues, of different sizes, of different shapes- those were happy days. As per nature’s law, all these different living beings were dependent on each other, and there was ecological balance.  And then disaster struck. There evolved a life form called ‘homo sapien’- the human being. And my life has never been the same since. It looks like he will be the cause of my undoing. From the time this creature was born, I have known no peace. His brain is too developed for his own good, and with this super organ he will surely bring about his as well as my destruction.  His basic needs could have been easily met from the bounty I had to offer. But no, this intelligent creature had other plans. He was not satisfied with the food I offered him and he started tilling the land. Barks of trees and hides of animals did not suffice to protect his body from the elements, he made his own clothes. The natural shelter which I provided him in the form of caves fell short of his expectations, and he constructed houses. He wanted ornaments, weapons, furniture – the list was endless.  And who do you think supplied him material to produce all these fancies of his? I did, of course! He looted and plundered me, but I did not complain thinking that as long as it benefitted him it was alright. But as time passed by, things only got worse.  For metal, for oil, he keeps digging deeper and … [Read more...]