In harmony with nature

SURAT, July 19: After AIDS, one issue that is most seriously debated and deliberated upon is the rapid degradation of the environment. Co...

SURAT, July 19: After AIDS, one issue that is most seriously debated and deliberated upon is the rapid degradation of the environment. Committees, sub-committees, high powered committees, commissions, are being set up to ensure that 8220;humankind lives harmoniously with his surroundings, those breathing or otherwise.8221;

Here are few interesting instances of people 8220;living harmoniously.8221;

This chap is a manual labourer, who spends the entire day, either mixing cement, resurfacing the roads or the like. Dusk arrives and he is drawn to that magical brew having no artificial flavours or ingredients. And by the time three potlis are down his throat, he is one with environment. How? Let8217;s see. With the open sky as his roof and the footpath as his bed what better way then to rest in nature8217;s lap.

A stroll down the Gandhi Baug footpath in Makkai Pool area after dusk also presents a variety of sights.

Consider this. A poor man, ragged and starving, is having his evening meal seated on a gunny bag big enough just to accommodate him. Beside him are two dogs that are as lean as he and believe it or not all three are sharing the meal. When one8217;s return, one finds all the three fast asleep, snuggling close to each other to keep warm with just a bough overhead to ensure that they do not get wet.

Nearly half of the city8217;s population, who live in slums scattered on the outskirts and along the river bed, are actually collectively 8220;living harmoniously8221; with nature. No diapers, no posh bathrooms and toilets and thus no non bio-degradable substances are used by them. All that they have to do is pick up a tin and walk up to the river bed or the creek as the case may be and that8217;s all. Either the soil is made a little more fertile or nature cleans up the bio-waste 8211; the Arabian Sea being the recipient.

Others do an even greater service. They just don8217;t bathe or wash for months together, thereby saving precious natural and manmade resources of the country.

These less privileged people are the most environment-friendly. With no vehicles emitting poisonous smoke, no factories discharging hazardous solid waste, they are actually 8220;most harmonious with nature.8221;