Harmless Human

Air is polluted, water is contaminated, crime levels are on a high, people are committing suicide, people are killing each other, animals and birds may go extinct... this was the on-going discussion in my family which I did not bother to listen. Why should I care? I have so many pressures to deal with, I too have to make ends meet, I am harmless and in no way responsible for this mess on our planet.

A butterfly which flew into my home caught my attention. It was the most beautiful butterfly I had ever seen. God may have given his personal touch to the wings of the butterfly; It was in bright orange with shades of black, blue, yellow and red (Even a beautiful woman may not have caught so much of my attention!). The butterfly slowly started taking elevation and came dangerously close to coming in contact with the rotating ceiling fan. It was obvious that an accident was going to happen if I didn’t turn off the fan but why should I do it? So I just sat there cursing the butterfly to get away from the fan. It was a horrific sight as the fan clipped one of the butterfly’s wings; the butterfly fell down and continuously flapped its other wing in pain. Suddenly a lizard jumped in, put the butterfly in its mouth, ran away to a safer place and slowly swallowed the butterfly to death. I was too shocked, all this happened in just a couple of minutes; I was just admiring its beauty and all of a sudden it got lost forever and I’ll never be able to see it again. Was I in any way responsible for this mess? Did my inaction lead to the death of the butterfly? DID I KILL THE BUTTERFLY?

If we don’t act on time then we may lose everything that is beautiful.

Blind Mind

It was promised to be a promising evening as 15 promising students each from every promising Arts and Science College in Chennai were chosen to attend a promising lecture by none other than APJ Abdul Kalam (the then president of India) on a promising event (Ok! I’ll stop it!). Some satellite had been launched to connect four major Indian universities enabling them to video conference (and whatever) etc. It was also the 150th year of existence for Madras University so important people like Karunanidhi (Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), P Chidambaram (then finance minister) came to attend the event. I was among the 15 chosen out of 2000 students from my college to attend the event (Ya I like to show-off, sometimes!). I have great admiration for APJ and it may have been an important lecture but it was very boring. My friends woke me up not because the Q&A session had started but because they wanted me to see the eyes of the guy who got up to ask a question and believe me, they were the funniest pair of eyes I had ever seen. I and my rascal friends couldn’t control laughing as we continuously made fun of his eyes. APJ was standing to his right and he was looking straight (at a girl maybe!). Anyway despite the distraction I did hear the question, it was “How this technological advancement would help the blind?” I can’t believe APJ picked this question because the answer is obvious, it won’t help the blind. I didn’t bother to hear APJ’s answer as I was busy laughing. The guy took his seat and I noticed two guys help him do it. I was perplexed and when I observed closely I came to know that the guy couldn’t see… A feeling of shame and remorse sank in and I wanted god to instantly evaporate me from earth. Later I realized how valuable APJ’s positive answer to his question would have meant for him. I can see it all and yet I couldn’t see it, that guy is not blind, I am.