Back to the Future

As a working couple, my husband and I are one of the millions in this maximum city who are always on the move. After catching up with how the day was and the usual cribbing about the traffic/boss/ deadlines and other pain points, it is time to hit the sack…to recharge mind and body to face a similar grueling day ahead.

Last night, just as we were channel surfing, we ended up watching a documentary based on a very isolated tribe located on a remote island. As the documentary was more than half over, we could not catch the name of the island. We watched how the tribals lived. They had very clear-cut roles… the men had to go hunting, the women folk took care of home and hearth and the family, the children played joyously while the elders supervised all the activities. They lived a very self-sufficient life; the forest provided them with all their requirements- food, wood, fuel and shelter. They blended so beautifully with the ecosystem that there was no danger to Nature. They looked blissful and content.

Watching this, my husband remarked, “They too are humans like us, they too are fulfilling all their needs and wants. Why is it that we have complicated our lives so much to fulfill our wants?” Sleep was forgotten as the debate started. Questions and counter-questions started flying back and forth- “Are they happy without cars, TVs, computers, etc?”, “We have all that and much more- are we happy?”, “They have to struggle for everyday needs”, “We lead such stressful lives …isn’t our life also a struggle?”.

  After a lot of discussion, we could not arrive at any conclusion. But the thought kept wandering around in my head- “Why have we complicated our lives?” 

I recalled a radio interview of a vegetable vendor who was speaking about the soaring vegetable prices. He had been in the business for more than 40 years. Till a few years back, Mumbai could produce its own vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, beans, etc in the fertile belts of Vasai- Thane. This helped in keeping the prices low as dependency on Nasik/ Pune and other supply centres was not much. However, with these belts now being turned into mass housing schemes (scams??) all vegetables have to be outsourced. Pune and Nasik too are turning into mini-metros and most of the farmland there has been converted to housing. So the areas of vegetable procurement are going further into the hinterland, making it an expensive venture.

What is the solution? Back to Basics! Grow your own vegetables in your balconies, gardens, compounds…this is no exaggeration…this is the picture of the future! We may have all the gadgets in the world, but can we eat them? So it is back to satisfying the lowest needs- food, clothing, shelter.

In the Eastern philosophy, thinking is not linear like the Western philosophy, but more cyclical. So, what begins must end and what ends must begin afresh. Maybe, it is payback time to Nature for all the atrocities committed by us and soon we may have to learn to live like the tribals- don’t laugh, it could happen sooner than you think.