Friend or foe?

On one of the many photowalks I have been to, I happened to spend some time with a very talented and insightful individual named Sourav Bhandari. We were walking through the narrow lanes of K.R. Market, Bangalore that morning. It was somewhere around 6 a.m. As we walked past a broken down house amidst some well maintained buildings,  he was struck by a sudden idea. He explained to me in detail the concept that he wanted to portray with that frame that he had in mind. His vision was to portray the astonishment with which man witnessed nature taking over man made jungle. It was his belief that while we may consider it our right to use up every inch of land and destroy all of the environment in that process, but, given enough time, nature would claim it all back. 

That day's discussion set me thinking. This thought had taken deep root in my mind and I realised the day was not far away when we would pay for our avarice. These musings added to that day's discussion set up this image in front of my eyes. To me earth seemed like a two faced coin.

An Earth which is beautiful, lush green, life giving force.

And an Earth which is out on a rampage against all that's destroyed it....

The question is, how long are we going to ignore the hidden face? How long, before we are forced to come face to face with the consequences of our action?

Coming back to the walk, we ended up with a beautiful frame. His image bespoke of nature that claimed back all that was its own as we humans stood agape in wonder and horror.

Earth is just another one of many things that we humans have taken for granted. We walk around, tearing and destroying it inch by inch, forgetting the fact that hidden behind its placid exterior is a violent, vengeful soul.

We never thought that we would witness the day when nature would raise its ugly head and claim back what we owed it, with such force that all we will be able to do is to stand back and let nature run its course.

This is not to be another one of those preachy articles about what we should do or what we shouldn't. Rest assured, this is just musings of a lazy mind that was forced to acknowledge the difficult times that could jump on us at any moment and take us unawares.

As someone who cannot easily emote verbally or physically, I tend to express my feeling through poetry. Those  thoughts that began with a simple discussion on photography channelised itself in this form.

Mother nature

I was mauled and lacerated by your unkind hands,

I was destructed and destroyed for your ever growing greed.

But know this you mindless beast,

My time shall come, and slowly, stealthily

I will claim back that which is mine!

You call me mother, one so caring, one so docile,

Yet you tear me apart without mercy, without fear.

But know this, you senseless, heartless being,

My time shall come, slowly and steadily,

I will grow back in strength and beauty, 

just as I were in older times!

Now you pray for resurrection of all that you killed,

So that you could exist, you could survive.

I laugh at you, for you became your own undoing.

Now I await my time, silently and patiently 

For I am mother nature, even in drought I will survive.

_________

Written and shared over an year ago, I never would have dreamt of those words coming true.

Times have changed drastically. We have been given an opportunity to set things right. Are we willing though to take it up and do the needful? Are we still entrapped in a false sense of self importance and escalated ego that blinds us to the need of the moment?  Mother nature has given us one more chance. Let it not go to waste. Let us collectively mend our ways and save our planet.

We call her mother, and just as we would for our own aging mother, we should start caring for mother nature too. She will forever be bountiful and nurturing if we give back in kind.