THERE IS, ALWAYS, A REASON

"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit 

in their shade, has, at least, started to understand 

the meaning of life."

- Rabindranath Tagore

At this time, yesterday, suddenly the sky turned dark, exploded with deafening thunders, and, it poured like hell... "What the heck is this? October has come... and, it's raining as if we are in June or July." many of us reacted...

The seasons have gone for  a toss... No one knows what comes next -  the winter, the summer or the monsoon... Gods must be crazy!

Wait a minute... Why drag Gods into this mess? Humans must be crazy... Gods, please forgive us!

They have declared that Aarey is not a jungle... The trees will go now... The little birds, insects, snakes, frogs, little and large animals will have to go... I wonder, where, but!

This was how man made his home, here on this planet - making plants, creepers and creatures all homeless... The beautiful buildings, in the most expensive cities, stand on the 'reclaimed' lands... And, the Nature is patient, so far! It takes just a sweep for Her to sweep the arrogance and ignorance of man away! 

If we have raised skyscrapers over the seas, let's remember, that beneath the seas are buried once-mighty mountains... and the mighty mountains stand over the once-feared seas! That's how it is... Sometimes, man forces his fellow-man to go, because he doesn't like his colour, caste or class. And, sometimes, Nature - call Her God or Goddess if you wish - forces man to go... because She doesn't like his arrogance! 

Four decades ago, I migrated from my village to this city, because I wanted to 'prosper'. Is it not many others' reason for migrating to another land? 

My friend, Naresh, is a Sindhi businessman, here in Mumbai. He has his reason why his parents, following the Partition, had to migrate from Pakistan... Parsis have their reason... The  Blacks, the Whites and the Browns - all have their own...

But, who cares for a crow's or an antelope's? Who cares for a leopard's or a python's? Who cares for a butterfly's or an eagle's? Who cares for their home?

Yesterday, while most of us were reacting, at this time, saying, "What the heck is this?", my friend Naresh penned a small write-up and shared with me. Well, he isn't a regular blogger or a writer. Yet, he, definitely, must've have been moved to write this piece... 

MIGRATION

Today’s rains have forced  me to introspect, as to why the young men and women (who in spite of being attached to their homeland in their respective villages) are forced to move out from their homes.The underlying reason is, definitely, rains.

The irony is, that our farmers's fate, constantly,  hangs on two harsh extremes. On the one extreme end, there are places like Marathwada. The farmers living here are distressed, because, they don't receive even the bare-minimum  rains. They do not have dams or ground water  to provide them enough for cultivation. On the other extreme end,   there are places which receive excess rain, through untimely and extended monsoon. This  destroys crops worth million of rupees.

In both the cases , we see loss of mental health in the youth and lack of interest in cultivation. This compels the hapless to migrate to safer cities and towns, thus leading to mass exodus. In last one decade alone, millions have left Marathwada and still continue to, as we discuss about it, here, today.

Water, in moderation, is important for crop cultivation. But, droughts and floods destroy not only the poor farmers' crops, but also their hopes and lives. The suicides, migration and high inflation are the ripple effects .

Rains simply don't vanish or come lashing the way they did last mid-noon, just like that. There is no 'just like that' in Nature's way of functioning... There is, always, a 'reason'... a meaning. Yes, why we cut trees and why we plant trees!

GERALD D'CUNHA

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