Avrah Kedavara

‘Avrah Kedavara’ – sounds like something out of a Hogwarts syllabus you say. Let’s see. How about ‘Abra cadabra?’ Sounds similar? No….. You seriously need to be a child again buddy!!!! Any ways, I will come back to it later.
Talking of magic, less than a century ago, when man already knew that earth was round and it was not the centre of universe, Wright brothers were just about to fly and some genius brainiacs were already digging the early symbols of Quantum theory, in those days, no one would have believed that the mortal man can have the capability to wield such immense power on nature so as change the very geography, botany and biology of it. It could have been considered magic and the people suggesting so would have been burnt at stakes in open public view. Witchcraft, sorcerer or black magicians such people would have been called.
Time has moved a long way from those days yet people haven’t. With so much of scientific proof hanging around in favor of global warming and depleting resources, it will almost be impossible to pass by without noticing it. Yet many of us achieve the miraculous feat of completely ignoring it while going around in our daily lives. It is futile to describe what global warming does to the world and to people for we live in the age of internet where information moves faster than neurons of many and is abundant than the WBC’s in human body. What is more futile is that after having so much of information around us, so much of illumination around us, most of us choose not to take sides – they neither agree, nor disagree, they simply don’t care; neither for the environment, nor for the people who are not economically or physically capable of striving against the challenges forced on them by the changed climate. And who cares about the poor polar bear drowning in Atlantic?
Coming back to ‘Avrah Kedavara’ – it means ‘I create as I speak.’ It is not just a grandmother’s way of coaxing children into believing in magic, but it very closely aligns with the philosophies taught by the religions. Upnishads say – “You are a part of the Brahmin.” Bible says – “The kingdom of God is into you.” The more you dig the more you find what they all are trying to force mankind to think – We have the power to create our own realities. Good or bad reality, will be our own choice.
The opposite to ‘Avrah Kedavara’ is ‘Avada Kedavara’ meaning ‘I destroy….’
I look at the people in shopping places carrying bunches of plastic bags and dumping them into their dustbins at home; people jumping onto lifts when all it takes is 20 steps to go to another floor; water being wasted like no one has died in Sub Saharan Africa when villages were raided by armed men in order to control a well with 2 feet of water in it. Men die, women are raped and children are orphaned when mankind chooses to be indiscriminate.
Have we been saying ‘Avada Kedavara?’ I bet my life, yes.
‘What will happen if I change alone? Others are not doing anything, why should I? Why are you doing it – do you think you can achieve something?...’ These and many more are the lame questions people face, those who decide to change for the good, change for the right. Let me ask,
Do we really need others to change so that we can reuse the plastic bags while going to shop?
Do we really need a majority to tell a shopkeeper that ‘I don’t need a plastic bag,’ when it is not really needed? Or to spend money in buying a reusable bag?
Is it always needed to ride a bike or car when your destination is only a few kilometers? Have we forgotten to ride a cycle?
Or, do we need a non-democratic government to make us educate our house maid when she wastes water while washing the utensils.
Do we really need the entire water in flush to go down the drain? How much water will be saved by a 500 ml bottle of coke filled with water, when it is kept inside your toilet flushes?
Rain water harvesting needs costly appliances you say? You can save 6.5 litres of pure water with 4 buckets, a broom and 2 plastic bags when it rains for more then 30 minutes. 6.5 litres is less isn’t it? Not really, it can keep a man alive for more than 3 days.
What else do we need? I can only wonder in despondence. Is the fear of being ridiculed more than the satisfaction of doing the right thing?
Is it not the time we start saying, ‘Avrah Kedavara’ and start creating a lovely planet? Or we start taking responsibility for everything we have at disposal, things that we do not pay for? In my opinion, it definitely is and it needs no majority. In words of Albert Gore, “This little dot (referring to earth in the vast expanse of our solar system) all births and deaths have taken place, history has been made and wars have been fought and joys and sorrows have been shared. This little dot, it is all we got.”
This little dot…..

Il romanticismo italiano

Finally, finally, finally, after a lot of maths, geography, history and logistics, we made it to Italy. Spent a day in London before heading off to Italy. The journey started from Venice and ended in Rome with Florence and Pisa in between. 4 days, some hectic travelling and a marvellous holiday. So lets see how we spent those days without a clue of passing time:

It always starts with the air and stepping onto Marco Polo I wondered if the air would smell of the ocean. There was no clue of it during the hour long ride from the airport to the Piazza de San Marco in the water bus and I didnt miss it. The pristine (almost) water and the albatrosses squaking on the poles bode a good start of the day. The water bus travelled around the perimeter of most of Venice and I got to see what I only had seen in movies till date - simple houses standing side by side on the edge of the dancing waters. They left little space between them yet it didnt seem congested for some reason. May be the prevailing serenity swalloed the send of uneasiness which possibly never existed in the first place.

I won't mention San Marco since there was nothing different with it - A piece of dying history flooded by tourists, ristorantes, road side shops selling fancy masks (really beautiful) and some locals ready to mug you at the first chance. But for Venice, I would allow myself the foolishness to think that the city was carved under the sea by Poseidon and then pushed out to the surface for the world to admire. The homes never seem separated from the sea, they just appeared like a part of it, an extension of itself that the sea would neer give away. Wife described it as beautiful, paradise and hoped that global warming would never engulf it.

We moved to florence in the evening and it welcomed us with rain. I loved walking in Florence. I trotted the narrow lanes between old buildings over pebbled streets and wondered if the Stendhal Syndrome hits me. It didn't.

A perfect line to describe it would have been 'We moved back in time,' but I won't use it since I lost the very track of time in the first place. The place was so beautiful, living yet serene, new yet old, a place where the past and the present would dance hand in hand every moment of the day. Ricardo, the hotel manager told us to visit Piazza le MichaelAngelo and he said that if I didnt see this, I didnt see Florence. I imagined that place to be a couple of statues, a fountain in the garden. But after a tiring trek (!!!!), we came to know why we wouldn't have seen florence without seeing it. It's a flattened platform on the top of a hill with a bronze statue of David (replica) in the middle. The hill overlooked Florence and from there I came to know that my assumption of Florence as another metropolitan city was wrong. Its a city sitting in the lap of mountains which on that day were hidden under the clouds that marked their edges. If we talk about man made dwellings, nothing could compare an Italian town.

I would skip the trip to Academia and rush to Pisa where I saw the Leaning Tower. Il Torre as the italians call it. There is something about Italian. It can make you fall in love with it again and again and again. Something that I didnt find in any other languages I touched. So, Il Torre, the twisted page of history which is tilting more and more as we speak. One fine day it would crumble to dust and history would be erased. History is a strange thing to me because though I never liked it, yet always believed that it tells us about our roots. Without history, human race would be an orphan - a massive civilization with no trace of where it came from.

We travelled to Rome during the day and now I am sure that the best way to see a country is by train (or by a car provided you are not driving). Having boasted the English countryside for the past three years, I now officially gift that accolade to Italy. Italian countryside is beautiful, much beautiful.