LATEXITES STRIKE BACK
A SHORT STORY BASED ON AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE WITH A TRANS-BOUNDARY SCENARIO - THIS STORY WON ME THE FIRST PRIZE IN AN INTER-COLLEGE STORY WRITING COMPETITION
Latex, or latex rubber, is a milky fluid found in 10% of the flowering plants and trees – but this WAS the case on Earth which had long passed. “Latexera” - one of the 57 planets of the Sombrero Galaxy - had got its name from the people living in there, called the Latexites. They were so called because their birth had taken place from the rows of cells laid down in the meristem of the stem or roots of the rubber trees, Castilla elastica, found in abundance on this planet. In fact, the whole planet was 87% covered with these Rubber and Poppy trees with the rest to be spared for the Latexites to seek shelter, food and protection.
It was the year 2154. Nothing was left on our planet Earth except for the huge edifice concrete structures and the so-called human figures. I say so because though they seemed to be living physically on this planet, they had become so mechanical by nature that feelings or emotions did not have a place in their lives. Their love for Mother Earth had already begun to descend – little knowing what was kept in store for them in the future. As the years passed by, the oxygen levels over the Earth started depleting drastically, having a draconian effect on the Earthlings. Their nature of dereliction towards Mother Earth had defaced the planet and hence were the impending after effects. Scientists from all over the world had left no stone unturned in finding a solution to this menace which had engulfed the whole planet, but in vain. World Environment Conferences, Summits, Eco-friendly treaties and G-56 meetings were held wherein governments, world leaders and scientists sat together in order to come to terms with the situation and find alternatives to eradicate this problem once and for all.
Dr. Frederick Höchler, one of the renowned scientists from Germany, after a strenuous, back-breaking research and labyrinthine calculations, had found “tree” life on the planet Latexera. This good news was shared with one and all. The United Nations, with the Governments’ and scientists’ consent, unanimously decided to provide financial aid in order to build a spaceship-cum-tree carrier, “Treejack 707”, wherein trees would be cut and uprooted from that planet and placed in this tree carrier attached to the spaceship. The earthlings had finally decided to “import” these green living creatures in order to give birth to the same on our planet through its cells. Within four years of laborious and extreme hard work, scientists were successful in building a spaceship of such a kind. In the mean time, 24 highly skilled woodcutters were given specialized aeronautical training so that they could accompany the 7 astronauts on board the spaceship and provide assistance by cutting and uprooting the trees and placing them in the tree carrier.
After 0.45 light years, the day had finally arrived – the spaceship “Treejack 707” had finally reached its destination – the planet “Latexera”. While the spaceship was in air, just about to land, the greenery which had swamped the whole planet had left the astronauts’ mouth wide open as they were in awe of the sublime beauty which suffused the land in the form of lush green trees. After an hour of intricate rummage, they were successful in finding a place to make it land. When they got off the ship, they could not accustom their eyes to this environment as in contrast to the “concrete jungle” prevailing on Earth, they had never been able to visualize a “jungle full of trees”. The astronauts commanded the woodcutters to begin their work. Just when they were about to axe down the trees, they heard some distinct rumbling voices of discord and anger coming from a motley of people approaching towards them. Their outwardly physical appearance, as understood by the astronauts, was like some kind of a ghost – worn out and tattered white cloaks swaddled around their bodies, their faces and hands seemed to be whitewashed and their aggressive body language had sent shivers down the spine. The astronauts loquaciously tried to explain them their situation and the reason of their coming to this planet but due to the language barrier, the Latexites could not understand their justification. When all attempts to reason out with them turned futile, the astronauts resorted to the least favourable option – mass killing. In the mean time, they ordered the woodcutters to resume their work.
After 90 days of ruthless combat between the Earthlings and the Latexites, victory was bestowed upon our kind. Meanwhile, the woodcutters were done with their task assigned to them. As the ship hovered up the horizon - with its engines revving up, ready to blast off in the distant cold space - an old Latexite standing in solitude, looking up in the sky, mumbled to their God saying that such acts of inhumanity by these humans - who themselves could not treasure such immutable and eternal gifts of nature - had invaded their planet to devour their “mothers” – the trees - in order to quench their thirst. His anger had become so vicious and rapacious that it detonated in the form of a curse on the Earthlings who could in no way be able to achieve their goal - and SO IT HAPPENED. The trees “exported” from Latexera could not adjust with the Earth’s environmental and climatic conditions and hence proved to be futile for the humans - making them rot and die, absent their uncatered precious possessions of TREES……
FROM DUSK TO DAWN
A DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY WRITTEN BY ME FOR OUR COLLEGE PROJECT
O’Henry once said and I quote :
“Every day begins with an early morning bearing the essence of a new beginning. It’s the time to chuck off old emotions and grudges, to forget old defeats and pain and start off a new beginning. As the day follows, the sun gets brighter and warmer and slowly that time of the day approaches when the warmth slowly starts protruding its claws, when the last ray of sunshine takes off its veil from the grounds of earth. When darkness threatens to engulf us into intense darkness - this time of the day is known as dusk, the time between evening and night - the time of the defeated”.
Similarly in our life there are times when it gets covered with darkness and doom, with hopelessness and defeat, with mental and physical exhaustion. Nevertheless, life doesn’t ends there- we have to move on, eradicating every barrier and every hurdle. We have to move towards light, towards success and reconstruction, towards rejuvenation.
Here through this AV we will try to depict the journey of a human being from dusk to dawn - that is to say, from exhaustion to rejuvenation……
At first we see a silhouette figure sitting in a dark room with his hands folded together, his head bent down resting on his folded arms. There is darkness in the room – a few streaks of light enter the room through the windows – and what is visible is the contours of the person inside the room. He appears both exhausted and defeated.
From here we go into a flash back….. a flash back of his life. We try to visit various moments of his life when he feels exhausted and defeated…
At first a photograph of a dusky sky with trees at far appear. This picture gets dissolved into a picture of a baby fast asleep on a bed. The child has been playing throughout the day and when dusk approaches he becomes tired and falls asleep. The baby depicts a kind of peaceful exhaustion which is both saccharine and intriguing. This picture dissolves into a small green plant trying to come out from a rough hard wall, fighting with all its might in order to maintain its very existence on this earth!
Next we see a back view of a child slowly walking away with a small bat dangling from his hand - his shoulder drooping and head lowered down. He has just finished playing a match and though we don’t know whether he has won or loss (as we can’t see the expressions), he appears totally exhausted. The outcome of this match he has just played does not matter to him anymore – what he needs desperately now is some rest. At present he feels like a bunch of dried leaves… the picture dissolves into another picture where we see dry leaves falling from trees creating a kind of atmospheric serenity which help us to understand the mood of the child.
Next we have a picture of a boy in his teens – presumably studying in high school - slowly climbing a flight of stairs with a heavy school bag on his shoulders. The picture signifies both the mental pressure as well as the physical pain he has to endure. He feels like a big old dilapidated house which can no longer stand the weight of its own. The picture dissolves into a very old broken mansion standing aloof.
Next we have a picture of a table lamp whose light is falling on thick volumes of text books. The size and volumes of the books suggest he is a college student. A blurred view of a head is also visible. It looks as though the reader after spending long hours studying has finally fallen asleep on the desk. Soon the picture dissolves into a burnt out candle…
Next we see a man standing in front of an office of a big multinational company. Here again we see his small silhouette form. He appears very insignificant in front of the tall building. He feels both unconfident and insecure. The picture dissolves into the man lost in oblivion in the huge edifice structure and multitudinous crowd.
Finally we are back to the first picture from where we had started before the flashback. Here we enter into a video of that man slowly rising up to……
< Dissolving>
We have a picture of the baby playing and laughing…
Video-the man is finally standing….
< Dissolving>
We have the picture of the backside of the same child who has raised the bat and on the other hand to form a v shaped posture, his head held high in joy….
Video- the man has started walking towards the light coming from a open door…
< Dissolving>
We have picture of a candle with golden flames…..
Video-the man is now closer to the door…..
< Dissolving>
We have a picture of a boy holding a small roll of parchment tied with a red ribbon that is his graduation degree..
Video - the man has finally reached the door. A white shaft of bright light is falling on him
< Dissolving>
We now see a big squashy official chair in one of the rooms of the multinational company, the picture then dissolves into a fully grown up tree.
Video ends with the man finally walking out of the room and the white light of dawn engulfing the whole screen
This is how the protagonist undertakes the journey of his life from dusk to dawn. We can’t see his face but the reality is that he could be any one of us.
We chose this topic for our AV as the theme is reflective of the life and travails of every “common man”. We need to send the message to the masses to come out of slumber – wake up – leave the dark past behind you – move ahead in life with a positive mindset – realize and enjoy the bright light in front of us. Forget the dark Yesterday. Move towards the bright Tomorrow.
BULLYING
A WRITE-UP WRITTEN FOR A NEWSPAPER COLUMN
In colloquial speech, bullying is most often used to describe a form of harassment associated with being performed by a child who is older, stronger, or otherwise more powerful socially, upon weaker peers. Bullying can occur in situations including in school or college/university, the workplace, by neighbours, and between countries.
Bullies mainly use a combination of intimidation and humiliation to torment others like calling the victim names and stating the victim is useless at whatever they do, spreading gossip and rumours about him/her, constant negative criticism for unspecified allegations, making the victim do what they do not want to do with a threat of violence or disciplinary action if they refuse.
Bullying is very negative and creates major problems for our society. Nothing good comes out of bullying. It could very well change or ruin a person’s life. Kids can be mentally scarred if they are teased often. Even worse, they could be killed or fatally injured if the bullying gets extreme. There are many causes for bullying which must be taken care of before bullying can be stopped. T.V. violence, families in poverty, and mis-teachings are just several of the many serious causes for bullying.
Bullying does not always have to be childish play, it can be extremely violent. People may be bruised, injured, or even killed. Kids under bad influence may turn very violent. Parents, relatives, friends, T.V., music and pictures may all influence people, especially when they are depressed or are in a lowered state of mind. Violence on T.V. is a very big influence, particularly the wrestling and fighting shows. Aside from physical harm, there is also mental harm which is equally as destructive. Kids may become extremely depressed from being bullied. As a result, they may refuse to eat, become suicidal, or in return bully other kids to make themselves feel better.
Persistent bullying may have a number of effects on an individual, and in the environment where bullying takes place like “Reactive Depression” which is a form of clinical depression, anxiety, loss of self esteem, relationship problems, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide (also known as “bullycide”). The trauma and tension through which the children undergo even has side effects on school or on their workplace like disrespect for teachers, high level of absence for minor ailments, weapon-carrying by children for protection or legal action against the education authority or against the bully's family.
Thus I conclude by saying that if one needs to stay away from being a victim of such a menace, more than being physically strong, he/she has to be mentally strong and be able to defend himself/herself from such miscreants. If people are not aware of the potential consequences of bullying, they may have their lives ruined or shattered, or even worse, live to see their family or friends suffer. This bullying must be stopped and prevented before more lives are taken.
POINT OF NO RETURN
A WRITE-UP FEATURED IN MY COLLEGE ANNUAL MAGAZINE
A day after the Supreme Court refused mercy killing of Aruna Shanbaug, the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital staff prepared to move her out of her room. Ward number 4 has been her home for 37 years, where she has been lying in a vegetable state since being sexually assaulted by a ward boy, while she was a nurse in that very same hospital. The Supreme Court of India responded to the plea for euthanasia filed by Aruna's friend journalist Pinki Virani, by setting up a medical panel to examine her. The court turned down the mercy killing petition on 7 March, 2011. However in its landmark judgment, it allowed passive euthanasia in India.
Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering. The controversy surrounding euthanasia centers around a two-pronged argument by opponents which characterizes euthanasia as either voluntary "suicides", or as involuntary murders. Proponents typically consider a death that increased suffering to be "wrongful", while opponents typically consider any deliberate death as "wrongful". "Euthanasia's" original meaning introduced the idea of a "rightful death" beyond that only found in natural deaths.
Two courts heard two cases in the space of four days – in a dichotomous situation. Ajmal Amir Kasab, a terrorist held responsible for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and Aruna Shanbaug occupy completely different spaces, but this time to a scandalous imbalance of public time and money spent and more fundamentally, to the polar ways in which a death sentence is deserved. Barely some minutes away from Arthur Road Jail, where Kasab occupies an obscenely expensive cell, sprawls Mumbai’s municipal corporation-run KEM Hospital. Aruna Shanbaug has been ‘detained’ here for the past 37 years in a near-wedged and unconscious state with her small, locked room where no sunlight penetrates – being a metaphor for the state of her mind. The only humane touch here is the relay of nurses who continue to tend, cater and caress to their one-time colleague.
It was in December 2009, when the Supreme Court admitted Aruna’s petition via her close friend and journalist, Pinky Virani. Aruna, being consistently denied of the right guaranteed in Article 21, had surged the people to ask the court to define ‘life with dignity’ and for her force-feeding to be stopped. When the court sought a reply from KEM Hospital, the hospital brazenly claimed that Aruna ‘accepts food in the normal course’ and is ‘led’ to the toilet by nurses when she makes indicative sounds. The court then appointed a three-doctor committee to examine her – arguably for the first time.
On the other hand, following the Supreme Court judgment rejecting the plea, her colleagues, the nursing staff at the hospital, who had opposed the petition, and who have been looking after her since she lapsed into coma, distributed sweets and cut a cake to celebrate what they termed her "rebirth". A senior nurse at the hospital later said, "We have to tend to her just like a small child at home. She only keeps aging like any of us, does not create any problems for us. We take turns looking after her and we love to care for her. How can anybody think of taking her life?" Pinki Virani’s lawyer, Shubhangi Tulli ruled out filing an appeal stating "the two-judge ruling was final till the SC decided to constitute a larger bench to re-examine the issue".
Pinki Virani herself stated, "Because of the Aruna Shanbaug case, the Supreme Court of India has permitted Passive Euthanasia, which means that Aruna's state will worsen with persistent diarrhoea as her body cannot handle much of that being put through the pipe; no catheter to catch body fluids and waste matter which excrete themselves; lengthening response times due to a 'sinking’. But, because of this woman (Aruna Shanbaug), who has never received justice, no other person in a similar position will have to suffer for more than three and a half-decade."
