Two Incidents

Two incidents
One of my earliest memories is that of my mother praying to the family tulsi tree. I grew up with the aroma of the lush perennial plant I later learnt was also known as the ‘holy basil’. I was twelve years’ old when my mother felt it was safe to let me into the kitchen to prepare tea for the family. She still recounts with delight my first tea preparation with a liberal sprinkling of tulsi leaves and sugar cubes.
Living alone in my flat in Delhi I decided to buy a tulsi plant for company. I simply couldn’t get its delicious aroma out of my head. Then my aunt came over and donated another potted variety – this one had red and purple leaves and smelt like heaven. My maid, looking at both exclaimed, “Why didi, that’s Radha and Krishna! Don’t you know the pair never survives together?” Indeed they didn’t for Radha (or was it Krishna?) died soon after. Squirrels and sparrows attacked it systematically spelling its early demise. The other plant continues to thrive and grow, on the other hand. I was still pouring water into the dead one’s pot hoping it would revive some day. It didn’t. I would continue to fill the pot right up to the brim rather hopelessly, I have to confess. Till I noticed a pair of sparrows drinking water out of it. Soon they were joined by three pigeons… The tulsi plant died a long time ago but it left a watering hole even as it breathed its last.
Significantly, another incident took place just then. Being slightly late to work I was surprised by the overwhelming silence at the office. A peon, who was busy dusting the furniture, jerked his head towards the north of where I was standing. I saw that he was indicating the theatre where films or slide shows related to the company’s line of business were sometimes displayed. I smote my head. Of course! The Product Development Manager had announced a film on real estate marketing in Europe earlier that week. I missed most of it since I was late. The lights came on and the Product Development Manager announced that the film-makers had a short 20-minute film they wanted to show us and that we could stay back if we wanted to.
The film had me enthralled. Entitled “Plastic: The Synthetic Menace” it revealed how toxic gases released in the air aren’t the only threat to the environment. Non-biodegradable substances like plastic pose a threat right from its inception as some of its constituents are benzene and vinyl chloride which are known to cause cancer. The devil in the pack even during production, plastic releases noxious substances like ethylene oxide, benzene and xylenes which can cause cancer, birth defects, damage the nervous and immune systems, as well as the blood and kidneys. That plastic waste around the region of 500 billion to 1 trillion is added to the earth every year is a deeply alarming reality. Environmental groups in the United States estimate that nothing short of 84 billion bags is produced in that country on an annual basis. The film showed disturbing sights of mounds of plastic choking rivers and canals.
The film being over, an eerie silence cloaked the hall. Speaking for myself, I was truly devastated by what I had seen. Coming out of the theatre I cringed at the sight of foam cups next to the coffee vending machine, as I am sure quite a few of my colleagues did too.
From the following week I started taking my own coffee mug to work. To my surprise, I discovered that everybody else was doing the same. Some of us liked to have tea instead of coffee, for which a tea-seller would be called in from outside. We told the tea-seller that henceforth we would be drinking tea out of earthen pots which were biodegradable. Money was collected to buy the biodegradable pots.
I also noticed that some of my colleagues, especially females who would do their shopping after work, were now carrying shopping bags to shopping centers and refusing plastic. I, on my part, have been doing the same since. Plastic bags in the office were also replaced with paper envelopes – perhaps not the best solution but at least a more moderate one.
One earthen pot and one film. Two seemingly unrelated incidents changed my life, not dramatically but significantly…