SWAMPED by an eerie darkness wreaked by Ravan with his barbarian rule, Mother Earth kept pleading to Lord Vishnu for a divine intervention. The world was reeling under the excesses of the Demon King. Soaked in blood of the innocent and harried good men, Mother Earth’s cry for help eventually forced Lord Vishnu to take things in own hands and Lord Ram was destined to take ‘avatar’ for the sake of ‘dharma’, ‘shastra’ and ‘loka’. A divine intervention became the saviour of Mother Earth in the Treta Yug. The Mother is again crying for succour, desperately seeking another divine help to rein in some selfish humans who are bent on skinning her.

 

In the process, they are robbing the fellow beings of little joys of life. There is bloodshed in the form of pollutants, muck, plastic and utter rubbish. They are playing with the future of Earth, a deadly future full of machines and concrete. This time the excesses are different but no less demonic. But this time there is little resistance. All that pervades on the fast-turning brown patch in the universe is criminal indifference of humans towards the culprits. No one is ready to take up a fight. Environment is not even the primary consideration for people. Global warming is a looming threat but not an imminent danger, is the general sentiment. Skimming of green cover is a “need for a developed future”. Nothing is making a difference.

 

Only a few are aware of the real dangers of the warning. For others, plastic is the most handy item to carry things. Who cares about the havoc it causes to the ecology. Mother Earth keeps revolving, haunted by the gradual loss of her natural beauty. Will there be a new ‘avatar’ to wipe out this forced darkness? Or will humans finally summon their inner strength to erect resistance? There are still no final answers. So, another ‘Earth Day’ has come with another reminder. It has come with a call to muster courage and protect the world around us; our own world bestowed with wonderful pleasures, little walks in the nature, places of seeking solitude, points of having silent dialogues with self, and the most-awaited petrichor that still holds a bumper power of tranquillity. These pleasures are absolutely free. It is the benevolence of Mother Earth for her children, for generations. Let us not let selfish men or greedy interests skin our world, its riches and its romance. Resist the thugs, for, the power of resistance unfailingly carries a divine power. n