Today’s post is a compilation in collaboration, My reader and good friend for many years now Ashok Subbarao and I share our views in a collaborative way. He suggested if we could do a post together. And sent me his article. And I added my contemplations. So his prose and my poetry interweave in these words ahead.

Living on the Edge

Are we the cause of all the suffering
We are not only the cause
We are the reason
For the ‘State of Earth’ today.

We have breached all laws of nature
We have plundered and massacred
Not only our own
But innocent voiceless sentient beings.

Our crimes are heinous
Our ways unethical
Morality or humanity
It is completely missing.

The Plundering Humans

The continuous growth of consumerism and the insatiable hunger for more and more utilities and luxuries to fulfill the simple necessities of life have made countries plunder nature’s precious resources. So much so that humans have grown so selfish to uproot green cover of forests and waste life-giving water that nature started showing signs of decay in the form of various natural calamities. This was not an act of revenge but as an intrinsic part, nature to balance and sustain itself.
Yes, life can be lived with simple food, basic needs, and uncluttered living as the rest was provided by nature itself and that too, totally free.
However, man’s greed knows no bounds. With focussed developments in the era of industrialization and in the present age, the technological advancements to boot, man’s demands kept increasing, and these
are what a human being thinks are his basic needs.

Across the world today.
Our acts are turning violent
Our actions correlate
To the price, we all must pay!

We speak without kindness
We act without empathy
We are ruthless and hopeless.
Without integrity and trust.

Tilting natures precious balance
By our callous and self-serving ways.
Our earth has taken a toll
Bearing patiently in witness mode.

The rising temperatures across the world is a result of felling forests for newer colonies, roads, factories, offices, multiplex and what have you; thereby increasing the need for air conditioners which provide relief inside a house, but the amount of energy and power that is sucked out and throwing of heat in the atmosphere is creating more heat.
I would not be surprised when the day is not far when there would be so much heat that the AC compressors too would burst. What will we do then? But humans are so naive and adamant without care.

Man has broken every law of nature
Now nature needs to self-repair
Humankind must change their ways
Seek ways to maintain and sustain the earth.

Centuries of abuse and neglect
Nature has no time to be silent
It’s truly now or never.
Nature must begin to equalize.

Just being human is not enough
We must practice our humanity
Else the wrath of nature
Can no longer be contained

Our ways had got out of hand
Life was getting unbearable
And so beyond control
And way beyond hope.

The only solution is for countries worldwide to totally ban the destruction of forests in the name of development, introduce more public transport so that people stop buying more and more cars which emit gases in the air and encourage people to plant more trees and reverse materialism. This could be a small beginning in restoring balance, for nature will remedy itself.

Today the earth is revolting in its own sweet way and proving to humankind that if they do not amend their ways to sustain, the planet will render us humans as not just powerless, and perhaps the entire existence of humans can be erased. Nature along with is splendor accompanied by other sentient beings will reclaim their space. It is a simple way of nature saying “Hello Mankind I am alive too!.”

In the madness of being modern
The malady of our times
Values and ethics were trashed
Respect and regard were binned.

Stress and tension
Anxiety and panicking
Sleeplessness and fatigue
Plaguing the world over.

Materialism and indulgence
Hitting an all-time high
In greed apathy and indifference.
We took our world for granted.

And vis-à-vis the present pandemic called Covid-19, I cannot but remember the three monkeys as depicted in the picture. See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil a message given by Mahatma Gandhi the apostle of peace.

And it is so ironic that today, we have to cover all the three with a mask. Can we shed the artificial mask that we have been wearing for so long and promise mother earth to behave more sensibly and wisely? Probably we might be pardoned and some semblance of sanity may return to our lives.

Now nature has put humans in cages
Animals and birds roam free
Roads are empty, rivers are cleaner
Pollution has given way to purer air.

While mankind is locked down
Nature is restoring to sustain herself
Truth is its the only way left to survive!
There is perhaps no other way!

Verses by Savvy Raj & Prose by Ashok Subbarao