went surfing news 4 a change after probably months and came across an article of how in Sikkim people are protesting against the construction of a big hydro electric power station by going on a hunger strike and its been 40 days already...government is getting pissed, like excuse me who is the one going hungry and dying and who is getting angry am i suppose 2 eat in this world just 2 keep you happy, even if you give me a world i hate and don't want to live in am i still obliged 2 follow your order of keeping myself fit 2 work 4 u...now even my body is not mine, my right 2 live was taken away long back now my right 2 die is being questioned 2...
so here was the mail i sent ---
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927284.stm
what will the 2 billion rupee revenue bring to the people whose life looses meaning as a result of this greedy endeavour...and all i can do is send mails....maybe its time to just kill myself or loose the sensitivity of living...
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to this as one would expect (though the mailing list was shortened to reduce the number of following kinds of reply) i got one following response - >
In this case, don't you agree with the "power needs" argument? I know that we have too many people on this planet, and especially in our country (to allow each one to live with dignity), but now that we do have them, we need energy to sustain them. This dam gives us that, if at great cost.
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my response 2 that was -
dude i dont care about ne ones power needs..am in US rite now and cant c how all this power gas suvs have made people happy...this place makes me feel sick and sadly india is no different today...
i dont think u have the slightest idea about what is happening in india, and there is no way u can after all how much time have u spent there...
but i like 2 travel on my bullet (which runs on petrol never the less taking away my right to protest) have not done 2 much as yet other then kerala/karnataka/rajisthan and shiva (i guess you remember him in your last to last visit) travelled through chamba valley (a very remote part of himachal) during his 2 month long bullet trip across india and he did give some first hand reports about the affect of mad killing of nature and how it devalues the life of people living there..
brazil has fucked themselves making dams, so has china india is not far behind...it is shocking that people are so ignorant that even after all studies and research has proven big dams to be nothing more then man made disasters greedy contractors politicians for their selfish interest continue this shit...
and 4 whom is this power, have u ever lived without food 4 a single day...can u imagine the determination of some1 fasting 4 40 days
i guess what we need to admit is that there is no one rite way 2 live...not every1 wants ur electricity power good roads cars resorts five start hotels dental care bath tubs golf courses burgers healthcare iphones wifi mattersses ferrari...and other shit, people in olden days lived pretty healthy till 100+ years age with no convulated healthcare drugs doctors
if u feel so strongly go on a 50 day fast for the construction of the dam...i can assure you even if no one notices your sacrifice 4 the upliftment of the mankind you will learn a lot of new stuff about urself and it will b a rewarding experience...
my frustation stems 4m the fact that after knowing all this am still a slave 2 this lifestyle and have 2 use electricity wifi...
so then mayb ignorance is bliss and who cares if mankind will destroy the planet, i c that too as divine will...we are not the first species 2 do that and its by far a non event in the bigger picture...
but i empathize with the frustation of people who are asking for nothing more then a little space that they call their home...but sadly they dont have the nuclear weapons to destroy nations nor stomach 2 play mind games on a mass scale so mayb their oppinion does not count
5 comments:
continuing with the debate here is the response -
I'm not suggesting that SUVs, or indeed air-conditioning, heating, cable TV are necessary for happiness. However, they may be necessary for life. There are parts of the world which people, especially the young and the old would die, if not given a comfortable temperature.
Moving on, let me emphasize: a single human being wouldn't be able to survive. So a few come together. They pose threats to each other, and hence have specialized policing. (and other specialized occupations; not everyone knows how to cure a diseased tooth, or build a bridge or a dam, or contemplate the universe) They face external theats, from other communities, and come up with a military force - starting off with big men with clubs, to women flying stealth jets equipped with nuclear missiles. A lot more comes into play - a growing population, food procurement, choice of crops, living together in cities in a cramped space, trade-offs between long daily commutes and access to a garden. Big bad drug companies create drugs which save lives. The community will act, generally, towards the greater good (this might not be the good of the greater number, of course).
Those people who are protesting against the dam. Would that protest have reached anyone outside that location except through a news media organization. That is no pretty thing; not truth, but interest is sought for. To support that you need camera equipment, for one thing, and telecommunications, publishing software. I'm not suggesting that these things create happiness - but they serve part of the community.
> have u ever lived without food 4 a single day...can u imagine the determination of some1 fasting 4 40 days
No, I haven't. I have lived without newspapers, television, drugs, sex, mobile phones, the internet, family, friends, companionship, warmth of the masses, meat, mobile phones, alchohol, air conditioning, religion and a car for more than forty days. That wasn't hard for me, but I can imagine there are those who would find it impossible to do so. What I can't live without - a book, a pen, a diary and time and space to contemplate the world.
Fasting 40 days? What does that mean, without food and water? Is liquid food allowed? Are medicines acceptable? To do this to explore one's own mind and body might be commendable, to make a media circus of it with a framed print of a lawyer-turned-politician above you is not far from the scheming politicians you despise.
> people in olden days lived pretty healthy till 100+ years age with no convulated healthcare drugs doctors
The olden days are over. Weak peoples get wiped out by stronger peoples, and I would not admit any moral objection to that.
What's more - you seem to think of the "olden days" as a sort of Arcadia, where everyone rose early in the morning, are wholesome food, looked towards the east with a manly look, went to their work herding cattle, came back to eat a simple meal by the fireside where one took out a harp and sang of still more olden days. There were lots of people who were butchered off-hand, women raped and sold as slaves, whole cultures wiped out by epidemics and floods, robbery, dishonesty, lack of the rule of law etc. etc.. And one ate spiceless, raw food (which might be more healthy for us, but it's better to have a choice).
> if u feel so strongly go on a 50 day fast for the construction of the dam
I don't feel strongly at all. I couldn't care less whether they made the dam or not. I care about other things - the mixing of languages, the erosion of culture, the repudiation of values done for food and the triumph of the ugly masses over what is noble and beautiful.
> but i empathize with the frustation of people who are asking for nothing more then a little space that they call their home.
I'm happy to empathize with them, but if displacing a thousand villagers means access to drinking water for ten times that number, and electricity to educate even more, then I would be open to discussing it. (I'm no exponent of "the majority is right", "the greater good is that which serves the greater number" - I'm not a democrat) There opinions have been expressed - something that might not have been permitted in the olden days - and when opinions conflict, and a middle ground is not apparent, one might have to have some opinions overrun.
>..but sadly they dont have the nuclear weapons to destroy nations
They actually do have nuclear weapons. They're Indians, right? Unless they wish to break away from the Republic and probably create another nation-state, or live in anarchy - if so, I empathize with them. If their new way of life involves eating dogs, torturing bears, making a gender wear certain clothes, not respecting my personal space, my notion of private property and right to my opinions, then we ,might have a problem, and the department of my community which handles these things might move against them, with main force perhaps.
For all I have written about the community - I do believe in the dignity of man, and the individual.
Here are the response point by point ->
1. there is no evidence that SUVs, or indeed air-conditioning, heating, cable TV are necessary for life, life on earth especially human life has existed on earth for thousands (infact i believe millions but lets leave it at thousand) without that, infact our own parent lived very well without any of this.
2. yes no one lives alone but in a society and as you mentioned every1 will protect their society just as these guys r doing by going on fast since they dont have women flying stealth jets equipped with nuclear weapons.
3. They are not protesting for 5 minutes of fame, they are protesting to continue living the way they have been living since thousands of years.i.e without camera equipment, telecommunication and publishing software.
4. firstly let me assure you if you do not have a book, a pen, a diary and time and space to contemplate the world you will not die and secondly if you have lived without newspapers, television, drugs, sex, mobile phones, the internet, family, friends, companionship, warmth of the masses, meat, mobile phones, alchohol, air conditioning, religion and a car for more than forty days that is by no means an achievement...millions of people in india alone do well without any of these and dont boast about it. people who cant live without these are better of dead, god has designed us 2 live on air food and water/shelter... not the things you mentioned.
5. they did not begin this media circus, tomorrow if they were left alone and not harassed by the indian government they would hapilly eat and refuse 2 face a camera.
6. what is the meaning of olden days are over and how are people who cant live without newspapers, television, drugs, sex, mobile phones, the internet, family, friends, companionship, warmth of the masses, meat, mobile phones, alchohol, air conditioning, religion and a car for more than forty days stronger then people who can live without this for more then 100 years...
7. i never claimed the old world is arcadia or utopia or whatever, women will be raped, hands will be cut off neighbouring tribals will fite, you can stop this the day you can stop two elephants from fiting for mating, nothing is ugly in nature wether it is rape murder or robbery, its your perception which is ugly because of the ugliness you create in your mind by creating ideals...life is life and nothing else.
but ya the number of murders will be less then the genocide we exercise today, some one might go and rape a female or stab her but no one will drop a nuclear bomb and kill millions of people...all your efforts to cleanse mankind has brought us to a stage of catastrophe so wake up!
8. what is beatiful 2 u is good 4 u, you have no right 2 tell the other person what is beatiful 2 him. they are fiting for their beatiful world, a handful of people who are protesting for preserving their culture have suddenly become masses in this paragraph.
9. no they do not have any nuclear weapons infact their sheep and little food that they have will also be taken away from them to force them 2 work as labourers for the construction of the dam which they dont want.
nuclear bombs, police army is in the hands of the greedy politicians and generals who want 2 build the dam so that they can have a nice swiss bank account and buy new cars.
and lastly if they r masses then going by the logic of democracy their voice should b heard, and if they are a few hundred they never asked you 2 fuck like rats and make a million replicas of yourself and if you have done that find solution for that in your own land, y should they who dint fuck like rats make room for pests who multiply ad infinitum.
Aye its a sad thing to see mountains blown up and rivers clogged up. These are things that man cannot create, only destroy.
I agree that we cannot expect the society to go back to being without electricity overnight. Electricity has been important in the development of mankind, and the crowded shituation we are in now, will only be worsened if we pull it out one fine day. For example in this crowded scenario, if there is no refrigeration, I think a significant population especially in the cities would perish in a few years. There are some who might say thats a good thing...;)
But at the same time if every single person (without expecting to make a direct impact on the outcome) did his or her own thing to minimise his/her impact on the earth, it would go a fuckin long way.
I think with mankind, anything you give more, they will consume more. If you give less, they learn to live with less. If you give them enough and ask them to conserve, they will just debate and still use up everything.
What I saw being done in Bharmour on the Beas river, and what has already been done in Tehri across the Ganges is simply gut wrenching. Anyone who goes to these areas, travels along the river, and take a dip or two, and chills out for sometime on the banks, will never think of building a bloody damn.
I read the article too and thought the same...
Been watching some chinese docos and movies... a few around the 3Gorges... its not worth it...
There are are better ways... I meet so many involved in sustainable design... and recently I even went to a wedding on a nature refuge -a farm which has been given back to nature... the only human structure was the house, built by themselves... not connected to the electricity grid, it had teh computers and lights and ovens... all on solar... the wedding guests camped in the forest and the oath of bride and groom was "to be one with the world".
There is hope.
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