Tuesday, June 5, 2018

World Environment Day

My late father always used to carry a thick cloth 'thaila' to bring vegetables from the bazar where he happened to go after office hours . Needless to say that the bag used to be quite heavy being laden with vegetables for a brood of four besides my mother and himself. In a way, the bag or the thaila had become his trademark . Even after retirement he bought vegetables himself and carry them home.
For the persons who hesitated to carry thaila, the polythene bags , when they appeared on the scene , were considered a boon. No need to carry a thaila or a jhola, as the shopkeeper would himself provide a polythene bag of the required size.This went on for decades together before the environmentalists realised that polythene and plastic were not a boon but a bane- toxic and therefore dangerous for the living beings. Many a cattle got choked to death on swallowing polythene bags.
The oft quoted shlok from the Holy Bhagwad Gita
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
 न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥.
is as much applicable to plastic and polythene as to the 'atman'.
It is heartening to see that this year the theme of World Environment Day is ' Beat Plastic Use'.
Happy Environment Day !

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