Progress Can Kill

Another lazy Sunday, with lot of mist and fog, of a cool winter day in the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore. With sleepy set of eyes, picked up the paper and browsing thru. Same news all over again. Politics, killings, failures and success stories of most of the greedy people. Nothing different from yesterday. The only difference is the news is more dirtier, more gruesome and more disturbing.

Well, three articles, one after the other, posted in three sequential pages, in the same newspaper,have made me alert and opened up eyes to the full.

“Greenpeace activists try to stop whaling”
“Progress can kill”
“Is progress always good”

In the first article the news item covers the aspect of Greenpeace teams trying to save the endangered hunch back whales. The cat and mouse rat takes place at the south end of the globe, where the GP activists are chasing a killer boat!! And why are the killer boats on such a suicidal mission? “Greed for fast money” and the money at stake is derived by killing life form that, in spite of its “gigantic size”, could never match to the cruelty levels of human being.

In the second article – as the title suggests – that progress – at a super fast pace – and with highest levels of greed – can be disastrous. The author speaks about every growth – has to stop at a certain level and achieve balance. If the growth is beyond a certain sustainable and acceptable levels – it becomes CANCEROUS!! The rule is universal and there are no exceptions to the rule. A population that grows beyond acceptable levels, money and greed, performance, etc - all follow the same rule. When corporates continue to grow, at a rapid pace, they create causalities in the form of heavier consumption of resources and there by destroying the world we live in!! So to summarize – “Progress can kill”. According to the author of the referred article – everything should slow down / stop after a desired level is achieved. For example – the countries double digit growth should happed and once the basic requirements are met and the country’s population has a sustainable life style – the economies should grow only at a level where consumption and production supplement each other.

The third article re-emphasizes the fact that what is good for one need not be good for the others. Progress to some is disastrous to others. The author of this article referred to the “progress” the British introduced to the Andaman islands. The result of introduction of “progress” was catastrophic. The natives of Andaman islands, were driven out of their livelihoods. They were brought out of the forests and brought in to “homes” in Port Blair. And the result was – unable to match to the new environment and unable to cope to the new surroundings – the 150 babies of the Andamanese who were brought to port Blair died below the age of 3 years. And the disaster continued at such a rapid pace that today – hardly – 53 people of that entire race are alive and the reproduction of the tribe has stopped completely!! In the name of progress – we the civilized – have completely killed a tribal race!

In my personal opinion – while I don’t deny that progress is good – at a non-cancerous level – we all should try and live with nature and try not to create a flawed world where everyone suffers – rich and poor alike!!

And again these three articles have reiterated my strong belief to achieve “A simple life of Sujay”

Cheers and GOD bless all!!