After having returned from India, the first thing that i
registered in Amsterdam is cleanliness of the air. It’s cold but it is clean. In
India, forget about big cities, but even smaller towns have grown worse over
the year. First, there is ubiquitous dirt. Now by itself, India is more dry
country so some dirt is expected. The problem has been made worse by chopping
off of trees and completely ignoring planting of any new trees. Then it is the
vehicles and the sheer abundance of two wheelers on the streets, especially as
the road infrastructure for majority of the country has stuck to where it was
20 years back. And finally, it’s the burning. People burn everything, the
thrash, the tires, the wood and so on. All this put together has made the air
quality really bad. And nobody of course wants to think too much. Like what
happened in China recently, only when things will threaten to blow belly up,
there will be a change.
It seems easy and obvious. As a person, the most important things are air and water. Even food comes after. Because those two most important things are for free, nobody wants to pay attention and that is such a pity. Having clean water and air will not make anyone rich, but for me, it is basic necessity before one can be happy. In pursuit of money and progress, these basic necessities are taking a back seat but the question is till when.
