“Let them eat brioche” penchant and a prodigal world

Scene # 1:

Lazy Saturday morning. I was attending my friend’s wedding. Ustad Bismillahs Khan’s shehnai in Malkauns raga, that is now synonymous with such occasions was reverberating in the atmosphere of the wedding hall.

After wedding rituals were over, we all were making a beeline to plunge into the sumptuous lunch. The lunch spread had almost all the types of cuisines that we could think of like Maharastrian, Punjabi, South Indian, Continental, Chinese in both vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian options…..

I was flanked by two septuagenarian gentlemen in the queue; that was waiting to take a plunge into the sea of food.

Well, we moved towards the lunch spread and I had my dish filled with many items. I was successful in finding the suitable table where I could sit and enjoy my lunch. As luck would have it I was again flanked by the same septuagenarians, Appa and Anna; we were standing long enough in the queue to know the names!!!

Even one cursory look at the dishes was enough to indicate growing body needs more calories and growing mind has a tendency to indulge!!!I

“It’s not your fault. The choice of too many has confused you. You are trying to satisfy each taste bud” said Appa looking at my platter. Rather than reacting; I chose to concentrate on the most loved task that I had in my hand.

“What a waste of food. We need only small quantity of food to satiate our body calorie requirement, rest all is indulgence. Unfortunately your generation will not understand this now, but very soon you will realize your mistake.”

“It’s not just about food, look at the young girls especially those wearing Salwar Kameez, they wear dupatta as if its necklace!!! Cloth used to manufacture all dupattas in India could clad so many poor and needy. It’s said the waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity”

Having already engaged myself in gastronomic assignment; scarcity and such clairvoyance had no place in my platter!!! I was not at all in a condition to either accept or refuse or argue; I just nodded, even managed to let slip a smile and continued my own merry way to finish the lunch.

Scene # 2:

Few days ago I was reading a piece of news where our minister of agriculture Sharad Pawar has gone on record to say that due to lack of adequate storage infrastructure, fruits, grains and vegetables worth Rs 44,000 crore goes waste every year.

This news instantly reminded me of the discussions that we had on that foodie day. As I began to ponder over the discussions, I started to agree with Anna and Appa’s comments. The waste of plenty could really be the resource of scarcity, some day. I could instantly recollect numerous instances where our behavior is absolutely profligate to say the least. Such incidences of wasting are fast becoming a common thing. The penchant for ostentatious wastage or to show off our status is so very strong that it has reached a level where it is accepted as a custom.

Customs….yeah…that reminds me of two well known customs. While one is clear waste of food the other is case of water pollution and environmental waste.

Custom 1: La Tomatina Festival at Bunol, Spain

This event was 1^st held 1945. However few hiccups and bans/prohibitions later, has become an important event in the world calendar, since 1957.

It is said, that in La Tomatina festival; around 150,000 i.e. over 40 metric tons of tomatoes are used (wasted!!!???). Once the fight is over, men and women drenched in tomato paste and roads are then washed away with several millions of liters of water!!! 

With growing popularity, more people must be thronging in for the festival to have fun; leading to increased waste of tomatoes and water.

Source: (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2204597/La-Tomatina-Bu-ol-worlds-famous-food-fight--makes-fun.html)

Custom 2: Kumbh Mela, India

The Kumbh Mela, the Hindu religious festival that has been described as the largest congregation of mankind in history, pollutes the holiest river in Hindu mythology, the Ganges.  It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik, Ujjain. Thus the Kumbh Mela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year. Ardha ("Half") Kumbh Mela is held at only two places, Haridwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. The rivers at these four places are: the Ganges at Haridwar, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godavari at Nashik and Shipra at Ujjain.

When you have around 100 million people bathing in the river, one can imagine the level of pollution of river water!!!.

As per the report, Tests carried out by Uttar Pradesh's state pollution control board found levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which measures organic pollution, were at more than seven milligrams per liter – double the maximum acceptable level – after the first day of the Mela. On that day an estimated 10 million bathed in theGanges.

It’s often said, customs are wisdom of centuries.  If these are our customs, then our wisdom needs to be questioned for sure. I am sure the future generations will definitely question our wisdom. Well the opposition is not for the customs/traditions or religion, but with passage of time, we need to be smart enough to amend the ways to practice it.

As I started to dissect the situation further, I realized that in addition to the well chronicled, types of wastes viz. biological, solid, chemical etc. one can also classify the waste in two other categories like Tangible Waste and Intangible Waste.   

Classification of Wastes 

In my opinion; needless to say, I stand corrected; Intangible waste by its very nature (incapable of being perceived by the senses) is more hazardous than the tangible waste. Just like visible iceberg is a mere 1/9^th part of the entire iceberg, Tangible/ measurable waste is a fraction of entire waste.     

Let me give you a blow by blow account of what I mean by dissecting a live example.

The delay by Pune Municipal Corporation in approving the city's Metro has increased the estimated cost of the project by over Rs 2,000 crore and as a result, the minimum fare is now projected to be Rs 13, up from Rs 8 in the earlier estimate while the maximum, fare is Rs 45 up from Rs 27.

Tangible Waste:

• Obviously the rise in minimum fare from Rs 8 to Rs 13, leading waste of public money

Intangible Waste

• Till this metro, a public transport service, is commissioned to use, people will continue to use their private vehicles. The traffic congestion at the metro rail site and bumper to bumper traffic would lead to some serious loss of petrol/diesel.
• Such ‘slow as snail’ traffic, may also lead one to lose temper and reach home irritated, tired and could disrupt the sanity, peace at home; affecting the quantity and quality of family time 

Can anything be done to avert such kind of wastages? Yes of course.

Germany has launched an initiative to reduce such wastage. 

I could instantly recollect on the real life incidences that have gone viral on the internet about how a group of young men were charged extra amount for wasting the food. The group of young men was actually given a stern warning by Social Security officer “Order what you can consume, the money is yours, but resources belong to the society. There are many others in the world, who are facing shortage of resources. You have no right to waste the nation’s resources”.

Closer home, as early as 2009, the Association of Hotel and Restaurant (AHAR) owners in Mumbai, has launched a campaign to save food in 7,000 restaurants across the city. As per this campaign, diners in the city of Mumbai have now been warned that they will be charged an additional fine on their bill if they are seen wasting food. But alas the lack of implementation of this rule is limited to the realms of law and remains on the paper…..What a waste!!!!

We can do our bit to conserve resources and minimize the waste. Few behavioral changes in our day to day life can bring about the changes, without waiting for governments to take any lead.

It’s believed that ‘Marie Antoinette’ had famously ordered "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" (Let them eat cake) when she learnt that the peasants had no bread. We are suffering from the same kind of penchant, and we are as callous as Mary Antoinette. If we are to break away from such illustrated company

• We will have to do away with our thinking that “Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness (George Bernard Shaw had said this long back)”. 
• We would have to practice some austerity ourselves so as to not waste precious natural resources. Rain Water harvesting, effective use of solar energy, wind energy should be exercised in earnest. 
• Ensure that you do not waste food, do not keep the tap running while shaving, Switch off fan, lights, air conditioners, when not needed. Such conscious little efforts in our day to day behavior would go a long way in reducing wastage.   

Hope if at least one person makes that conscious effort to reduce wastage and be less prodigal I will consider this post will not be a ‘Waste’!!!!!