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 1st 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 1/9th 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.
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’!!!!!
