The Nature's Call

             The recent earthquake at Haiti reminds me of the 2004 Tsunami disaster. I think the more we manipulate ourselves the more we become enslaved by nature. It's not so surprising that we find ourselves gripped by nature's fury so often these days. If we talk of the past decade we will find something very interesting. Let me share some of the interesting facts which most of us noticed but very soon it faded from our memories. Thanks to the media and it’s ever increasing influence on our ordinary lives. Even the most trivial news gets all the attention, which most of the times it does not deserve.

             Probably, the last decade had been the worst in human history. The world shook numerous times due to earthquakes. It was also washed by a number of Tsunamis. Okay let me not talk about natural calamities. Let me discuss the man-made disasters which the world witnessed last decade. The wars which America waged against Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan’s nuclear scandal (when the world talks about nuclear disarmament, Pakistanis believe in sharing nuclear technology with countries which have not done any good to the humanity), the rising global temperatures, the cyber war with which China is constantly threatening even the United States, and the financial meltdown towards the end of the decade. There are many more. We have seen it all. But why am I discussing all these when I should really empathize with the humble Haitians. There is a twist in the tale.

              Nature has the answer to all of these. Let us talk about the last decade. If we remember the Bhuj earthquake of early 2001, it was just a beginning to the series of events to follow. Probably that was a warning signal. Then there was the American invasion of Afghanistan which was followed by a series of severe earthquakes in Turkey, Mexico and Alaska. As if all that was not enough, America invaded Iraq (the reason still unknown to the world) and what followed? The Indian Ocean Tsunami which killed around 2.5 lakh people worldwide and rendered many homeless. All this while we might be thinking what happened to the Americans? How were the Americans punished when they were responsible for most of the man-made calamities? Well the Americans were also not spared. Hurricane Katrina destroyed many US cities. We humans went to such an extent that we even tried to manipulate weather according to our desire. The result – the devastating earthquake of China which killed over a hundred thousand people (I need not tell you why am I talking about China; for your information: China tried to seed clouds with silicon for early rains in Beijing last year. It even manipulated with the weather to prevent it from spoiling the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.)

            Just give it a thought and the sequence explained above will fall in place. Need I tell anything more? I mean when we humans will realize that it’s ultimately the nature’s call as to how it wants to behave. And we forget one very important thing when we relate ourselves to nature. Every relationship works on exchange; exchanging love, exchanging feelings and exchanging many other things. That’s the basic premise for any relationship, be it with our relatives, friends or anyone for that matter. But we human beings, thinking that we are the smartest, forget that basic rule of exchange and end up only in a ‘one way’ relationship with nature. Be it polluting the air or mining the earth or even depositing debris in space we have actually exploited nature. And from the sequence of events described above I need not explain it to you how nature reciprocates to the “love” which we express. After every man-made disaster the nature responded with a fearsome hostility unknown to man. Probably the recent earthquake at Haiti was an answer to the endless greed of the bankers which resulted in the financial meltdown of 2007-08; and as we recovered mother nature hit us back and it was at her deadly best.

            Before I sign off, just a little thought for the poor Haitians; may the soul of the people deceased rest in peace. Plight of a poor country like Haiti, after an earthquake of such a magnitude is inexplicable in words. The rescue workers are helpless due to lack of electricity and water. Even I can’t do much about it but I hope that through this blog I reach out many who can at least give a little time to my thought; and think again before exploiting nature. Because I think it’s the nature’s ire which we are facing, to all the things which we have done and are constantly doing to it.