Monday, November 19, 2012

As You Are Reading This...


As you are reading this, a few things are happening in the world around us, all at once:

1. Babies are being born, people are dying and many others are ill or about to fall ill.

2. Couples are parting ways and scores of others are falling in love. The number of such people is not necessarily even.

3. Mothers are feeding their children, while themselves going to bed hungry.  Children are leaving their parents in old-age homes because they don’t have time to look after them.

4. Countless trees are being cut down for the newspaper that you will read in the coming week or the week after that. 

5. Some students are studying for their exams, some others are celebrating the end of their exams.  Some kids are browsing through bookstores, while many others are glued to the latest version of their favorite video game on their consoles.

6. Plots are being hatched by a bunch of humans to kill another bunch of humans because they are detrimental to their interest. Endangered species are inching closer to extinction.

7. Gazillions of liters of petrol and diesel are being filled into cars.

8. Artists are creating art, musicians are creating new music and rehashing old tunes, writers are working on their next bestseller, movies are being made and theatre is being enacted.

9. All sorts of products, articles and things are being manufactured or built; right from toothbrushes to ginormous buildings.

10. Waterfalls are gushing down hills in all their splendor.

11. The Titanic and many other ships and submarines are resting at the bottom of the oceans and seas, along with the beautiful marine life. Meanwhile, Lord knows what is happening at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

12. Sports-persons and teams are winning and losing matches, sweating profusely, concentrating furiously, and calling up on their years of practice and experience. The next breed of sporting icons are going through their paces, tirelessly honing their skills.

13. Youngsters are thinking about their next witty one-liner or meme that will give them maximum visibility on social networking websites. Pictures are being clicked with the cell phone pointing at the mirror.

14. Investments are being made, trades are being executed, deals are getting finalized, fortunes are being made and lost in the corporate world and financial markets.

15. People are posting handwritten letters.

16. Grandmothers are knitting woolen sweaters for their grand-kids.

17. Scientists are furiously researching, discovering and inventing. Astronomers are gazing into the cosmos, trying to unravel the innumerable secrets it holds.

18. People are dying of hunger and walking miles to get a bucket of water for their family. Corrupt politicians, statesmen and bureaucrats are plundering tax payers’ money into personal offshore accounts. Citizens are paying bribes to get to the front of every queue imaginable.

19. Engineers and IT professionals are tirelessly working on designing and releasing the latest gadget or software update.

20. Civic workers are cleaning sewage tunnels and pipes, the cities beneath our cities.

21. People are making love. Soldiers are fighting wars.

22. Someone else is reading this too.

These and many other things are happening at any given point of time. The next time you feel lonely in your misery or joy, remember you are not alone.






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