PURANIKOTI DIARY – LEARNING SOME LESSONS FROM NATURE

One is never too old to learn a lesson or two about life. I found that out this month, the lesson being that you can try to run away from the effects of climate change, but you cannot hide from it: it will get you, sooner than you think. We ran away, as is our usual drill, from the heat, water shortages, and power outages of the NCR to our place in Puranikoti at April end: amidst the dense forests, flowing nullahs, and quiet of the village, we thought, we could put climate change behind us for a few months.

How wrong I was! The forests are dry as tinder, afire in many places; the nullahs no longer flow; the sun beats down on us like a physical force. For the first time in 18 years, ever since I built my cottage here, I have had to buy water from water tankers! Even though we get water from the govt. scheme and I have a 25000 litre roof-top water harvesting tank. The problem is that the water sources of the former scheme have almost dried up, and there has been no rain for the last six weeks to fill the water harvesting tank. There has been hardly any winter snow here for the last two years and all the underground aquifers have been depleted, the rainfall pattern has also altered: earlier we used to get a locally induced shower every three or four days but now we are dependent, it would appear, on the north-westerly disturbances emanating from the Caspian sea. Whatever happened to our micro-climate, I wonder?

Smell the smoke of the forest fires, sir, and the stench from the dry nullahs filled with plastic waste and human refuse. Learn from countries that are putting the health of their natural landscapes and ecology over tourist dollars. Stop the felling of trees, the cutting of mountains, the unnecessary building of roads, airports, not-so-smart cities, and the damming up of rivers and streams. The cumulative effect of all these hare-brained policies is what is imparting a local impact to the global phenomenon of climate change. Do a course correction while you still can. Concentrate instead on protecting your forests, implement water harvesting schemes on a war scale in both urban areas and the forests, limit the tourist numbers to a sustainable level, bring back the micro-climate that nurtured the state, and climate-proof the sustainability of your eco-systems. Show some vision beyond defeating Kangana Ranaut in the elections. Make your money by protecting your natural ecology and assets, not by destroying them.

Or be prepared to be taught a lesson by Nature. The classes have already begun.

Avay Shukla

The author retired from the IAS in December 2010. A keen environmentalist and trekker he has published a book on high altitude trekking in the Himachal Himalayas: THE TRAILS LESS TRAVELLED. His second book- SPECTRE OF CHOOR DHAR is a collection of short stories based in Himachal and was published in July 2019. His third book was released in August 2020: POLYTICKS, DEMOCKRAZY AND MUMBO JUMBO is a compilation of satirical and humorous articles on the state of our nation. His fourth book was published on 6th July 2021. Titled INDIA: THE WASTED YEARS , the book is a chronicle of missed opportunities in the last nine years. Shukla’s fifth book – THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER’S DOG AND OTHER COLLEAGUES- was released on 12th September 2023. It portrays the lighter side of life in the IAS and in Himachal. He writes for various publications and websites on the environment, governance and social issues. He divides his time between Delhi and his cottage in a small village above Shimla. He blogs at http://avayshukla.blogspot.in/