Month: June 2022

A stiletto is stealthy, but is it healthy?

I was impressed enough by recent unfolding events to look up the definition of a switchblade in the  Wikipedia. This is what I found!

“A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, flick blade, or spring knife is a type of knife with a sliding or pivoting blade contained in the handle which is extended automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated”.

By federal definition under the US 1958 Switchblade Act, a switchblade sports two important features:

  1. It contains a blade concealed inside a handle biased to come out of the handle.
  2. The blade is released when a button, switch or other device on the handle is pressed.

When that definition is applied to human beings every one of us is a switch blade. We all have that recessed blade within us. We press the button to release it when we have something to lose! 

When we sense fear, a loss of prestige, a loss of income, a loss of liberty, or has a FOMO episode – Fear of Missing out – it automatically springs the lock. It is also very eminently possible that when we do so when we have something to gain! Which is the more likely is for the Psychologists to say, but one thing is for sure, the act of pressing the button that loosens the blade is rarely ever accidental. Only incidental! 

A switchblade reveals its fangs when we push its button, lever, or a switch on the handle! And we do it consciously unless we have an anger management problem.  Once we open it, it locks into place and goes back to a closed position, only when it has utilized the energy coiled in its spring or served its purpose (either for or against), until the next time!

One very important reason that it’s called a switch blade is it switches its allegiance to whoever holds it with reverence and gives it its freedom of expression! It is very possessive and protective of its fundamental right to express itself. And so, it is loyal only to itself!

But we must remember, in the end it is a blade. Its only existential purpose is to stab, to wound, and often to kill! It does not respect its owner, or the one that paid for it! It is an extension of the hand that holds and operates it. It looks to be used and polished and used time and again. You can’t keep a good switchblade sheathed! It will find a way to emerge from the shadows and into the limelight!

When the switchblade becomes just a blade, it becomes rather tough to handle, its own handle notwithstanding, because it has switched…. On!  It is ready to slice, scrape, penetrate, and generally wound whatever or whoever it comes in contact with! And for a valid reason that is not immediately apparent, but to oneself! And we must be wary!

In an open position it creates fear; or it transfers the fear. Either one! In Psychology it’s called the phenomenon of Transference! We see it every day. As Alistair Maclean wrote, Fear is the key! To a better future for the one who creates it! And there lies the utility of Switchblades!

Switchblades are part of daily life. Most are hidden in the folds of our frocks; they have to be discerned, deciphered, and detained within, else like the cobra, they will sting with venom. It’s an on-going effort at every level of society and more so in National and office politics! That is why its called politics which is possibly the only way we know to distribute resources, status, and power with some degree of dignity.   This crude trading mechanism, polished for dignity over generations, determines “who gets what, when, how” according to Harold Lasswell!  And democracy is just a way of managing the switch blades who have a FOMO issue with dignity and rule of law written in the sand by the switch blade!

We are vibrant democracy we have been told time and again, and switchblades are the raison d’etre! A switchblade cuts through the clutter of a democracy like a hot knife through Cheesecake and takes it as a melting moment! And sometimes a melt down moment.  

But Switch Blades are not easy to come by. They cost money, and someone’s eternal happiness. Money mostly. There is nothing like eternal happiness. That exists only till the blade switches based on its own estimation of self-worth and is dynamic. As dynamic as the dynamism of the spring in the switchblade!

But money too has self-worth. It has its own colours and is often racist or made out to be so, by governments around the world! All governments are colonial in their mind sets. They prefer the colour white because they can see through it. From where it came and where it goes. Both in sunlight and in darkness?

The black hates the white but tries its best to become what it hates. We all do that don’t we – just to fit in! to be seen as one of them, rather than one of us!  It subjects itself to a Swacch mission, like no other; in washing machines, across oceans, in vaults and in the cloud, to ensure it can obtain and retain that pristine colour! It’s even ready to give up a part of itself, for the sake of a colour! For, if it doesn’t, it knows that the KluKluxClan will come after it with a vengeance and take it all away for a thorough plaundering! And that will help the colour conversion, but in a most unpleasant way.

Its then maybe that it’s time for the switch… blade!

Disclaimer

This Article is written in the lighter vein with tongue-in-cheek. It hopes to bring a smile to your face, and you must not ascribe motives to its contents. There is no connection to events and characters in real life and if perchance you find a connect with any such real-life event or character, rest assured its purely coincidental or just a mirage!

 Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The Fatherhood Agneepath Scheme – A lifetime of learning!

This year, Father’s Day was soon followed by International Yoga Day, just like last year. It may alternate next year. Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, while International Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21st. The former is American, and latter is Indian in origin. But there is a connection. There has to be, with so many Indians in the Americas making America great again, rather than their own country!

Like Yoga, Fatherhood is all about bending backwards and forwards to meet expectations of the spouse and their children, stretching the sinews, the wallet, the mind and breathing Family, day in and day out! The asanas of Fatherhood are a powerful tool for the holistic wellbeing of the family, but must be performed consistently and with mindfulness, lest there be a pulled muscle or a rupture in the family, rather than rapture!

Not easy at all; it does come with practice and sacrifice, which most fathers get used to – with a little help from their children’s mothers, and sometimes the children themselves; but not their own mothers though – who would inevitably suggest – if ’tis difficult let it rest!  Some find it difficult to sustain the early interest, and make new resolutions every year, and sometimes give up, occasionally waking up to reality of their situation.

So Sukhasana is best to reduce anxiety and stress and mental tiredness – allows you to shut out all the stress of fatherhood from your mind and think of more pleasant stuff – Is there anything more pleasant is the question…  A tip: Sit with the legs tucked inside the opposite thighs and the spine should be vertically straight. The hands should be placed on the knees and breathe in and out gently – do it forever!  Nobody will trouble you. And you can’t trouble no one! Keep breathing in and out till you stop!

But Fatherhood is like Robinhood, without the robbery.  Just Jobbery! Being good, while seemingly bad! Friends are around but forgotten, while the aim is clear, protect the young from the young and the old, till they are able to protect you.  Truly, Fatherhood is the real Agneepath! but unlike the current offering to the youth, it’s a lifelong journey, sometimes regimented, sometimes not, that gives you both pleasure and pain, often in unequal measures, puts you on the frontlines, and at other times in the logistics department! At the end of it there may not be any pension, but there is some recognition and reward, is what one hopes for when one is recruited into the scheme, though it is not mentioned in the brochure!

Its then that it will be time to stop the Asanas and pass on that skill to the son if he is not already making up his own or is ready for the lesson! Lots of ifs and buts, and one more – it’s worth getting recruited under the scheme, primarily because it has no comparison to the scheme just announced by the Government to create Agniveers. You will be an Agniveer right at the start, if you can refuse the offer of Fatherhood! but you can’t – it is the way the universe operates. Expectations are high, and time runs out fast!

But first you have to get recruited and manage the tenure without training; that’s the difficulty. You will have to generate your own compensation package or share that burden with your best friend in this scheme of things. There is no chance to protest, no reason to maybe, or no desire to, forget about violently, only to acquiesce with a little trepidation about the forthcoming deprivation!

And therein lies the bond. Not James, but the one in which first you hold his hand, then as time goes on, he holds yours. This is a bond that can lead to relaxation or revenge! so beware. Remember the 1990 and 2012 films Agneepath? – one a commercial dud (not dad) and one a commercial success, the dad of all films in that year! in which the evil and sadistic Kaancha hangs Vijay’s father to death. Vijay grows up with a single aim of avenging his father’s death. Because he loves him and loves him more in death! The story surrounding Vijay Chauhan, his relationships with his family and above all, his revenge is what make up the films! It is clear from the film that Fatherhood is the Asli Agneepath! And there is no regimental system. Compartmental, Departmental, and even mental, but not regimental. You must be prepared to break out! If you want to succeed.

Here is the Fatherhood Agneepath scheme SOP

4 Years of Age – My daddy can do anything.

8 Years of Age – My dad knows a lot.

12 Years of Age – My father doesn’t really know quite everything.

14 Years of Age – Naturally, father doesn’t know that, either.

16 Years of Age – Father? he’s hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 Years of Age – That old man? He’s way out of date.

25 Years of Age – Well, he might know a little bit about it.

35 Years of Age – Before we decide, let’s get dad’s opinion.

45 Years of Age – Wonder what dad would have thought about it.

65 Years of Age – Wish, I could talk it over with dad.

By that time, it is too late for Agniveer nxt!

We have been told all of this by Veterans and yet all but some of us are willing Agniveers for joining the scheme! We consider it a divine gift! Once we join, we are inducted into it almost straight away. No training nothing! Learn by doing! The scheme teaches you to love unconditionally, to nurture someone beyond yourself, to run to protect another in the face of grave danger, to give to others without considering the return, and bond with something other than the mirror! But we must remember that motherhood is critical to fatherhood, we tend to forget that as Agniveers!

Everyone you meet, everyone who speaks on the subject acknowledges that motherhood is tough. From conception to delivery, the nine months or less in between, the delivery itself either natural or surgical, and the months and years of parenting thereafter – are a tribute to a woman’s ability to sustain pain with love.

As the child enters his or her teens, the pangs get worse, for despite her trauma in bringing the child into the world, and the devotion to his or her wellbeing in the years following, she tends to get ignored, more so her instructions and advice. This is very traumatic and the Agniveers can be of great help! They get a chance right at the beginning, in the labour room itself. But some deliberately veer (the English word) outside it and as they are Veers (the Hindi word) more outside it than inside it! They prefer to be relegated to the supply rather than the frontline!

But today, as the lines blur between fatherhood and motherhood, some Agniveers find they are naturals. There are naturals in every field, and this is no exception. All you have to do is hone your skills under those who know better than you – and there are not many out there; are there? So, fathers have learnt to learn by involving themselves in every aspect of the child’s upbringing – from the physical to the emotional; formerly they used to stay away either due to a lack of self-confidence in their ability to handle the changed role or the just the belief that it is not a man’s role – that only a mother can mother! That a mother can father we all know, but now the belief is that a father can mother as well.

It’s how we know that the Fatherhood Agneepath scheme has gone from pilot to full-fledged and institutional! And mothers are smart! They often leave them to it, intervening occasionally, while they bring home the bacon! Single dads, hats off to them too. They are Agniveers of a different kind! They are both mother and father to the child, or they try to be, and they do remarkably well because when alone they fire on all cylinders! That we knew, but then they became Agniveers!  Some of their standard dialogues: “Go ask your mother!”, “Just wait till I get you home!”, “When I was your age…”, “My father used to tell me…”, “I used to walk to school;”, and finally, “Be home early”.

Under the fatherhood Agneepath scheme, you may be able to avail paternity leave, – though it is not yet explicit in the brochure – but can never leave paternity. These lines from the Eagles hit song “Hotel California” say it all!

“Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

“Relax, ” said the night man

“We are programmed to receive”

“You can check-out any time you like”

“But you can never leave!”

The Fatherhood Agneepath scheme is a lifetime of learning by doing. It’s not just four years, its forty years, or more, something which modern Agniveers are angling for, for different reasons! There is a retirement age down the line, but that’s when you end up in a senior home with your pot of joy! filled with learning, wanting to apply it to the new Agniveers, but not allowed to! Dad Rocks, But Mum Rules is the old saying, that Fathers are trying to turn that around under the scheme! The results will emerge in a few years! Not next week.

But until next week…you rule! If you are not mum!

Disclaimer

This Article is written in the lighter vein with tongue-in-cheek. It hopes to bring a smile to your face, and you must not ascribe motives to its contents. There is no connection to events and characters in real life and if perchance you find a connect with any such real-life event or character, rest assured its purely coincidental or just a mirage!

Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash

Getting hysterical about History…

Rewriting history is in fashion. And I want to be as fashionable as anyone else. Therefore, this long article as I revise what I know about History. I’ve taken the chance that you will find it more interesting than your history that is under revision!

We all know that everything we use – people, places, and things, have a history of how they came about, and we are compelled to study it at school. Some or the other version of it. Because history like the truth, has at least four shades of grey if not fifty! Thanks be to some, if not all, there are no history lessons at college or thereafter until it’s time for politics! Or if you are an ardent student or compelled teacher of it!

History is a subject that 90% of students love to hate; for a variety of reasons: it’s boring, and it’s irrelevant in their lives, now and forever; it’s all about dead people and things – some people who lived in his time may have been glad when a historical character died, but their views were not recorded; and finally, it’s all about who said and did what to whom, where when and why! And largely you’ve got to remember all of it if you want to become a scientist or a bureaucrat or politician alike! And that’s tough especially when you don’t care who did what to whom, where, when and why so long as they didn’t do or say it to you!

While the rest of the W’s are easily memorized – easily, means notes and revisions are included – the why is difficult. It should actually be easy because it’s the simplest of all W’s in history to answer and is common across it. The answer to why is, Power and Money!

Unfortunately, the why is cloaked in unnecessarily complex language that tries to explain or befuddle, as the case may be, land and gold grabs, religious, social, and financial exploitation, the concept of divinity and right through dynasties, war, and the spoils of war, castles and palaces, social isolation, and the like through the eyes of benevolence or violence by those who did not witness or experience any of it. Sometimes based on memoirs, sometimes on artefacts, sometimes on inscriptions, sometimes on legacy infrastructure and sometimes on all of these. Just as a Judge interprets the law, a historian interprets the past, even as others write tomes on that interpretation. There’s a whole industry to explain away the greed for Power and Money!

As history repeats, new words are coined to explain it so that the scramble for power and money is acceptable. Largely it is, because everyone aspires to be in pole position in this race. This explanation can vary from self-nominated political/social leader to self-nominated political / social leader, from teacher to teacher, from student to student, from historian to historian, and even from nation to nation. But a student must know and memorize all of it – whatever version he is fed until he is fed up! Later on, he will develop his own! Then his revision will be your problem!

The problem with history perhaps is that it is his story, but you tell it, and the way you want to tell it! to suit your perspective. Nothing wrong with that, until someone else comes along with his own! only the teacher has to develop notes afresh and that’s anathema to him / her! This variation is the key to conflict in the modern world which then becomes the fodder for history for the future. It’s a different type of fodder scam!

We all yearn for the days of yore. Some even want to restore the golden age – or was it the golden cage? – not really knowing what it is. It sounds really good though. It’s the time when Kings had all the gold, as also the people to carry it around without complaining! Nothing has changed really. Kings still have the gold, but the people, ah that’s a different matter – they want their share… of history! But history does try to tell us differently in a way that we can believe it – in the golden age, the king had a heart of gold! It was the people who were plotting to grab it! Nothing has changed, has it?

Let me give an example. For some the golden age of cricket was when batsmen faced upto fearsome fast bowling fearlessly without a helmet. Today they wear a helmet to face fast bowling that is slower than that of yore! Those not playing the game, yearn for that era! They want to be alive in the present but live in the past which they say has great relevance to our current situation – especially with the coal shortage – and our future! Does it? I’m not sure how a rotary telephone can dial in the present or dial up the future.

Or how conflicts of the past can bring peace to the present. Thinking about them historical wrongs, makes you want to correct them, right? because maybe you are in a position to do so. So, its conflict time again! As the conflict balloons, they say they are correcting historical wrongs, feel righteous about it and indeed write home about it! That’s how history is created, written and revised! It’s how the Wise of the present tighten their vise around the past! Indeed, the power of history is the history of Power! The relevance stems perhaps from our desire to repeat it like Putin, who wants to repeat the era of Peter the Great with himself starring as Peter.  By the way who said Peter was great? He himself or his acolytes? His name was actually Pyotr Alekséyevich!

Check out this extract From the Wikipedia!

“The imperial title of Peter the Great was the following:[2]

By the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of Moscow, of Kyiv, of Vladimir, of Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan and Tsar of Siberia, sovereign of Pskov, great prince of Smolensk, of Tver, of Yugorsk, of Perm, of Vyatka, of Bulgaria and others, sovereign and great prince of the Novgorod Lower lands, of Chernigov, of Ryazan, of Rostov, of Yaroslavl, of Belozersk, of Udora, of Kondia and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the Iverian lands, of the Kartlian and Georgian Kings, of the Kabardin lands, of the Circassian and Mountain princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.”

Indeed, the power of history is the history of Power!

History is boring!

One of the reasons that History as a subject is boring is that Historians are alive but the people, and the things they conduct an inquiry (Historia) into, are as dead as dodos and maybe that’s for the good of mankind; otherwise, we would not be able to worship and spend money on photographs or statutes, would we? It’s a key benefit.

The other one is that we get to read, see, and interpret all that they did and said, the way we want to, or the way our experiences help us to. They are not around to dispute it. It’s like an ex-parte domestic inquiry report!

After all we know what our parents and grandparents did, when and where, but not why, unless they have put it down in their memoirs. And those too are open to interpretation like the diaries investigative agencies seize during raids. Because only one of them may have written the memoir, not the other, but he or she appears in it! That’s when the historians step in and step up to help us decode everything they wrote or did; to tell us his-story. They will make it their story if they are allowed to! Obituaries and Eulogies are the best example. Hated, or at most suffered in Life but revered in death!

History is about the dead!

History indeed is about dead people and the things they – or is it we – consider their legacy, – money, gold, monuments, art, infrastructure. We either eulogise them or blame them for our present. But it was their present to us, and we should perhaps accept it with grace and move on. But no. Historians tell us that is not the way forward. we must go backward in time to understand what they did, why and how. The Hollywood movie night at the museum  is an eye opener – Do watch it and its two sequels if you get the opportunity. Truly engrossing and hilarious like all attempts to dig up or change our past!

Students of history, and all of us compelled to be one by our school syllabus, know by rote, that history is divided into five different ages or stages: Prehistory, Ancient History, the Middle Ages, the Modern Age and the Contemporary Age.

Prehistory extended from the time the first human beings appeared until the invention of writing and came about through Grandma’s bedtime stories. Ancient history extended from the invention of writing until the fall of the Roman Empire. Those who wrote it, were privileged to do so, and wrote it from their own perspective. Not many could read then or dispute it!

The Middle Ages extended from the fall of the Roman Empire until the discovery of the Americas, and we all know what happened after the discovery – the history of the native Red-Indians was wiped out!

The modern age extended from the discovery of the Americas until the French Revolution. That’s the time we became civilized!

The contemporary age extends from the French Revolution until now! Who knows what future generations will term this age as? Revisionist?

From Grandma’s stories to excavations of artefacts and inscriptions, history is the story of those who have undertaken a journey. Their journey.  It doesn’t help us map our future in any way. We have google maps and rockets and missiles and TV Debates. What’s done is done, what’s past is past. You can’t go back to the stone grinder after using the mixie can you? Some would want us to, but they will not put their hands to the till! In the till sure, but not to it!

We drive modern cars with cameras and stuff but are asked look in the rear-view mirror for guidance on the road ahead. Accidents are bound to happen unless we shift our focus to the windshield!

Its only when we unwrap the present, can we find the gift of the future! That and the fact, that our students and teachers can rest easy, and in peace, and I mean that in best way possible!

I have thoroughly revised all that I know about history, now it’s your turn! There’s time until next week!

Disclaimer

This Article is written in the lighter vein with tongue-in-cheek. It hopes to bring a smile to your face, and you must not ascribe motives to its contents. There is no connection to events and characters in real life and if perchance you find a connect with any such real-life event or character, rest assured its purely coincidental or just a mirage!

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

Flying Solo is an exhilarating experience!

There was interesting, off beat news last week something which we all crave for, for different reasons.  A young lady announced she would marry herself this month. It was all over the news. Everyone was taken aback, when it first appeared, and they wanted to know the why and how of it. Naturally, it raised temperatures, tempers and TRPs as anything out of the ordinary does. It may be new in India, but not elsewhere. And given our penchant for learning new words, be they bad or good, we quickly learnt two new words, and mind you not from our regular Wordsmith, but from the news – Autosexuality and Sologamy! One leaning into the other apparently!

It goes beyond Monogamy to place where most people have been before they entered into the blissful state of matri-money. The blissful state of Self-Love. More about that later, with Lager. Because that’s when it is seen / felt most.

It’s prima-facie, a marriage of convenience, immense convenience. In a nutshell, in this marriage, one of the me’s (there are several depending upon who I am interacting with) in me is going marry another me in me. Now for your convenience let’s call them ‘Fid’ and Sego (Freuds Id and Superego) They have tremendous faith and respect for each other, the absolute requirement for a happy marriage. One or the other could be dominant, if allowed to be, that is, but it balances out, I guess.

The bridal dance will be intense with a hologram to the tune of Bryan Adams ‘Everything I do, I do it for me…’

Surreptitious infidelity I suppose, is out, because the other me is a constant. So, the question remains as to how the marriage will be consummated. You have an entire week to ponder over that. I’ll give you a clue – Mind over matter!

Ok. Never mind.

But does this sologamy come from a solo game pronounced called Self Love? Because the other games people play according to Eric Berne are for so many other reasons – Power, Money and / or Prestige. That may give us a burn but its true, aren’t it? But we have to understand what it means, because most of us might be strangers to ourselves… and are treated by us accordingly!

Basically, it means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness and not sacrificing your wellbeing to please others – remind you of anyone, other than yourself? Self-love means not settling for less than you deserve and who else but yourself do you deserve?

It’s one step removed from Narcissism which needs outside validation and therefore narcissists are always almost never married – they don’t handle criticism very well, and that is a given in Marriage – not even criticism of themselves by themselves – because that would disturb their internal mind map!  

Self-Love means different things to different people but overall, it’s all about taking care of yourself, more than others! Like picking a candy from the plate before passing it around? That way you don’t have to wait for it to come around. It may be empty too! Each one takes care of himself / herself in different ways and this manifests itself according to plan – not his own! Though one might be forgiven for thinking it is one’s own.

For some it could mean talking constantly to themselves – gossiping, counselling, questioning, suggesting, brainstorming with love of course. Giving advice and taking it or ignoring it. Not judging yourself, whilst looking in the mirror, except positively. Mirror -Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? is distinct from a Narcissist asking Mitron Mitron who is the best man of them all? The Internal vs External.

If you are in love with yourself, it will be evident. You will be nice to yourself. You will keep yourself healthy, wealthy, and wise. You will exercise and diet, but cheat at both once in while, without feeling guilty. And you will forgive yourself quickly when you commit a blunder – maybe even a major one! You are just bee-ing nice to yourself. All honey and no sting! You might even live without blaming others for your faults!

These are signs that you are filled with self-love, single and ready to mingle. But who would want to marry you, when they recognize the signs and the manifestations of self-love? They might back out fearing subsequent loneliness as you invest time in yourself rather than them. And that’s when it’s time to think of sologamy! Just figure out your degree of self-love and take a decision on marrying others or yourself!

Even if its yourself, it can be real and grand wedding. Have no fear.  Mehndi, Sangeeth, Pheras and all. Only a single chair up on stage and a large mirror. Keep the lights real dim. It’s still a real wedding with real guests and the whole gamut of ceremonies and spread of food, except that the groom and bride will be resident in the same person. Usually you marry a non-resident, but this might just be easier. No Jhanjhat! No compromises. Must be thankful though, that a trinity is not involved. Or maybe it is? With the Eyeballs on the Food Counters, no one else will notice but you. And not you too. Self-love is overpowering.

But as you are about to celebrate, a gentle reminder; today is World Food Safety Day – and if the wedding is today, do wash your hands, before and after you eat. Apparently 600 million people fall sick worldwide due to food safety issues.   The number may be smaller at the wedding as the food may have been prepared yesterday, and World Food Safety Day suggestions were not mandatory. No matter, so long as its tasty; usually in such circumstances, it is; try preparing the same at home and you will find the difference;  

And wipe your hands and your tears (because it’s over) with Tissue. I’ve found the box I couldn’t find last week. But I would suggest you use the hanky in your pocket. And that I do only because we’ve just crossed another annual milestone on June 5th – the celebration of the World Environment Day, even as we explore ways to pollute Mars. When man goes there, he will certainly be carrying a box of tissues certainly made from the trees on earth!

We may be wondering whether the tissue paper has an environmental impact or not, the answer is Yes. And what connection the environment has to self-love. The answer to that is, if you are filled with Self-love, you put the environment second. And I just wanted to remind you that it is just as important, given the milestone we just crossed.

Though the tissue paper are made from virgin pulp – Virgin forest – and recycled wastepaper, the fact is that the production of the tissue papers from virgin pulp emits 30% more greenhouse gases when recycled wastepaper is used. Like all paper products – now again touted as the safer alternative to plastic – they bio-degrade yes, but slowly because of the process by which it is made.

It is estimated that approx. 140 litters of water are needed to manufacture a single roll of toilet paper. So, it is better to wash than to wipe? But wipe you must after you wash! The average is two rolls a week and then there is the Face tissue – Two boxes a week, and you can’t mix them up – One has to be softer than the other! all together a USD 30 billion-dollar industry and we flush 27000 trees down the drain every day! Let’s keep that in Mind as we attend the wedding!

There’s enough here to think about for a week. Marriage as a holographical Mirage, Paper as a useful Caper, and of course food as much as you could!

Until next week then

Disclaimer

This Article is written in the lighter vein. It hopes to bring a smile to your face, and you must not ascribe motives to its contents. There is no connection to events and characters in real life and if perchance you find a connect with any such real-life event or character, rest assured its purely coincidental.

Photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash