April 22nd 2008....Earth Day. I saw people celebrating it....SHOWING OFF that they had done something for GLOBAL Warming. A Style statement they think!!! Supporting Global warming does not start by changing a light bulb in your house.

In fact it has its roots in people's mindset.

10.00 am (in my office in Bangalore)

In my company they put lot of posters in the company dashboards.

I recieved so many emails from the PR people in the company about the awareness of global warming. I was reading the emails while I was wiping my face with a napkin. The white napkin became almost grey in seconds. I nodded my face in despair and looked up towards the almighty.

Rewind.....2 hours before.

8.00 am (I start from my house)

I always....always walk to office. The office is about 5-6 kms from my house, but I WALK to and fro.I start my journey. I saw a man near the local tea shop. He was burning the day before's trash and set it on fire. Thick black fumes emanated from the fire. It also had some rubber material I suppose. I tried to advise him, but he looked at me as if I am crazy guy.I then entered the main road.

Local bus plyed on, a tractor in the midst, about 50 autos making terrible noise and fumes.Some old vehicle models emanating thick smoke and what is more funny is that the driver puts his head out and is looking back outside at his exhaust and he accelerates even more to produce more thick black smoke. Huge Traffic jams. This all happened in a stretch of 400 meters.

Imagine how much in a area of a city like bangalore put together.

I stopped some car drivers and showed the exhaust....he cursed me and stepped on his accelerator. I stopped an auto driver....I was about to get beaten.

There was a single tree in the midst at the side of main road taking in all the pollution caused by people who care about "their" world and not the world others live in.

I looked at the color of the leaves. Brownish- Grey-Green it was. Once a oxygen producing happy tree.....reduced to a zombie standing near the main road. "If only I could move" it might have thought.

9.00 am ( I reach office)

I saw the big posters in the company...helping to fight global warming.

I read each and every statement of that poster. While others going straight to eat breakfast!!I saw people walking and their ears stuffed with cellphones talking about a cricket match that happened recently last night. These cricket matches played in the night, have these huge bright lamps that suck the sorry from Generators....unbeknownst from what source the electricity is generated.

10.30 am (after wiping the dust on my face)

When you see it..its all a cycle.

Immutable mindset of humans --> Old Habits --> Create Pollution --> Affect nature --> Create local warming --> Global warming --> Natural cycle disrupted --> Shortage (Drought ect..) or Excess (Flood etc...) --> Crisis --> Affects Human beings ability to operate --> Immutable mindset of humans

The last link is what confuses me.

Ideally when there is a crisis - which people are facing, which people advertise as global warming, which they plead to stop polluting - They should start changing their own mindset and take precautionary steps. But this does not happen.

The only solution is that if a crisis or change happens in "their' world, if "they" are affected they respond. Such is the mindset of people. They give a damn about "other" worlds. There is a virtual seperation between "their" world and "others" world. In "their" world there is no such thing is global warming. In "their" world, they go about their usual chores, lunch time, some more work , return home, dinner, watch cricket and go back to deep slumber. And next morning the same.

This seperation...This mindset is what creates local warming and thereby global warming.

I am not only talking about a handful of drivers....I am also pointing out the local politicians who sit in their own world without taking steps. All they are worried is about elections and worried about a seat which brings them some paper money to their pockets so that they contribute more to local warming.

I would suggest we start at the grass roots level to tackle the XYZ Warming.

XYZ can be anything local, global, your-house, nearby-your-house. The solution lies in the way to make local warming a "thing" in "their" individual world. We have to change people's mindset. We have to add content and show that in the long run it affects "their" world and they are put out of comfort zone. Once everybody accepts the warming in "their" own world, the chain reaction of the solution could reduce man made global warming.

PLEASE MAKE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE TO "YOUR" KIDS and YOUR "FAMILY" TO MAKE EVERYONE'S WORLD A BETTER PLACE.