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The save phenomenon
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We live in a world bogged down by the ‘save’ word, says Murali H. R. Ultimately, it doesn’t look like we’re saving much anyway
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Hoard it Murali H. R.
In a recent seminar on Sustainable Technologies, the common buzzword that was heard repeatedly was “Save Power”.
The speaker highlighted the latest inventions in lighting technology to replace tube lights with special LEDs to save power. The next speaker mentioned rain water harvesting and said: “By not pumping the water from Cauvey, we save both water and power”.
Eagerly planning to do what is best for my home, I got into the BMTC bus feeling satisfied for having “saved fuel” and precious foreign exchange. As the bus stood in the inevitable traffic jam at Ananda Rao circle I wondered how much time we would have “saved” if we had designed transportation for the masses than the individuals. After plenty of count downs, the signal turned green. To compensate the loss of time the bus driver was attempting to zoom in and was about to hit a tree and a two wheeler. Nothing unfortunate happened. But I was wondering about the relational equation between saving time, speed and saving the life of trees and humans. I came up with a different equation: Time lost is proportional to the speed of fastest car. Time lost is proportional to lives lost on the road.
For those interested in saving time, I have many such equations and postulates. I intend to publish it in a scientific journal, but find no time to publish the same.
As I step down from the bus, I remember that I had forgotten to post a letter from my father.
The letter was meant to the Police Commissioner and the BDA Commissioner to “Save Footpath” and “Save Trees/Lakes” of Bangalore. My father had suggested some action points that had lot of safety issues for saving old people and young children from the reckless speed of motor vehicles.
As I walked in search of a post box, few physically challenged people were protesting the decision of the Cauvery tribunal.
They proclaimed, that they had come on their moped all the way from Mandya to submit a memorandum to the Governor. Upon reading the memorandum which had the title “Save Cauvery”, I discovered that it had lot of “saves” yet again — save farmer, save Cauvery delta, save our jobs etc.
They were accompanied by the people from the Kannada Rakshana Vedike which wanted to “save Kannada and Karnataka” from outsiders.
I wonder what is the effective medium to reach people to “save” anything from something in this world.
Because with so many channels of communication, we have not been able to save anything except money.
I convince myself that we are a country running on deficits, otherwise why should we think about saving so many things.
With no clues on what to save, I open my mail box to find e-mails with so many more “saves” — save monkeys of IISC, save turtles of Orissa, save whales of Pacific, save Iraq/America/Kashmir” and many other nations.
As I walk to my home some young guys are painting “Save Bangaluru from land mafia, traffic, liquor culture” on the clean walls. Who will save these clean walls, is my next question.
As you are left wondering about the priority things you should “Save”, you see people taking out a huge procession to Save Hinduism from Americanisation. The list is endless.
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