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Warming up to an issue
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Madhavan’s lecture on global warming left the audience asking for more
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Photo: S. S. Kumar
Celebrity with a cause Madhavan
You are, of course, familiar with Madhavan, compelling film star. And chirpy Madhavan, philanthropist. But on Tuesday night, over the course of an almost hour-long lecture, the actor revealed yet another absorbing avatar: Madhavan the lecturer, blended with Madhavan, fiery prophet of doom.
Journalists gathered at the Rain Tree hotel had a leisurely 45 minutes to admire a poster of him, artfully highlighted hair, a gleaming solitaire ear stud, all superimposed with a mask of words across his mouth stating “A cocktail of 100 thousand chemicals surrounds you.”
When the film star finally arrived, he strode to the dias and stated that a traffic jam had held him up, going on to feelingly wax eloquent about just how much traffic, pollution and flagrantly mindless consumerism were ruining the planet. All perfectly in keeping with the theme of the evening, the launch of a campaign against global warming, and ‘Breathe Eazy’ a product by Pankajakasthuri Herbals to help people combat respiratory illnesses caused by pollution.
Now the Brand Activist, Madhavan asked, “When was the last time you actually saw a sparrow in your home?” Looking meaningfully at the audience, he added, “Or heard a frog croak in the monsoon? Or a bird chirp – not cough – in the morning?” He continued, “I grew up to the sound of sparrows. As a boy, in summer my job was to make sure they didn’t make nests above the fan. My kid doesn’t know what a sparrow looks like. And he’s three years old.”
So why are there no sparrows? “Because the worms have died,” said Madhavan. And why have the worms died? “Because of the pollution caused by petroleum fumes.” And then, unexpectedly, instead of doing the film star thing and sitting down prettily, he launched into a detailed, impassioned lecture on global warming, complete with charts, diagrams, maps and numbers.
The bottom line? Well, it’s a quick recap of your geography classes: irresponsible behaviour has caused the planet so much harm that we have managed to alter the climate in just 50 years. The polar ice caps are melting, temperatures are rising and typhoons, tornadoes, twisters, floods and droughts are afflicting the reeling planet. And unless people all over the world start making changes, the situation will only get worse.
“There’s no more winter in Chennai, the rain is unpredictable, there’s no water… soon we will be able to make dosas on the road. Omelettes also. The only question is will we be around to eat those things? And it’s because of all of us,” Madhavan said, looking accusingly at his now slightly nervous audience.
Minor changes, he continued, can make a big difference. Try not to use air-conditioners. Switch off everything after work. Take trains instead of planes. Use car pools, public transport or walk.
More than 30 per cent of Chennaiites suffer from respiratory disorders. “We might not die of global warming. We might not die of drowning. We’ll definitely die of lung pollution,” said Madhavan, adding matter-of-factly, “Being eco-friendly is not social service – this if for your existence.
It won’t be very nice if 20 years from now we are all at the same hospital wheezing. Slowly dying because we can’t take responsibility today.”
Chairman and Founder, J Hareendran Nair, states that their asthma research found symptoms dramatically eased by ingredients such as black pepper, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, tamarind etc. “We’ve used them for more than 5,000 years in daily food. In a specific combination, they become medicine,” said Nair, adding that Breath Eazy, is their way of demystifying respiratory treatment. “We want it out of the medicine closet and on the dining table.”
SHONALI MUTHALALY
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