Aam admi in the present case can be from any part of the world. It is based on personal stories of the people I know, people known to my people, their personal experiences and personal tragedies. All the characters here are not fictitious and any resemblance they might bear to your near or dear ones, or to yourself, is completely deliberate. It might just heighten the experience of what the people at large are going through. Climate change: Our idea of change in weather and climate is nothing but the most mundane useless thing in the news. For an average man weather forecast is nothing but a good looking female with a stick and nonsense about geography doing the easiest job on earth. Perhaps, our weather forecasts are also not very accurate because, it often rains when predicted sunny and bright day ahead. In either case we do carry our umbrellas. So, no harm meant. Talking about the climate change, or effect of global warming as they may be seen, below are a listed a few such events.
Delhi: We have recorded very high temperatures and dust storms. The month of April already feels like June. Power-cuts add to the garmi.
Meghalaya: Cherrapunji, Shillong the places were considered to be the holy abode of the goddess of rain. Things have changed, climates dip and soar at such frequencies that you can see people wearing sweaters by the morning and shorts by the night. (Ahem a bit of exaggeration is allowed)
Guwahati: In the beginning of last month, that is March, the city received an unexpected arrival of dust storms, the skies were dark, the weather humid and so stormy and dusty that the flights were delayed and adjourned. Though, our news channels did not record any such change in weathers because of our ever-so-interested-attitude towards the North Eastern states.
Kolkata newspapers read aloud “Why it is so hot?” almost every day of the month. There are records breaking every day with the temperatures soaring to 40 degree Celsius in the month of April. Here also power cuts have a major role to add to the plight.
Another friend who recently went to Allahabad had similar story to tell. No electricity and soaring temperatures.
Now Recession, a really good friend has been looking for a job in the field of marketing and a degree of MBA counts for nothing. This field is forbidden for anyone to enter in the present state of affairs. I remember a friend who told me that he has resigned from his firm to join Lehman brothers and the day he was to join the news came about its doom. He is now working on half the remuneration in the same firm he used to work earlier.
Subhikshas and Reliance Fresh retail outlets have been shut down in many big cities. While, near my locality there used to be five such outlets only one survives. Even that according to his owner is currently incurring losses and is now thinking of a stock clearance sale.
In the media industry, with major channels shutting down or on the verge of shutting down, they have bestowed mass layoffs. Newspapers are trying gandhigiri by first telling the scapegoat that the company is overstaffed, then hinting that it is best to resign or else they will have to take actions. Or best one of the newspapers while shutting down a branch thought it convenient enough to stick a notice overnight saying “Bureau shut”. Never got better.
Around-the-world
In Dubai, people have literally flown out of the city over night leaving behind whatever they had. They actually left their cars with keys parked at the airport with banners reading the name of the bank whom they owed the next instalment. A company with a market value of 1.8 Billion overnight crashed to mere 6 million. This is not a joke but happened with a friend, who had no choice but to leave the company.
In America, a friend, a lawyer by profession, working with one of the most reputed firms was saving around $50,000 a month, was called one fine day and told not to come to work the day after. This is the scene with almost all the firms there. Everyday, as told by my friends, one or the other person shows up early from work with an order to not show up again.
Times are grim. Need for a Global alarm to unite in crisis. As this, according to many, is just the beginning. Fingers crossed. If you have to add on to this grim post please do. My knowledge of economics fails me to do any analysis nor am I interested. I had a bad exam and people are going through worse. If you want to share situations in your part of the land then, you are more than welcome to add to the information.
Illustration: Aditya Sharma. Thank you Adi!
Hi Aditya Sharma! Your blog is very nice. The photographs are very beautiful. Let us pray for peace for the world. Let us make the world pollution free and save it for our children. Wish you all the best. God is Great. We will get out of the bend.
http://health-care-you.blogspot.com
well..Mr mahmoodsyed…this blog is not mine(aditya)…except the visual…Its riddhi n me as a team.. haha…riddhi..I like the different facts u put in…might help ppl to think over…honestly…millions have written articles on this issue…but the problem is …ppl read it…feel sympathetic abt it n continue the same routine which shud undergo a change…though wat u have written does not exactly go with the visual…but the context is the same…ur message covers up wat we ultimately wanna say…thanks…..
a sincere attempt to join the two very serious and very contemporary issues that almost all of us are facing on a day to day basis…the heat is energy sapping and had it not been for metro in certain parts of delhi we’d have got our first casualties of heat stroke already…but the bitter fact remains that in coming months people in the capital of india will die because of excessive heat and the newspapers will put that as a ‘box item’ in the city page…channels will jus ignore it (might just make it to the tickrs)
on the other hand suicide of a top honcho driven by recession will hog headlines and the visuals of the deceased will continue to flash on the idiot box
this is the irony..both the phenomenons will affect both the poor and rich but still how one-dimensionally their portrayal is in media…sad
Allow me to make a few points if you will…
1. Climate change has been happening from the day mother earth was born.
2.What is depressing and threatening is the pace at which the change is taking place.
3.Sometimes, it gets chilly at night in Chennai. This, according to me, is Global WARMING.
4.Dr RK Pachauri came to Madras School for a lecture on Climate Change. He gave me an autograph and said that climate change was on of man’s greatest challenges.
5. Anand to Wasim: Wasim Sir when are you getting married?
Wasim to Anand: Yaar first let the recession get over.
Inferencce: The recession has arrived and is affecting daily lives.
6.The recovery of the economy has started.
7.Riddhi I am glad I rediscovered your blog. You have an uncannny sense of simplifying things. Keep more posts coming.
8. I am sorry about this loooonnnggg comment.
@Faheem: thank you for visiting. As adi said, blog is mine, illustration his.and true let us make world a better place to live in. Keep visiting.
@Adi: Yep i told u i twisted it. your illustration talked about what we did and where we have come. So, I used it as more of an introduction. Like a thesis statement. cause and effect!
@Soubhik: An honest rant from some one who is there and going through the media’s cynicsm. But, can’t help it anyway.
@Anand: long long comment but, glad you are back. glad that you did apply economics that we understand and not the technichal stuff. long comments are always welcome. hope wasim sir gets married soon. 😛
Interesting!
Incidentally there is an interesting website that is specifically dedicated to recession victims.It offers help and discusses all issues related to recession-www.angstcorner.com. It’s worth a visit!