The man who exposed the policy-elite's arrogance from ecological ignorance

"Good morning. Slept well after 15 days. I love you so much."

Those were the last words I received on my mobile phone from Dhruba Da. That was on January 3, 2018. He breathed his last on the morning of February 16, but he was in no position to speak or write messages in the last weeks of his life. He was in hospital. He died of a lung infection which led to further complications. 

There was still so much left for Dhruba Da to say, to write, to do. It is striking for me to recall that I only knew him in the last two years of his life. It was as though we had a connection from a previous birth. He got my number from a common friend in Kolkata and called me. I was in Mumbai for a lecture. Our first call lasted over an hour and he said that I should stay with him next time I visit his city.

I did. And I stayed with him a second and final time last September. His generosity was boundless, his humour ever so wry, his intellect razor-sharp. Our conversations always ran out of time, signed mutually with a 'TBC' (to be continued). On September 11, 2017, he came to my friend Subhas Roy's home for a discussion among many friends on Rabindranath's ecological vision. That was the very last time I saw him.

Dhruba Da's gentle presence and warm smile live in the heart.

I wrote a 2500-word essay on his life and work with the East Kolkata Wetlands last week. Nobody was willing to publish the whole of it.  So I drew two pieces from the original. And two media outlets have agreed to publish one each of them. Here is the shorter one, from today's The Hindu :


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-ecologically-subsidised-city/article22970933.ece

(Related: A staggering statistic about wetlands in Chennai: "Around Twenty years ago, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras pegged the number of wetlands in and around the city to be at around 650. Less than 5% (27 to be precise) exist today. 

"It is a country-wide problem: one-third of India’s wetlands are already wiped out or severely degraded because of habitat destruction, pollution, and encroachment. In low-lying coastal areas where heavy rains are common and high tides can occur, the consequences are potentially disastrous.")

(http://theglobalcalcuttan.com/?p=4539)

Bhangaddih's Indi-genius !

In so many guises modernity is the terrible illusion that you can improve upon the natural. So globally deep and insidious is the illusion today that the more enthusiastic cheerleaders of modernity, themselves having become holographic creatures of artifice, even deny that there is such a thing as the 'natural'! Those trying to "build a smarter planet" are selling the dream that the day is not far when we will be able to have "landless agriculture" (see, we already have seedless grapes and apples out of season!). Many people considered "smart" believe that the global artifice of modernity - the technosphere - will soon take the place of the biosphere. 

Every society and human community has its imperfections. But it may not be that easy to improve upon what you are about to see. On the contrary, there may be plenty to learn, for these may be perhaps the last communities in this part of the world who can still teach us ecological renewal and sustainability, provided the affluent are willing to shed their lazy intellects and unlearn the deception, now both national and global, that the poor need the rich. No, it is the rich who need the backs of the poor to continue taking their joy-rides. If we are willing to get off their backs, we could still learn a thing or two and discover the beauty of life. Have a look!

http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/articles/bhangaddihs-women/

Articles on globalisation and development written for Himal

Between 2007-09, I wrote a number of articles and essays for Himal (published from Kathmandu) on topics related to development and globalisation. The links to all these articles are available here:

http://old.himalmag.com/component/authors/articles/Aseem-Shrivastava.html