Home, Not-so-Sweet Home

Last night, Dadiji told me something that remained with me the whole of next day. Wherever I went, I looked around me and thought of what she said. We are all made up of five elements, and so is the world around us. Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space surround us in every form. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Our home is also constituted of these five elements.

I was pleasantly surprised by a breeze coming in through the window. I looked at the curtains flying and thought of the last time I felt the cool air. These days, we have becomedependant on air conditioners and coolers. There is hardly any ventilation and it seems we live in a block of constricted space we call home. I am too young to know the reasons why, but as Dadiji mentioned, our neighbourhood looks different and more cluttered than it used to. More and more houses have come up and my father says some of them are not even authorised. He says that before I was born, our housing colony had ample space for every person and there was a big ground where kids used to play. Today, that ground has been turned into a parking space.

I stepped out to the balcony to feel the wind blowing, but instead started coughing. It was the dust flying from the construction site next to my house. The entire neighbourhood was in rubbles and there was a huge amount of construction waste lying around. This dust was not just polluting the air we breathe, but once these buildings are completed, they will also block the sunlight to many homes.

I wonder if soon they will construct a building in front of our home too. If that happens, our balcony would not receive a ray of sunlight. Will I then have to read my books under the tubelight, even during the day? That would surely mean more use of energy, and a larger electricity bill. 

I realised everything is interconnected. More number of houses means more scarce resources.  If we do not use our resources judiciously, we will all suffer the consequences. We need to reduce, reuse and recycle the resources around us. These days, our colony is going through an extreme water scarcity and it is only going to get worse day by day. If we each do not take a step towards using our resources carefully, there will be none left for anybody to use.

As Dadiji said, “Our lives revolve around the five elements of nature and if they are destroyed, we destroy ourselves too.” So, shouldn’t we be more responsible and take care of what makes us who we are?