I met this little fella yesterday, who must be hardly about 10 years old - And, Oh my God! Wasn't I shaken out of my dream world!! I had a wonderful, thought provoking and a totally enjoyable conversation with him for about an hour.. and here's what he had to say -
LB - Akka, I just hate this city life. The noise and the pollution just irritates me no end. I want to go far far away from this city and live in a world of my own. My dad has some ideas of building a farmhouse. Wouldn't that be great???
I am planning to start a Wild Life Sanctuary, and do some Agriculturing also. We can have 3 dogs - two to protect the sanctuary and 1 for our protection. Also we will have a guest room, so that we can invite weary travellers to take rest there ... ofcourse we will not let them into our house, because its not right to trust anybody.
We will take all near to extinction animals, and take care of them so that they have children and their numbers grow. I am going to plant lots of trees, so that I can get the vegetables and fruits for daily use from them itself.
Me - But kutti, where will you get the money for all this? You know, I have just fallen for your idea, but it isn't that easy to start off on it.
LB - (thinks a bit and states matter of factly) - But Akka, if we start a wild life sanctuary - The Govt will fund us, will it not? So there goes the problem of funds!! Also, I have 2000 bucks in my piggy bank, and my father has saved money for me as well.
Me - (Wow!!!! What do I say here????).
LB - Akka, I won't even go to school, because all the knowledge is available in books, and I can just read them and improve and learn about the world.
Me - However, if you want to get a job later in life, you would need a degree certificate dear boy, and you would have to go to school and then college for that to happen.
LB - But why do I need a job? I can work as an officer in my own Sanctuary and help in the project to make the animals and greenery stay intact. What do you think of this akka? Can you please talk to amma and make her understand that we must do this and we must help our nation grow in the right direction? Akka, we must also control the population growth and stop breaking down trees and forest areas - we must build lots of trees and make people understand that if the trees are all cut down, we will not be able to live any more and lose all the comforts and the beautiful weather that we enjoy. People just understand all this, do they?
Me - True dear boy and its amazing that you have a great idea like this in your little head - and I would love to think that this will happen in the near future. Keep up this thought and work towards your dream. I am sure it will work out some day.
[Isn't it a wonder that a 10 year old loves the world so much and wants to do so much for it. And we, the common people, know all about the imminent dangers, but still pretend that life is just rosy, and turn a bl