Aqua-Cola vs The People of India

It is a hot summer afternoon. The sun is beating down on us mercilessly. Across the road is a water fountain from which flows the most delicious aqua, thanks to the Romans from some 2000 years ago. Yes, we are in Rome where you can find the most beautiful renaissance art / architecture, Bernini fountains, friendly purse snatchers, mouth watering ice creams, yummy pastas & pizzas, fashionable christians, and yes, cool, delicious mountain stream water that is like nectar to parched throats! The last is ofcourse free and one can fill up as many empty coca cola bottles with it as one wants. The supply is endless, as if coming down to us from some celestial plane high above the planes (aka flat earth), its source hidden from mere mortals such as moi. With my thirst quenched, I fill up my empty Fanta bottle with this fountain water for future consumption. It is good to carry a bottle of water in summer, lest one gets lost walking down a deserted pathway leading out of Rome...Many, many miles away, in the dark halls of an old colonial government building in New Delhi a debate is springing to life. A debate that will eventually lead to a ruling that will prevent Coke & Pepsi from manufacturing pesticide contaminated drinks in India. CSE may have won the battle but the war is far from over. After all, one can argue that Pepsi has Shahrukh, Coke has Amir and...what does CSE have? Well CSE has ..Ma....only....to depend on. And mamas they will need in plenty, in order to teach the little ones not to crave for Coke and to fill their little bellies instead with good old water! The motherly logic is very simple. You save money, you remain healthy enough to do your homework and you live longer than grandma. The last one is not guaranteed because a mad KSRTC bus driver can run you down on Kanakpura Road in the time it takes you to bat an eyelid, anytime - day or night. Back in Bangalore, the debate is still raging among the haves, about how to make life better for the have-nots. How can we get more water, better roads, clean air, less filth etc? The problem is that after all the debating, the haves go home feeling good about unloading all their fundas on to the media who in turn promptly print them for the benefit of the desensitized have-nots. What is the real problem here? Why does Rome have drinkable water flowing in its streets, while Lakshmamma has to first boil what comes out of her kitchen tap before giving it to her family? I dont have answers. The answer is not in answers I am afraid. Every Tom, Dick or Harry has answers and that is what we see endlessly on TV or in the newspaper. The answer perhaps is in the way one approaches life itself. Do we live in order to die or do we die in order to live? Deep down in our psyche is the evil doer. Find him and kill him.That is the greatest service one can do to humanity, to the earth and indeed to the whole Universe. Ciao.