Tuesday 30 October 2012

Guilty

The work done on the festival site is no short of amazing. Two days ago, it used to be a one square kilometre stretch of wild grassland. The late monsoon had sprouted thick (and thorny) shrubs and bushes all over it. It is now soft, sandy desert land stretching to the dunes. And now the land can be built upon.

Yet, four people have told me today evening that the sword they flexed cuts both ways. They are not entirely happy about what they accomplished. Removing that entire foliage means destroying the habitat of maybe millions of insects and reptiles that live there. If running tractors on the land has not killed them already.

I should have got up and gone...

What price are all those lives on a conscience?

Or on the environment?

Kaptaan tells us that we are to document the entire process of setting up so they don’t have to make the same mistakes next time. They need to make it more sustainable, more eco-friendly. This year, a friend is coming down just to take readings and give them an analysis on the festival’s carbon and water footprint. The aim is to eventually host a 100% Green festival.

But this time, what’s done is done.

Terminator. 'Nuff said.

First, when I BBM-ed Batman an image of the site post-apocalypse, he replied: “Guilty and relieved at the same time.”

Kaptaan: “But what is he feeling guilty for? He’s in Bombay. All the guilt is mine. I’m the one doing all this. It’s all on my head.”

Big Tony: “We must do a puja before we go to Pushkar. We have killed too many today.”

Sheriff: “Yes, so many lives gone, no? This is wrong.”

Kaptaan: “Bas***d, you have sinned too much already. This is nothing for you.”

Sheriff: “...That’s also true.”

No comments:

Post a Comment