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Silence of the within

  Pablo Neruda ascended the podium and said: Brothers and Sisters of the world, lend me your ears for a moment. We can still save the earth if we wish to. All that we need to do is slow down a bit. All this rush, all this single-minded pursuit of so-called development, is not going to take us any further because the earth is dying. We are killing the planet. With all the wars we fight day in and day out. Green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire. Our skies are dying unable to breathe. We have sent too much gas and smoke up there. Our rivers are dying. And so are our seas. Death is our primary contribution. To the planet. And to fellow human beings as well. To all the creatures on the planet. We are a belligerent lot. We love to fight. If there is nothing to fight for, we will create new idols and fight for their sake. We arm our gods with deadly weapons. There is poison in our hearts. And our hearts overflow profusely into our rivers and forests and oceans and the skies.

Terrible Human Touch

Image Courtesy: theodysseyonline Human beings make a difference even to the planet.  According to geologists, human beings have altered the fate of the planet.  The earth has now entered a new geological epoch which they call Anthropocene.  The 12000 year-old Holocene has come to an end. Human activities have altered the very nature of the planet.  It is no more the mountains and their glaciers, or the oceans and the cyclones, that determine the fate of terrestrial life.  Man has reasons to be proud of himself: it is he who shapes the destiny of the earth. Should he be ashamed of himself, rather? Human activities have increased the acidity in the oceans which in turn will make the marine creatures to evolve and develop shells to withstand the man-made poison in the saline waters.  Geologists predict that future limestone will come from the shells of these marine creatures. Nitrogen content in the atmosphere has been affected.  River deltas have shrunk.  The very

Time Machine

The Cast Narrator Abhinav – student Vinay – student Chetan – student Pradeep – person in 2114 Ravi – person in 2114 Shiv – person in 3114 Setting : A time machine is kept at the centre-back.  Narrator:         Mankind has travelled a long distance from the time we evolved out of the apes.  Somewhere along the way, we became civilised.  We started living more like human beings with reason and imagination than like animals with endless hunger.  We leant to respect others, their languages, religions, cultures.  We learnt to cooperate rather than compete.  We replaced kings and dictators with elected leaders.  We opened up national borders in the name of globalisation.  The world has become a global village.  Everyone is linked to anyone in the world.  The smartphone and the internet, chat zones and the digital technology – together they had made our life very easy, comfortable and lovely.  But is it really a world better than the past?  Will the future be better