Water & Global Warming

Weather has become so hot in Mumbai. Though it has always been sultry and humid due to surrounding Arabian Sea, but did not feel so hot. As the afternoon sets in, I can clearly see the dwindling number of people in the streets. What’s up? There is so much talk about global warming on TV, among friends and among general intelligentsia. I noticed a very dangerous sounding scroll; ‘Will Mumbai get drowned?’ rolling by, on a Hindi news channel. It thought it was too direct a message. It may in fact work against the idea of making citizens aware. It may scare them and make them quit the city itself! If a common man in his individual capacity feels like selling his house; take the money and shift to another city to set up his business, it may not be too bad. But if a few business houses decide that their factories are near the sea and may get non-functional in another 10-20 years, then the matter is entirely different. If no one invests in a city by the sea since it may get affected by the predicted rise in sea levels, there will be an out flux of people from those cities which will become unmanageable.

I have no idea how seriously the sea level rise is being taken by the corporate world, because it has not been noticed so far. I also can’t claim how real the threat is. There are a lot of panic stricken loud voices on this topic presently; much more than any other time in the past.  

There are descriptions and details of receding glaciers and their rate of reduction. Scientists have been feeding us with the data of how many meters of ice per year each of the glaciers is loosing? What is thickness of snow cover then & now and reduction in the water levels of various rivers? Ice cover on both poles, Arctic and Antarctic is too under threat, along with the lives of Penguin, Polar bear and so many other species. 

But when an old Hindu holy man near Gangotri tells in a camera interview that he has noticed a certain part of Ganga had receded by a distance of about half a kilometer in last 20 years, then it gets serious. This personal first hand experience of the global warming must be believed. Actually effect of this phenomenon can really put the world in a much worse situation than the current problems of religious fundamentalism or terrorism. From the times immemorial the civilizations have come up near flowing water bodies. Cities have sprung up and thrived on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmputra, Nile, Thames and Amazon. Water of Ganga in India has already become much more polluted than it has ever been in the past. The reason is that the ratio of amount of water and the pollutants has become very unhealthy now. Many Hindu devotees say that now the color of water has changed and its taste too is not the same. In India we worship all the rivers, because they sustain life. For us, any element that helps you live well is equated to God. Other than its mythological importance, Ganga has been the largest provider of life to so many cities in the northern part of India, before finally becoming one with the Bay of Bengal near Kolkata.

In my opinion if the rate of ice melting in the mountains is higher now, then the water levels in the rivers actually should rise rather than reducing. Of course it will dry off totally after all the ice is used up. The water in any river will reduce only if the total ice cover in its mother glacier has already reached below its critical limit. I don’t think that is the case as yet. In the near past too Ganga has never got flooded in summer due to excess ice melting in Gangotri.

Grand Viraat

Naval staff that has to sail on naval ships or in submarines faces different kinds of medical or health challenges than generally faced by a common man on earth. I learnt this when I recently I did ‘sound’ for a documentary on the topic of sickness and cures related to people working on ships or submarines.

Aircraft carrier INS Viraat is a very large ship. When it sails fully staffed, it has 1500 personal on board in various capacities. It has a number of doctors, psychologists and physical instructors and trainers. Once off to other shores, it may take a few months before it touches land back again. This kind of situation may make people lonely and depressed. And there are quite a few health problems that come up due to this psychological effect on men. This ship has an about 20 bed sick bay, an operation theatre, dental care centre and X-ray facility. I noticed that stomach aches and other stomach related disease were the most common problems.  

This ship is really large and it has a huge amount of open space for taking that, all important feel good walk on the tarmac and just being under the open sky does make one feel uplifted mentally. Tarmac is a great stress reliever. There is a well equipped gymnasium too and people are encouraged to use it. The kitchen is kept very neat and the food is cooked very hygienically to avoid any sickness starting right from here. A doctor is designated to taste various dishes before the meal time is announced - every time. Staff is stays light hearted by watching films and other TV programs. They have also their own games and cultural entertainments. I guess mostly the new entrants; junior staff or mentally weak people may be succumbing to depression and its after effects.

I am sure the life on INS Viraat would be considered heaven compared to life on a submarine. The submarine that I got a chance to visit was quite small. After every 6 steps I had to either hop over something or duck under. It is all full of machines. When under water and on move; there may be a staff of not more than 25 personnel. Life here is really very different and very challenging too. It has very specialized and delicate health requirements. To get an idea, since there is no space to move around or exercise, people would be putting on too much weight. To counter this they are given a diet, low in carbohydrates. There is no fried or fatty food like butter or Ghee. In a submarine people mostly get hurt while walking in hurry. But there are much more depression related problems compared to a ship. One could easily get claustrophobic in such limited space, where there is no chance of sun light or fresh air for extended period. Only the watches can tell you whether it is day or night. Here staff is not supposed to do any cardio vascular exercises, like spot jogging, due to limited amount of Oxygen available. There is a machine on board that converts Carbon dioxide into Oxygen and that machine cannot be over loaded to exceed its capacity, at any rate. This is a very dangerous point. In war situations a submarine may not surface for weeks. So the Oxygen supply cannot be tempered with. Really, I guess this must be the most difficult defense job. And that is the reason Indian Navy does not select crew for a submarine; but the cadets have to volunteer to join it. After that there is rigorous training involving physical and mental toughness. There is just one doctor on board. The TV room is designed to convert into an operation theatre. There is a story of a Russian submarine, where the sole doctor had to operate on himself in an emergency. Due to complicated internal air pressure, use of anesthesia is not recommended for an operation.

Visiting our earlier aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (now a museum) had been my dream for very long. I knew that only a staff of that ship will be able to help me get on board. I was happy that now it was open to public, but then it was not the real thing. Then India got Viraat and this documentary project soft-landed in my lap. But I had absolutely no idea that not only I will get a chance to enter an aircraft carrier; but also a submarine. Wow!

Homage to Abbaji

A concert titled, 'Homage to Abbaji Ustad Allarakha', has become a regular annual feature in my life. This year too our friend Beena sent me passes to attend the musical show on Feb 3 at the Shanmukhananda Hall.

There was an accent on percussions. There were Abboss Kosimov (Uzbekistan), Terry Bozzio (USA) and Giovanni Hidalgo (Puerto Rico). Indian contingent had Ranjit Barot, Taufiq Qureshi, Fazal Qureshi, Vijay Chauhan (amazing Dholak) and of course legendary Zakir Hussain himself, who was at the helm of it all. There were no melody players, just a keyboard guy for accompaniment. Abboss Kosimov is a simple young man. He looked like a villager from Kabul; who had been dressed in king’s robes. He played ‘Doira’ that looks like our Duffli or Duff. But he was doing amazing things with just that simple instrument. Sometimes he used two of them. He also did tricks like throwing one in the air and catching it on beat. Terry Bozzio was very stylish. His drum set was self-designed and weighed 800Kg. He was tall, thin and a very good looking man. He had an ideal look of a popular and successful drummer. When he sat in the middle of the drums, one could hardly see his face. There were bells and dishes like things hanging all around him including on top and even behind. So sometimes he would have to turn away from the audience to play parts hanging behind him. Zakir said that it was very difficult to get his heavy instrument to Mumbai by air. Giovanni Hidalgo was a sweet Spanish looking happy guy. He too was surrounded by conga type drums all around him. His hands moved very fast covering nearly a circle. He sweated the most. He constantly reminded me of Diego Maradona.

I had 4 passes with me. So, 3 more people could have come along. But I realized that people have different tastes and priorities. I had a minor enlightenment on this point. I realized that when we have less than our needs, we are obviously tense or worried. But I had extra passes with me and yet I was tense; thinking that passes are going waste. I guess to be tense because you have things in excess, would be the worst kind of misery. Until last year I used to take a lot of effort to ask friends to come along and still there would be extra passes. This year I realized that why should I be tense just because I have more than my own need. As soon as the realization set in, I got relaxed, put my bag on my own side seat and enjoyed swaying with the rhythmic sound waves. rhythmic sound waves.