REFLECTIONS AT THE POOL TABLE

Its 5'o clock on a weekday and the pool room sounds a bit buzzier than normal. You can probably sense it meters away from the actual game room when u hear the pool balls banging against each other which trust me is very heart breaking ..Oops before I delve in further this pool zone happens to be situated in our prestigious IT Company "V" and is the same company in which I work... Ok now enough of introduction so where were we hmm... yes when u hear the pool balls being shattered from a distance you kind of sense that someone has already occupied the table and probably you have to wait for your turn to play. When you enter the room you see a bunch of people standing around the table which includes ,people who are playing pool, people who are waiting to play pool and of course newbie’s who are simply there to quietly learn the nitty gritties of the game.

The game of POOL is simply astounding as I have never really understood
why people actually like it (which includes me).The objective of the game is to pot the balls into the holes on the table using a stupid stick called cue and the most stunning part is people derive great pleasure out of it. People actually applaud each others shots (potting the ball in the hole) and refer to good players as "champs of the table". The worst part is when you are eagerly waiting to play a game of pool and a bunch of freshers (at the game) are trying to finish a game yeah you are right trying to finish (as they take ages to finish off the table) and you are helplessly standing by the table cursing them till death which they wouldn’t know because you will be smiling at them making them feel as if they are the best poolsters (if there’s such a word) on this planet. Sometimes rookies actually go to an extent of mentoring a "pro" with feeling of pride and arrogance. Now the most baffling thing about pool, when you hold that pool cue and hit the first shot you immediately know how your form’s going to be on that particular day no matter how good a player you are and how much you have practiced .I don’t know weather this happens because of form or bad luck or may be a bit of both (huh) but whatever is the case it feels terrible when you know you are not a bad player and still you are missing all the shots as if its your first day at the table .. Amazing isn’t it? Yeah it is.

The Pool table also happens to be a hotspot for discussing politics, sports and what not! If you want some internal information or any news going around the company the pool table is the just the place… well what else can I tell you about this wonderful place … Yes the tale of the Cues (the playing sticks). These cues will always be in hot demand (well logically it has to be) .We have a bunch of cues out of which half of them could be described as totally crap (no offence) and useless, half of the remaining rest will be in flimsy condition which can go bad any instance, and one or two if luck is on our side will simply be crafted masterpieces which we in our lingo refer to as GC (golden cues).

Late in the night after a busy day the pool room is deserted and there is absolutely pin drop silence as if no one has ever been there for a long long time. The security guard carelessly switches off the lights with an assurance to the tables that people are going to return tomorrow. Next day the story continues…..

GLOBAL WARMING: ARE WE DOING ENOUGH?

The answer to the statement above would be yes, in fact we are doing more than enough to ensure that the environment takes a toll, yes you are right a heavy toll a price which our Earth is paying to protect us and I am sure I don’t have to tell you who’s responsible for this. I exactly don’t know where the world is heading towards from now which is 2008 and wouldn’t even want to know it because looking at the present scenario the future seems to be bleak. On one hand we are rapidly growing in terms of technology and wealth and on the other we are losing the charm and the glory of the nature and if you pick up any statistical survey most of this has happened in the last 100 years. Man has become so hungry to earn wealth and power that the four and a half billion year old earth is almost on the verge of extinction and all of this is due to the universally accepted phenomenon “GLOBAL WARMING”

When I take a bike ride by KBR park( A lush green park full of trees and vegetation in the heart of the city Hyderabad) on a mid summer night when the city oozes after it has been staked like a beacon I literally feel as if I have reached an oasis when I zoom by the park. This I believe is a gentle reminder by Mother Nature as to how important trees are for a healthy and cool environment and now with the boom in the real estate industry I see more trees being cut for land leading to a bigger dent in the ecosystem.

This is just one part of the story, other ventures which are blatantly murdering the environment and rising the global temperature levels are the so called multiplexes (parallel cinema) and shopping malls or in many cases a combination of both. In May 2008 I visited Kolkata for a family do and I was advised to visit this mall which was reportedly the biggest shopping mall in Asia. I (along with my family members) paid a casual visit to this mall … OMG I was simply stunned to see how big a mall that really was. The lighting left me mesmerized as if mini sun was installed in there .It would have been even heart breaking to even imagine the amount of electricity it(the mall)guzzled and the Humungous amount of heat it generated.

That mall was the best place to describe the word “wastage” considering the fact that not even fifty percent of India’s population has access to electricity. This is just an example of one mall in one city, just imagine about the hundreds of such malls across all the big as well as small cities in India and maybe thousands of malls across the globe. Oh Boy It is nothing less than mass destruction, destruction of the environment and the earth, the earth we live in and these are just a few examples of how the world is getting ruined by the rise in the temperatures and the list is simply endless.

If we have to survive on this planet we have to start nurturing the earth and understand how important it is to protect it because it deserves so. Remember! Even a small contribution like switching off the light or monitors (especially CRT ones) can do wonders to the environment at least to some extent. I individually practice it in my daily life whenever possible as it gives me immense satisfaction … and believe it or not it does make a difference!