Where Are The Stars?

It was around 1982, I think… we were sleeping on the rooftop in mid-summer. My attention went to a portion of the sky resplendent, lit up with many stars. I called the attention of my Dad to this, who then told me that this was the Milky Way, Akashganga; I remember being told the story of the Akashganga as per our scriptures, and  about our Galaxy. That memory is still powerful with me – Dad, Me and our family discussing on the rooftop regarding the Milky Way. Another memory of Childhood is the Dhruv Tara, and The Saptarishi…

I recall being told this superb tale by Dad, the story of Dhruv, the boy who became a star; I recall being taught by my Dad how to spot the Dhruv Tara – or Pole Star; locating the Saptarishi, and tracing the Dhruv Tara from the Saptarishi… and many other celestial observations. I even recall the magical moment of seeing a meteor – that was in 1978 or 79, if memory serves me right. These and many other small memories are what made my childhood magical and special…

But if look at today, at my son, it is with a feeling of intense loss and regret that I realise I will not be able to create these special moments for him… how can I, when most of the time, I cant see the Saptarishi, let alone the Dhruv Tara? It is one thing to narrate a story in a home, and quite another to show the Dhruv Tara and tell the story. In the latter case, it becomes an experience, a special moment of communion between father and son. How can I tell him the story of our Akashganga, when he cannot relate to it, not being able to see it in the sky most of the time?

That brings me to the title and the thrust of my article – where are the stars? For, if I pause a moment and think – I come to the realization that I myself have not noticed many stars in the night sky; unlike the resplendent stars spangled night skies of my childhood – the childhood which gave me lasting memories of Dad telling me of Dhruv & of Akashganga. This is a thought that jolts me, and brings me to a realization that the price of our development has been very high indeed; and leads me to wonder : is our path sustainable, or are we on a one-way path to a place we don’t really want to reach? Do we realise the true costs of our path, and the true price we will have to pay?

You might say that just stars vanishing is no big deal; they are still there – it is just that we cannot see them, and that I am being overly sentimental. If we have lost sight of the stars, we have also gained lot more. There are two problems with this narrative; one – it is not a natural phenomena; we are playing around with nature, which is bound to have its consequences. And two – this is a sign of growing pollution in dust, other pollutants, light and more. {Yes, there is such a thing as light pollution}. The deleterious impacts of light pollution alone are serious, to say nothing of the hazardous impact of dust and particulate / non-particulate {gaseous, effluents etc} matter pollution in the atmosphere.

And this is when we have only a small percentage of the population living in cities, in a scenario where the bulk of our people do not earn enough to pollute the atmosphere. The inference is obvious: our path is nowhere close to being a sustainable path to development. We are hurtling towards I don’t know what – but we can be sure that unless we find solutions to the questions that people like me are asking, we are not just asking for trouble, but begging for it. Again, you could state that I am being needlessly pessimistic, and that there is no cause for alarm. If that is your thought – do think once again.

Even with a miniscule percentage of our people well off, the impact on our environment is there for all to see; in the small changes that have happened over the past 30-40 years. These small happenings are but indicators; these we cannot afford to ignore. The literature on Air, Light, Environmental Pollution is there for all to see. May I remind everyone of the Clean Ganga movement? That is emblematic of the impact of our development. Or what about the trees – I can equally easily wonder at the missing trees in our cities. I don’t remember seeing so drab and grey concrete jungles in my childhood! I can also go into the scientific studies on this, but I wont : these hints ought to suffice, in my opinion!

Pavan Misra has rightly observed in his book “From The Ruins Of Empire” -  reviewed here -  The hope that fuels the endless economic growth - that billions of consumers in India and China will one day enjoy the lifestyles of Europeans and Americans - is as absurd and dangerous a fantasy as anything dreamt up by Al-Qaeda. It condemns the global environment to early destruction and looks set to create reservoirs of nihilistic rage and disappointment among hundreds of millions of have-nots - the bitter outcome of the universal triumph of Western modernity, which turns the revenge of the East into something darkly ambiguous, and all its victories truly pyrrhic...

Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine our India with twice as many middle class and above people; with a national per capita income of 20,000 dollars. Just imagine our India with twice, three times as many cars, three times as many two-wheelers, three times as many pollution-causative-emitting people at our middle class / upper class levels. Imagine our roads with that kind of pressure. Imagine the draw on our water resources. Imagine our night skies. Imagine our atmosphere with that level of pollution emittance. The time to do something is now. We need to re-examine our lifestyles in entirety, and get more sensible. For we cannot deny development : thus, the only way is to re-examine our lifestyle – before the Government of the day is forced to take action. That will hurt, bad: this isn’t a fantasy – in India, twice a harsh step of banning certain cars sales has been done. Change before we are forced to change; our lifestyles are NOT sustainable…………

REFERENCES:

Dhruv The Pole Star;  The Story Of The Pole Star, Dhruv; Light Pollution; Air Pollution;