the day after tomorrow

While watching the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", I remember Yogi whispering to me that this will happen in our lifetime. I scoffed at his comment then but lately it has got me thinking. May in Delhi is a scorcher. Temperatures can punish and the sun can be merciless with its heat, but the May of 2008 has been the wettest ever! 15 days of sqaulls, cloudy and intermittently rainy days had left me swooning and yet anxious of the things to come. We are 5 days into june and the rainy overcast days continue. The May and June that I knew of is yet to come. Is this the shape of things to come I wonder? Will it be cool in summer and dry and hot in the monsoons? Will Delhi see hailstorms or maybe even snow in the winter? Two years ago, Delhi hit almost zero degrees in January. Yogi and I were coming to office for our morning shift and we saw frost on the cars parked outside. The number of cars on the road seem to swell with each passing day threatening to burst at the seams and spew its pollutants onto the flimsy atmosphere above us. People jostle and gasp for breath at major intersections around the city. The cacophony of sound, the smells and the stress can be gagging.

Its world environment day today and i asked myself what i do to make it a better world? Where do i see my daughter playing? How will she know what the color of the sky is or dance in the puddles that the monsoons leave behind? How will she know the fragrance of the wet earth after the rain or fly a kite with wild abandon? I dont want her to grow up in an artificial environment surrounded by airconditioners and heaters.

In my mind somewhere i believed that climate change would not effect me in my lifetime but now its not my lifetime but my child's lifetime that i have to think about. Recycling, reusing, car pooling and conservation are somethings i'll have to incorporate in my everyday existance. Already we are faced with a fuel crisis. Delhi suffers from acute power and water shortages all year round. I am anxious and I am worried. Its not someone else's problem but a problem that I am living every day and passing onto my child. I step back and think.....Today is the day after yesterday and what I do today can determine the outcome of the DAY AFTER TOMORROW.