THE NEED TO STEP OFF THE TREADMILL, EVEN IF FOR A DAY

We are so locked into predictable routines in life and work that we miss sight of the things that are really important to us—like the air we breathe

- HARISH BIJOOR

Think what you did yesterday. Think what you are doing today. Think what you and I will do tomorrow. In many ways, all of us are doing the same thing every other day. We are locked into our predictable lives. Our way of work and play is locked into a predictable mode. We do the same things every day, and it looks as if you and I are on the treadmill of a running daily life. In rare moments, the treadmill slows down and at times it speeds up. All the time we hope for the pace we are used to, to resume. The moment it does, it's business as usual.

The purpose of this piece today is to remind us—and maybe even jolt us—to jump out of the way we live. Are we focusing all the while on things we must not? Are we too focused on the smaller issues? As we focus on small issues, are we forgetting the bigger ones? Are we outsourcing the focus on these larger issues to the governments that we mandate to govern us? In the bargain, do we miss the real issues for the not-so real?

Let me list a set of things that demand our focus, but don't get enough of it, like for instance, air pollution. In the week gone by, I found myself coughing my way out of a smogged-up Delhi. The day I landed, the air quality index or AQI touched a dizzy high. Most of the day, as I ploughed my way through the fog, it remained at a hazardous level. I went through a 'smogathon' of my own. While I was fortunate enough to live in a cocoon of a hotel that assured me that the AQI within the premises was perfect, I pity all those breathing in air quality that is substandard.