The fast moving train started to slow down; I stood at the gate of the train, waiting for it to stop.
As the train approached the station, I saw her standing there. I was in love with those beautiful eyes the moment I saw them for the first time and those eyes were in love with me when they saw me for the first time.
“It was love in the first sight.” (Pause)
As soon as our eyes met, I jumped out of the slow moving train like a romantic hero, dropped my bags on the station and ran towards her and hugged her tightly and said “I missed you (pause) grandma”
It was a blissful summer morning of 1995; I had gone to Bhopal to spend my summer vacations with my grandparents. Next day, they woke me up at 5’o clock to accompany them for an early morning walk.
We got ready, we walked several kilometres and we sat down near the Lake.
I could see a red orangish colour round ball gleaming and creating brightness around us, I could see the mesmerizing scenery painted green by the evergreen trees, I could hear the chirping of the birds, I could hear the quacking of the swanky duck, I could see the shimmering water reflecting my handsome face, I could see the colourful fish wriggling and shoving each other, I could feel the tranquillity and serenity in the air.
In that moment, time had stood still for me (pause) and nature had embraced me in its warmth of love.
Days passed away, months passed away and years passed away.
& 5 years later, I went to meet my grandparents. Everything looked the same, my grandparents looked livelier and our ancestral house looked grander.
Next morning, we went for an early morning walk.
We walked several kilometres and finally reached the beautiful lake which wasn’t beautiful anymore. On seen the pity condition of the lake,
I was shocked, agitated and furious.
The shimmering reflecting water had become filthy, stinky and mucky.
The water level in the lake had diminished, the tranquillity and serenity in the air was replaced by mist of polluted air (/and pungent smell).
The beautiful fish, which were wriggling and shoving, were dead.
I could see the Coke bottle, which was on somebody’s lips yesterday, floating on the surface of the water.
I could see the Plastic Bags, which were used by somebody to shop in the shopping mall, floating on the surface of the water.
The lake, which was once beautiful, is now contaminated and polluted.
I cursed, yelled and shouted on seeing this hideous situation.
Who could have done this? Why this happened? How is it even possible?
I reckoned for few seconds and realized “In life, we take the most precious things for granted such as our nature. Only when the last tree has died, the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money”.
I couldn’t bear the sight of the dirty lake and said “I want to do something, I want to save our nature but what can I do, I am alone.” (Pause)
Then my grandparents replied “every drop counts”
Fellow toastmasters and dear guest, every drop counts.
Every step that we take can save our environment.
Every morning, we brush our teeth while keeping the water running. According to the Stanford University, on an average a person wastes 1000 litres of water per year. In this room, there are 30 people if we turn the tap off while brushing, (Imagine) we can save 30,000 L of water, enough for the monthly sustenance of a village in Rajasthan.
Another study says that on an average if every individual turn off the unnecessary electricity in the house and especially by turning off the PC and lights in the office, we can save 32MegaWatts of electricity, enough to provide electricity to a city for a month.
We all are law abiding citizen and we stop our vehicle whenever we see the red signal but we forget to switch off the ignition of the engine. If every individual turn off engine’s ignition in those 30 seconds, we can abate air pollution by 10% and preserve 5% of global oil consumption.
Did you know? Every day 10,000 trees are been cut to produce tissue paper which we waste every day. For example, the tissue paper present in the Infosys washroom is made from virgin pulp, which takes 20 years to grow. (Just Imagine) By using a single handkerchief instead of tissue paper, we can save wastage of 30 billion tissue papers annually.
We all admire the impeccable beauty of the Infosys campus and we can make every street of our country as beautiful as our Infosys campus. You must be wondering, how?
Well every person walks few extra steps to throw the garbage in the dustbin in the Infosys campus but why can’t the every person walks few extra steps to throw the garbage when outside the office. By a simple step of throwing the garbage in the dustbin, we can make our streets squeaky clean.
So,
Next time, before throwing garbage in the river, think.
Next time, before throwing garbage on the road, think.
Next time, before polluting our environment, think.
Remember,
“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
If each one of you can follow these simple steps, my purpose of presence here would be fulfilled.
Thank You.
prAts!
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