Do you have it in you?
If you are the adventurous sort and have a car, then make a team of like-minded friends. All you need to do is to register yourself to participate in the Rotawheel 07 Treasure Hunt. Crack a few clues, collect some scavenger items in the shortest possible time and claim the "Treasure". There are other prizes too.
So rev up your engines and sharpen your wits.
" Ok don’t go atleast you can solve some puzzles over the mobile sitting comfortably in your room" mumma pleaded, which puzzled me, all right.
One or more of the various Inner Wheel or Rotary Clubs, known worldwide for their social work, organize every now and then Treasure Hunts in Kolkata to rake in money for their well-intended charities. What you need is a car loaded with 2-4 well-intended adrenalin junkies who are ready to risk all for a 3 hr. stunt, a once in a while treasure hunt. My beloved mother is a noble member of one of these prestigious clubs. All excited she’s been talking to people, persuading them, saying “ there are points for everything, how the players are dressed, how their cars are decorated. Preferably a modern theme should be chosen like the Abhi-Ash wedding or the Shilpa Shetty flare up in the media, the more “hatke” (unique and creative) the better.” The pleasure in the play is the thrill in solving some puzzles which will clue us in on certain destinations (“check posts” they call em) and then reaching them as fast as possible to collect scavenger items. The first to reach the “Final Destination” after having solved all the puzzles takes it all.
What mumma doesn’t tell them is what happens in the course of reaching the final destination. The last time she participated, one of her team members, opened the door in a hurry on the wrong side of the traffic flow, which made the door fly, fortunately he/she didn’t get hurt. That didn’t stop them so they met with a minor accident near St. James School when their bumper came off, which they tied to the car with a rope and continued in their quest for winning the most battered car award.
RTA (Road Traffic Accidents) rank as the 11th leading cause of death and accounts for 2.1% of all deaths globally.
It is the second leading cause of death among people aged 5-29 years.
RTA injures and disables approximately 50 million and 20 million people a year respectively.
The above is part of a World Bank report, which also states “mobility should not get priority over human life", mobility haah, isn’t that deep. Who thinks about mobility when there’s even a baser purpose for vehicles, the high speeding, mind reeling “Treasure Hunt”, the proceeds go for charity, everybody’s welcome.
Over 25% of CO2 emissions come from transport. Driving a car is the most polluting act an average citizen commits. Both local and global pollution would be dramatically improved if each car-driving person pledged to use their own car 30 % less. This is a realistic contribution. If car-drivers understood that each time they drove their car they were contributing to environmental degradation and understood the connection between car driving and the damage caused by "natural calamities" such as floods, fires, hurricanes, and droughts - then a more responsible use of motor vehicles will emerge. Reduction in all the uses of fossil fuels is required. – Another all too teachy preachy report, I mean who gives a shit about the alarming rate of global warming or the drastic climatic changes, I’ll be driving just one of the countless cars running on the globe, how will it make a difference. “You are being too dramatic, holier-than-thou and worse of all sober, learn to have some fun” they say, it’s just 3 hrs. of reckless driving with 40 odd cars guzzling a few liters of harmless petrol, “come on”.
Pollution leads to global warming, which in turn leads to changes in sea level, rainfall, and temperature extremes. Rise in sea level is a potential threat to coastal regions like Bangladesh, Southern China and Egypt and for many islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Another major impact will be a higher water vapor content in the atmosphere, which will lead to increase in floods and droughts, which cause more deaths, misery and economic damage than any other disaster. Other likely impacts are on human health (increased heat stress and more widespread vector borne diseases such as malaria) and on the health of some ecosystems (e.g. forests), which will not be able to adapt rapidly enough to match the rate of climate change. The world bank has estimated that Indian are spending Rs. 4550 crores every year on treatment on diseases caused by ambient air pollution
Anyways an intellectual chain-smoker once said, “We are all smokers who know that smoking causes cancer but we are not willing to stop smoking. Our only hope is that cancer will not catch up with us for several years.”
Conclusion: Whatever scientists may say and statistics may indicate ultimately the sad truth can be found in the line of a vintage rock song:
(A gambler gives reason)
You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby,
I don't wanna live for ever.
Band: Motorhead
Song: The ace of spades
