There is someone sitting by me with an empty smile to face the world with. This person seems calm about his androgynous appearance and holds a certain cola beverage in hand.
“Hi”, I initiate a conversation.
“Hi”. More vacant expressions covered with polite smiles. Someone looks away again and once in a while the eyes slide sideways to meet mine. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Umm, yeah… just, I see you here almost everyday… And it seems like you’re eating pretty much the same set things, repeatedly. Maybe it all looks the same from where I’m sitting…”
We are both in a restaurant of sorts, sitting at separate tables, alone - as are a whole lot of other people sitting around their respective tables having their meals and drinks. A TV plays in one corner.
A confused Someone frowns and replies,
“Oh it’s the same things…But what about it?”
“Well, just wondering why you like it so much.”
“Well you’re eating the same thing you know…” Someone leans all the way over to my table and stares at the tray kept in front of me.
We’re both sitting faced with the same things on the tray in front of us, except I’m holding on to a diet coke. I nod,
“I am, but something I read had me wondering why I pick this up to eat every second day. I couldn’t come up with anything plausible; I thought you’d have an answer as a connoisseur of this rather dubious looking substance.”
“Hmm, well mostly because I know exactly what it tastes like, it may not taste as good as I imagined it would but it tastes the same everyday… the bread, the chips, the coke, the patty. The predictability is, well a little reassuring I guess”
“But, it doesn’t really taste good… and it doesn’t look good either…”
“It does look better in the photographs doesn’t it?” We both stare out at this huge poster staring back at us, bright red with this beautiful looking spread kept atop a clean white tray. A happy looking chappie sits behind it licking the crumbs off his lips.
“Yep.”
“Yep.”
We both go back to concentrating on our foods… If one looks busy while eating, it negates the guilt one feels over not working over the lunch break, “I’m taking a break but not really enjoying it, and I’m trying hard as heck to think only about my work that comes after…”
“Cookie?” I look up to find Someone’s hand outstretched, waving a cookie under my nose, “Made from real butter and chocolate.”
“As opposed to?” I shake my head and push the hand away, “Well, no thank you.”
“You know I don’t ALWAYS eat the same things… sometimes when I remember how people tell me about the excessive sugar in the colas and I pick up a juice pack instead - its natural and healthy.” Someone is leaning over eagerly over the tray of food and staring at me.
“But the natural juices aren’t really natural… they’re like bottled full of sugar.”
“Well yes, but its either this or seven minutes of waiting at a juice shop…or making my own! No, I’d rather put my body through some experimentation, nothings happened to me so far right?”
“Well that’s what bothers me. I know these things are bad for me… what with the hidden chemicals, the pesticides, the extra amounts of sugar, flavourings and preservatives, I know its amazingly bad for the environment and I even know about how the people at the root level , the farmers and workers are being badly exploited by these big boy markets… apart from the complete annihilation of the local produce – I know all of this… and I still haunt super markets and shockingly it seems like these shops have nothing but processed plastic imitations of what used to be called food. And I know the packaging lies, but look at me… I’m still picking up things like Slim milk, biscuits and some thing that “tastes like butter.” And here I am eating entrails of an overfed chicken talking to someone who barely cares about any of this coming out of my mouth!!”
Someone looks one with great concentration at the empty food trays and chews thoughtfully at a bite of it. Its washed down with a glug of cola and a satisfied loud sigh.
I go on… “Are we that unconcerned about where our food comes from? People don’t even know the beginning of the food process, hell, they really think their milk comes straight from a cow which is roaming free in beautiful pastures…
“You paint quite a landscape of crises. You’re wrong about my not caring though. I care, only - people like us, we’re not a position to do much about it are we? Its not like we’re presented with viable options from any where else…the government is herding us all to a direction where we can make more money, so people find it easier to support the industry and the market. We’re a richer and a more stable country for it.”
Knocks on wood.
“But that’s only catering to the upper thirty percent of the population… what about the rest of the people?”
“What about them? They don’t affect me… On the other hand I get access to more and more branded products. Of course, then certain things have started cropping up that have taken to my attention… the weather changes and the hike in food prices linked to it.”
“You know our food industry produces more carbon emissions than the transport industry? That might have something to do with the weather pattern changes you mentioned.”
“Sure, but we like to see instant changes take place to reinforce such statements as proofs. I don’t see a cloudy puff of carbon emissions float out of this packet of chips when I pop it open… Lets face it, things are how they’ve always been. As far as I remember it, the rich have always been taken care of a little better. We’re living in the age of the TV, and if someone claims certain things are bad for us… we like to see it happen. You see, we’re already a population comprising mainly of brainwashed sheep. We don’t really know the world beyond the damned fences… even though that world existed not so long back. We’re good at forgetting and have so many other things to distract us from even pondering about such things… hell, I’d be surprised if most people even know about the fence.
Those who do… like you and I - well look at us. I don’t even want to experiment with my bread, how do you think I’d fare with a whole new lifestyle.”
“Some people have done it you know… jumped over the fence, survived and have no intentions of coming back. Some of us just do it in dreams, but can’t seem to want to give up on everything we already have…”
“Ofcourse we can’t, even things I don’t need and hardly use have become a part of my identity. My bike, which falls apart every other day and what about my Jacuzzi, no one uses it… but you know, it looks great on my social resume. That’s what money is about now hon. Why do you think people from the villages come out here… people want to be known and have a reputation. The things we own reflect a kind of a lifestyle that we can afford. This packet of Oreo cookies in my hand shows that I have enough money and knowledge about such products to make such a choice.”
“Okay, what do you do with the reputation?”
“What?... Well, its not so much what you do with it, its about having it. Much like my Jacuzzi.”
“That makes no sense whatsoever. All you’re doing is playing puppet to the industry and media and pumping your money into this whole system. So I away you’re sponsoring the destruction of this planet….,”
“Well heres what… how about you come up with something that would help me do my two bits for the planet without having to give up on my comforts and conveniences… and I’ll do it. Okay?
“Fine! I will.”
“Fine!”
Someone stares at the last bit of my cola…. I finish it.
“You hear about the summer sale going on at the malls?...”
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