Paper Trail

Interesting name!

Ten Commandments of Paper Conservation
1. Do not subscribe to newspapers [but poor folks wrap their 'roti' in them!]

2. Instead, use libraries or ...[these have become extinct in Pakistan].

3. Do not print unless it is absolutely required. [except MONEY of course].

4. Instead, save everything electronically and make a backup copy onto a CD or USB. [think of the tons of CDs, DVDs and newer storage formats with their idiotic conversion problems]

5. Print on both sides of the paper. [let's leave the toilet-paper out of this]

6. Use discarded paper as scrap paper for handwritten notes. [this I do religiously anyway, now I'll over-do it!]

7. Prudently use cleaning papers: kitchen rolls, paper towels, toilet papers. [try telling the housewives and domestic servants that!]

You forgot to mention:
Avoid toilet-paper, and return to the mighty 'lota'!

Re: # 1 tahir
Truly funny. Really enjoyed your comments with a big chuckle. That is what I love about Chowk. Such witty feedback. Often will put a writer in its place - including myself. I admit that obviously and inadvertently the article was written for the audience living in the West It originated with my disgust at seeing the abuse of paper in the office where I work. In fact, I was boiling like a pressure cooker for sometime, then I wrote a small poem and printed (sorry have to print it - could not recite it in the corridors otherwise they would send me for psychiatric assessment). So I printed it in big fonts and hung it in our print room. Lo and behold, all offenders were scurrying to hide their print outs. Soon a big drop in printing activity was noticed. I was so pleased to find that that a little poem can prove to be so effective. Power of words. (Pen more powerful than sword as they say.) The poem is copied at the end.
Regarding your comments:
1. vey sorry - but subscribers are not the one wrapping rotis ...
2. What a pity - go Google - join www.netlibaray.com or similar - but yes, very painful. Libraries = state of culture. sigh... to paraphrase Shakespeare "something is rotten in the pity state of Pakistan'
3. consider barter ...
4. Serious topic - no more in a serious mood
5. but you can fold and reuse; that would be equivalent to two side printing
6. Congratulation, you are a role model
7. fire them ...(joking) ...
and no, I did not forget mighty 'lota' - I gave up convincing my gora friends of its blessings - so omission was intentional. Do you think a separate article is in order ;-)

A Poem for Obsessive Printer Users
“I print this, I print that, I print incessantly
I print every thing which shows up on my screen
An e-mail which said, “Will u?�
And the reply I sent with the “Sure will do�
Every report on the website of my interest
A piece I bumped into or the news latest
The five hundred page data logging scoop
Which I may not find time to peruse
There were no alarms in that anyway
But it feels good to see it on printed page
What shows on the screen disappears
What is on the paper is really the real�

“But dear Mr. A and Ms. B
Paper comes from the trees
They grow not as fast as they are hacked
On so many fronts our Earth is under attack
Learn the new ways; so earth may be saved
It is no less than our home which is at stake�

Re: # 2 Anthony Quinn
When did you return to Earth?

"Really enjoyed your comments with a big chuckle. That is what I love about Chowk. Such witty feedback. Often will put a writer in its place".

You will soon find out that everyone here does not exactly smile when I respond! But do I care? You will also find out that you hate CHOWK for not moderating and allowing this site to frequently degenerate into an (what's that word that starts with an 'o' and ends with a 'y'?).

I put many interacters and writers in their respective places; some have not returned, and the rest have changed their names and come back. This putting the offenders in their places (kennels) is very pleasant work actually!

As long as one is witty about Pakistan and abusive towards Islam, the interacters remain very happy. THIS is what's fashionable these days.

"'lota' - I gave up convincing my gora friends of its blessings - so omission was intentional. Do you think a separate article is in order?"

Write by all means; let's see what you can muster!

For wider smiles and audible chuckles, visit my grandpa's page at http://www.chowk.com/writers/775

Regards.

Mutaal,
Your concern stems from the gross overconsumption of a commodity that is produced at a very heavy cost of damage to the environment and ecosystem..........well said.....not really!!

With a market economy and a consumer society in which over production and overconsumption are motivating and driving factors and the speculators (the fathers and mothers of monopoly capitalism)get worried if people are not buying and consuming, we better can you expect?

True that you want to teach the people to be more "responsible" and "aware" of the environmental issues, but that in itself becomes a paradox and an anti-thesis and will only achieve a very marginal success, if at all.

With the speculators playing with the markets resulting in tremendous increase in food and oil prices while the production is at its all time high, clearly shows where is the world heading towards.

Why only paper, look at the industrial plastics and chemicals that have encroached into all nook and corners of our household, the shopping bag menace....a very convenient menace and the resulting disaster to the ecology of our dear planet. What about leather?, every individual wears leather shoes and other footwear. Without go into all the sketchy details, I just want to say that, if you have visited Kasur, you must be knowing that it is a permanently polluted town with children having birth defects and diseases...why, because of its tannery industry...if at all you like to call it an industry.

Lot more to talk about.

Najeeb Kazmi

Re: # 3 tahir
Your quip about quin is quite qute. But know that I have not returned to Earth. Though my name is not Anthony Quinn, I do live in and speak from "the other world" – that is why I naively trust so much – even the Chowki crowd. And do I care? No and yes: when it is clever or complimentary sure I do, and when dim-witted or contemptuous – I say, who cares? But mostly, in MY WORLD all I see is GOOD- a good balance – every dim wit has a bright space and every quick witted has a blind spot. And that makes my world very rich and I enjoy watching it – and that is why I enjoy Chowk where people unknowingly take their clothes off and it is such a pageantry. Let that not be moderated.
I know the feeling of the high you get when, as you say, you drive offenders to the ‘kennels’ I have not yet had a chance to read what you referred to. Just glanced over a few. You seem to be very active and must have fought many battles. A true veteran. But don't let that go into your head - “this world is a stage� … and who is the audience? Think about that. I will read more of your interacts and iLogs in due course.(Oh, is that (775) really your grand pa –don’t know if u r joking or serious) Regarding lotas, I will need help… my sense of humour is not that developed. That is not a serious thing anyway – (I mean the idea of the article – not may lack of humour – that would be very serious matter indeed. Best wishes for now.

Re: # 4 dana-e-raaz
Dear Najib, good thing that you revealed your identity otherwise I would have been wondering as to of which ‘raaz’ this ‘dana’ is aashna … ha aa.
Joking apart … thanks for the trouble - I mean comment. You see, it is the passion which drives the intellect. Marx did not write ‘das Kapital’ because he was driven by intricacies of the economic theories or philosophical treatises. He was driven by the empathy which he felt for the conditions of working classes. Or Buddah left his palace and wife and luxuries after he saw the sufferings on the streets. So (smile – don’t get too serious) I saw thoughtless consumption of paper in my office and I wrote a poem (read # 2) and then an article (this one). What else I could do … because I am neither Marx nor Bhudda nor even poker chip of any party or group. So let me work in my small way to do a little service in my own style … I get scared by big words, big images, big ideas. And I don’t care if my modest labor is an effective service or not … I do not do things for any pre-meditated ends. I do it because I want to be ME - “teaching … awareness� … who is even thinking about that. To rephrase Bhulay:
Naa mein nasih wich magzinaN, na koi teacher saminaraN
Ikko alaf hay maray darkar, ik hee kam hay kaji karaN
I hope you are not arguing that as it is so futile facing the tyranny of our times that you either do nothing or you do something really big. I just find it hard to figure out the thrust of your argument.
The way I look is this: you do things big or small only to yourself … you do not do anything to anyone … (you = we all)
Think … think what passion drives you … think calmly, unassumingly and deeply, think beyond your persona, think beyond words, … think what passion really drives you … and you will know the ‘raaz’ a notch more … Bhulya, ki janaN mein kaun.
And may be you will go to Kasur and write a new ‘das Kapital’
Cheers.
PS: yes, I have a poem about plastics too, watch my iLog … sometime soon.
And working on an article about horrible chemicals they put in all the cleaners we use in our homes. And another article about a sneaking epidemic – the one which may wipe out civilization faster than anything else … guess what?
One last thing so that I don’t forget. My latest discovery. Andrew Harvey. He is one trying to build all those bridges humanity is craving for. I see many of my ideas formulated and developed in his work. Authority on Rumi etc. See http://www.andrewharvey.net/ and you will know what I am talking about. Soon will send an article to Chowk based on his interview with CBC.
Cheers again ... Mutaal Mooquin