The lesion of gray cloud stretched across the Chennai sky. Raghavan who was serving as the Chief Minister of Indian state of Tamil Nadu, came out of his room and stood on the veranda. “Can you see those gray clouds?” His wife stared at the sky with her mouth wide open. Raghavan looked at the sky. “Yeah, we may face a crisis,” he told her.

Raghavan’s guess was correct. It was a severe pollution meltdown. There was a tremendous amount of media coverage of the crisis.  Raghavan grimaced when the main opposition parties used the crisis to squabble and play musical chairs in the Blame Game.

Raghavan called the Minister of Environment to his office after a while. “The green cover in Chennai needs improvement, sir,” the minister said. “Yeah, sure,” Raghavan said. The minister said, “It’s wasteful to see office spaces unutilized from 5pm to 9am, sir. So we’ll propagate indoor farming in office corridors.”  “It’ll be the first urban farm in Chennai,” Raghavan said, stroking the moustache of his beard. “Is there any specific instruction, sir?” “Create an inventory of Tree species in the area,” said Raghavan. “The study may give an account of Tree diversity, health status, density, and distribution.”

The Minister of Transport entered a little later. “Road congestion and pollution are going up every day, sir,” the Transport Minister said. “Try to make public transport convenient and private cars difficult to afford,” Raghavan said. “Raise the car parking fees too.” “I’ve an idea, sir.” “Feel free to say what you like.” “Our officers have to encourage people to walk, cycle, and use e-scooters, sir,” the minister said. “What a brilliant idea!” exclaimed Raghavan. “We have to build a connector network that will connect every park in the city with a cycle track.”

The Minister of Water Resources entered the official chamber of Raghavan a little later in the day.  “The waterways are polluted by hawkers, farms, and factories, sir.” “Implement a clean-up drive,” Raghavan advised.

Slowly a smile spread across Raghavan’s face as he looked forward to a secure future.                                                      

4.3 21 votes
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Fuji
Fuji(@fuji)
1 year ago

I like this story a lot, Dipayan. Some of the suggestions the Minister made are just brilliant. I especially like the urban farm in the office building! Why not? I also like the idea of making cars more and more expensive to drive and to park. People seem to respond best when their money is threatened. I do have one question. At the end, when the Minister looks forward to a secure… Read more »

Lotchie Carmelo
Lotchie Carmelo(@lotchie-carmelo)
1 year ago

Wow. It is a brilliant story, Dipayan. I hope it will be implemented soon in different urban places. Nice job.

Lotchie Carmelo
Lotchie Carmelo(@lotchie-carmelo)
Reply to  Dipayan Chakrabarti
1 year ago

You’re welcome.

sujoy sarkar
sujoy sarkar(@sujoy-sarkar)
1 year ago

Wonderful Dipayan, loved it.

Indranil Dasgupta
Indranil Dasgupta(@indranil-dasgupta)
1 year ago

Very well written.

Paramita Dasgupta
Paramita Dasgupta(@paramita-dasgupta)
1 year ago

Wonderful…

Julie Harris
Julie Harris(@julie-harris)
1 year ago

This is a great story, Dipayan, full of hope and very creative suggestions. You should send this to the real Minister in Tamil Nadu! I’d like to send it to some of our American Congress people. They seem to be very short of creative ideas. Thank you for a well-written, inspiring read.

Abhijit Ghosh Dastidar
Abhijit Ghosh Dastidar(@abhijit-ghosh-dastidar)
1 year ago

Beautiful story. Sleek storytelling style. Liked it a lot.

Rupak Banerjee
Rupak Banerjee(@rupak-banerjee)
1 year ago

Excellent story. Keep on writing.

Avijeet Sarkar
Avijeet Sarkar(@avijeet-sarkar)
1 year ago

Insightful remedies suggested. Great to see that readers are straight away getting attracted towards them. That fulfills the purpose in a broad sense! Kudos!

Mousam Ray
Mousam Ray(@mousam-ray)
1 year ago

Excellent story.

romi Sengupta
romi Sengupta(@romi-sengupta)
1 year ago

I like the story very much.

Juma
Juma(@juma)
1 year ago

Nice story, Dipayan, with a lot of great suggestions. It flows well and gets a lot of good points across. Good job.

Bhaskar Chakraborty
Bhaskar Chakraborty(@bhaskar-chakraborty)
1 year ago

Very well thought out suggestions. It’s the time to share such ideas to the parliamentary committee. Nice write up Dipayan.

Joydeep Bhattacharya
Joydeep Bhattacharya(@joydeep-bhattacharya1)
1 year ago

Nice story. I like it.

Raja Guha
Raja Guha(@raja-guha)
1 year ago

Bobby you are an incredible writer, and you have developed a lot of writing skills. Keep it up. This platter of yours, was of different taste. It touched my taste buds and rang the message you wish to convey through your post. Best of luck.

Linda Rock
Linda Rock(@linda-rock)
1 year ago

It was good to read a story that provided some innovative solutions to climate change Dipayan, I really enjoyed it.

Subhendu Saha
Subhendu Saha(@subhendu-saha)
1 year ago

Loved the depiction and the way the story unfolds. Well done Dipayan.

Susan Dawson
Susan Dawson(@susan-dawson)
1 year ago

I read this on the day after the British PM’s cabinet reshuffle. Your story makes me imagine a scenario where a leader really would choose the absolute best people for the lead jobs. That would be progress!

Chris
Chris(@chris)
1 year ago

Marianna Pieterse
Marianna Pieterse(@marianna-pieterse)
1 year ago

Dipayan, I liked how the minister took each challenge as an opportunity for positive change, without hesitation. Fuji’s question about why he smiled is an interesting one. I automatically assumed it was because of the positive impact he will have on the climate, but then again, it was election time so he might have an ulterior motive. Nonetheless he had some great ideas to improve the environment. I liked the hope for… Read more »

Sagarnil Pal
Sagarnil Pal(@sagarnil-pal)
1 year ago

Wonderfully written…  ?  ?  A very encouraging appeal…  Good work Dipayan…

Only if…. The real life Ministers had these senses. Hope they do…  ?  For the sake of our future generations…  ? 

Mousam Ray
Mousam Ray(@mousam-ray)
1 year ago

Wonderful

Abha Chhabra
Abha Chhabra(@abha-chhabra)
1 year ago

Impressive writing

Bappa Ghosh
Bappa Ghosh(@bappa-ghosh)
1 year ago

Good one, I have just read it.

mayank upadhyay
mayank upadhyay(@mayank-upadhyay)
1 year ago

Brilliant, nice story, Dipayan, keep it up!!

Arunava Sarkar
Arunava Sarkar(@arunava-sarkar)
1 year ago

Thought-full one….

RIDHVIK RAJKUMAR MITRA
RIDHVIK RAJKUMAR MITRA(@ridhvik-rajkumar-mitra)
1 year ago

Nice story..

Fuji
Fuji(@fuji)
1 year ago

Congratulations, Dipayan. Your story is so inspiring. I read recently about vertical gardens on the outside of skyscrapers in Singapore and other cities, so your minister can add that idea to his re-election list!

Lotchie Carmelo
Lotchie Carmelo(@lotchie-carmelo)
1 year ago

Congratulations on your win, Dipayan. When I first read this story, I knew it would win. And this is it, you won. I am so happy for you. Congratulations again.

Lotchie Carmelo
Lotchie Carmelo(@lotchie-carmelo)
Reply to  Dipayan Chakrabarti
1 year ago

You’re most welcome, Dipayan.

Chris
Chris(@chris)
1 year ago

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