The downtown in Los Angeles has a unique way of dealing with the growing problem of grass and weeds sprouting upon overgrown vacant plots, reported ABC News, in one of its recent webcasts. Instead of using gas-powered machines and mow it down, the city officials are using more natural and cheaper solutions.
It was a delight to view a herd of 100 goats grazing on a hill against the backdrop of skyscraper glass towers and the neighborhood of Hollywood celebrities. The city’s re-development agency says that it costs them $3000 as against $ 7500 to deploy weed whackers. This step also provides the friendly animals breakfast, lunch and dinner for days at a stretch.
That indeed is a novel way of tackling a problem, and a viable alternative to manpower and machinery. Yes, from time immemorial it has been alternatives all the way, be it to bring about economy, efficiency, or effectiveness.
Alternative energy by far is probably the most talked about. To the conventional hydroelectric energy, we now have thermal, wind, solar, or nuclear fuel to provide alternatives or to supplement it.
It is in pursuit of nuclear power as a viable alternative to India’s much-needed energy that a confidence motion had to be passed at the Parliament before signing an agreement with the US government. As a consequence, the main constituent of the coalition, the Congress party, had to end its marriage of convenience with the Communist party and had to work for an alternative - an understanding with another party.
In the wake of shooting gas prices recently, the automobile sector is all set to provide an alternative – introduce an electrically operated car. General Motors is working on a proto type, and the final version is likely to roll out in 2010.
In India, Tata Motors are all set to come with an Indian alternative. In a couple of years they plan to produce an electric car for city use, with French collaboration. But we shall keep our fingers crossed on this, given the fate of their much publicized Nano car, at Rs 100 000 (say, $2200). Due for launch in October 2008, the project lies a hapless victim of political overtones.
In any case, should the electrically run automobiles take the world by storm, the oil-rich countries, the Middle East in essence, may have to look for alternatives to generate income, if their already accumulated huge wealth should stay untouched. Maybe, they could focus on promoting tourism what with Dubai boasting of the tallest skyscraper in the world, or its unparalleled housing complex where every house steps out straight to the seashore. Alternatively, these countries could gear themselves more to manufacturing, following the outstanding example of China. The other day it was reported that UAE was keen to buy out the SUV, Hummer, and shift the plant to that country, with several US automobile giants planning closure of their SUV segments one after the other.
‘Alternative medicine’ is one expression where the word ‘alternative’ irrevocably got prefixed to it. The origins of many of these systems – Ayurveda, Unani, or Siddha – can be traced to the BC era, and the modern medicine (also referred to as English medicine in India) made its foray much later. But it is an anomaly that the ones surfacing earlier have been reduced to the ‘alternative’ status.
While on a duty travel to a developed country during active service, some expressions that I added to my vocabulary included, ‘alternative settlement areas’, ‘alternative population market’, etc.
As I pen these lines, I received a video clipping from my doctor-friend, a nephrologist, featuring his interview in an important Asian channel. The subject was kidney transplant. At one stage, the interviewer asked a question to one of the panel members, “So, would you call it a ‘donation’, or ‘sale’ when one gives his kidney to the other for a consideration?” The doctor said, “Alternatively, I would call it reimbursement.”
That reminds me of my British friend. He is by profession an editor, and as a hobby an interviewer and radio-jockey for a breakfast show in Europe. If ever he has to say that he hates a particular person, which is seldom the case, he would avail himself of the alternative, “He is not one of the persons whom I like the best.”
Back home (USA, I mean), the House of Representative having voted against President Bush’s $ 700 billion bailout plan, George Bush and his advisers gave it an alternative name, ‘buy out’, for consideration by the Senate. And the Congressional leaders bought it.
Of the dozens of email messages that get forwarded to me, one is about a millionaire with a severe eye pain. He consults hundreds of doctors, but with no improvement. Finally a monk suggests him to see things only in green. The millionaire buys tons of paint and colors in green whatever he was likely to see around. After a few months the monks visits him. The millionaire’s assistants hurry and pour buckets of green paint on the monk so that the millionaire sees him only in green. Upon this, the monk laughs and says, “Alternatively, if only he had put on a pair of specs in green, he could have solved all this labor.”
(V.V. Sundaram, retired from publishing services in a UN organization, is based in Bay Area – vvsundaram40@gmail.com)
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