Bank Tourism

Place, Chandigarh (North India)

Almost three years ago.

Upon an afternoon, the sun was pouring scorchy heat.

I met a very old age fakir.
He was on his long continuous wander.

But he still made a stop, for giving mould to my amoebic curiosity about life.

He immersed me in a true story about another fakir ... dating back hundreds of years
The fakir in the narrated story was simply interested in visiting banks.
He would walk and walk and walk

And just go and spend months along several banks.

Only that these banks were the banks of and along the small rivers.
The fakir mentioned that the river banks used to be great teachers of human condition.

These river banks were constantly in liquidity position (water+mineral deposits) as the human inhabitants engrossed in eco-friendly occupations, thus ensuring nature's repletion cycle.

These banks ensured self-moderation in humans, because only through right conduct with other co-habitants that bred trust, it ensured no free-rider problems or greed tendencies, thus human bank of trust along the river bank.

People maintaining right end use of bank's withdrawal (need-based withdrawals, avoiding weed adventures)
Honoring bank terms-durations (through right crop rotation as per season)

Living with transparent KYC (Know-your-customer) (as agriculture and water usage could not be hidden from human eye; also hoarding and opportunistic trading was discouraged)

Invoking collaboration for different occupations in and around the settlements  (such that any individual's failure was arrested by support from others), thus human bank of togetherness
These river banks somehow became symbolic for bank of nature's resource and bank of human resource of trust-love-togetherness.

These river banks taught that the nature's ecosystem is dependent on human ecosystem.

The wandering fakir experienced several such banks and happy communities around them.

In one particular instance of another river bank, he observed that there were some different tendencies. Some people started pushing for withdrawing more water beyond capacities, giving up crop rotations, haphazardly enlarging the cultivation areas,
....it had a domino effect
...shortly many people joined in
...slowly the togetherness depleted
..."do unto others before they do unto you" became pre-dominant

...after some years of unbridled self-governance.... the bank collapsed...waters dried...minerals frozen in inertness...vegetation becoming folklore...people becoming hunters of other people.
Egosystem, built on competing ego, first destroyed the bank of human ecosystem and then also the bank of nature's ecosystem.
I sat with fakir through that afternoon. He left with me a wonder and practice of constantly observing the thought-feeling-action and if they are driven by egosystem or ecosystem.

Happy Bank Tourism.

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