Chapter 51
They all finished their lunch and drank cold fresh water from the mountains. This mountain water is actually mineral water in the truest sense. The water percolates through rocks containing minerals and the water is seen coming out of the sides of the mountains in the form of tiny waterfalls where anyone can fill his gla.s.s etc. and quench his thirst. This water seems to have been collected in a similar manner.
Shena thought she should ask Mono whenever she got a chance.
The packets containing their Lunch were made of a biodegradable substance. The tetra packets containing the cold water also seemed to be made of biodegradable stuff. There was a sign on the packets to dump them in a dustbin kept inside the car.
Within 20 minutes they reached the landing pad at the arrival tunnel of Town L. The cars stopped at their respective slots and the doors opened. Everyone was surrounded by the Orbs emitting white light. The Orbs once directed, would always follow orders without questions unless the work a.s.signed to them clashed with their conscience.
They got out of the cars and started to follow Mono.
They again saw three hazy statues in various stages of doing something. It was just like what they had seen when they had reached the departure tunnel at Town M, Town I, Town J and Town K. Town L was much nearer to Town M, but it was an abandoned Town. Maybe, it was the only town near to Town M but not at all on the visiting list. Hence, there were fewer people at the entry tunnel.
All were a bit apprehensive about this town due to the cruel stories they had heard at Town K. To cover up their fear of the unknown, they started asking Mono questions.
"The bottled water in the cars that we drank, was it treated or untreated?" Shana asked Mono.
"We do not need to treat the water as it comes treated by the mountains naturally. The rocks and stones as well as the soil filters the water and also adds the necessary mineral contents to the water." Mono answered.
"Even I have a question?" Zen
"Yes, we use the old bark of the trees and the fallen branches to manufacture thick paper and use that for packaging. We also use biodegradable bottles, plates, bowls, cups, forks, knives, and spoons. You can even eat them as these are edible. These are made, rice, wheat, millet, etc. and have flavors like sugar, ginger, cinnamon, c.u.min, carrot, etc."
"Even in your cities above, a person by the name of Narayana Peesapathy had come out with a company called Bakey's that has manufactured 1.5 million spoons made from rice, wheat, and millet in eight different flavors: sugar, ginger-cinnamon, ginger-garlic, celery, black pepper, c.u.min, mint-ginger, and carrot-beetroot."
" When these cutlery items are left in the packaging, a Bakey's spoon lasts up to three years; exposed to the elements, the spoons will decompose in four to five days, "or be eaten by other animals, similarly to another biscuit." In contrast, it takes the average plastic bottle 450 years to break down."
"Then there are edible water bottles developed by Ari Jonsson from Iceland his designed bottle starts to decompose immediately once it is empty instead of taking thousands of years to decompose. The ingredient used to make this bottle is red algae that you usually use to make agar. Agar was discovered in the 17 century in j.a.pan and is used in many Asian desserts as Yokan (a red bean jelly), it is also used as a vegetarian setting agent instead of gelatin. Agar has been used in science cla.s.ses to grow things. When the agar is mixed with water it becomes molded clay which can be used by kids. The bottle Jonsson created needs to be filled with liquid in order to retain shape."
" But once you have finished drinking the liquid within, the bottle starts to shrink and decomposes."
"As regards edible plates, these have been created by a technology company called Biotrem. They have made edible/ disposal plates. These plates are made in Poland from natural wheat bran, and small amounts of water packed together into a solid plate shape with high pressure and high temperatures."
"Both hot and cold food can be served on these plates, and they can even be used in ovens/ microwaves. These plates are totally edible. If you can't eat your plate then there is no need to worry as it is entirely biodegradable. It decomposes within 30 days. It is said that 10,000 plates of bowls can be produced from one ton of edible wheat bran."
"So, we are not doing anything different. In your cities, these things are still in the nascent stage whereas in our little world we had implemented environment-friendly products a long time ago. This implementation not only includes paper, but edibles utensils, even clothes, and construction material, etc."
"Any other questions?" Mono asked with a smile.
"Yes, I have one," said Cathy. " The green liquid that was kept in the car as a cold drink, what was it?"
"Ahha that green drink, actually there are two green drinks that we make. One is called Khus khus sharbat (juice) and the other is Brahmi Juice."
"The Khus khus juice is made from poppy seeds. In summers, to keep ourselves safe from dehydration, fluid intake is necessary. Apart from water, and other cooling drinks like lemonade, etc., it is Khus khus Sharbat (juice).
The juice is a green colored concoction of Khus syrup and water. It is prepared by using khus essence, which gives the green color, then sugar, water, and citric acid syrup.
Khus comes from the roots of khus gra.s.s (vetiver gra.s.s). Vetiver is an age-old cooling remedy that can help you to battle heat stroke to a significant extent. It not only quenches the thirst but provides a lot of health benefits.
(i) It boosts blood circulation due to the iron content and regulates blood pressure due to the manganese in it.
(ii) It is diuretic having cooling properties.
(iii) The zinc in it helps in reducing redness of the eyes caused by excessive heat.
(iv) It reduces excessive thirst.
(v) It contains a large number of antioxidants which help boost immunity and prevents damage caused by free radicals."
"This Khus khus juice is available in the cities above too. So we are not doing anything different." Mono replied with a grin. "Actually, these days people want to ape the west without the application of their mind to understand what is right and what is wrong."
"The stuff that the west has discarded, we people are still adapting to show ourselves to be civilized which is the wrong approach. Whatever is harmful to us and the environment is never good."
"This was the case 250 years ago. Governments and people were not interested in understanding that we need to protect ourselves and the environment. If our environment is damaged we are damaged. If our environment becomes polluted and unhealthy, we also suffer. We are linked to nature and nature is linked to us. It is a system of mutual benefit."
"But mankind is bent on destroying everything. See how many countries will adopt environment-friendly utensils?"