Realized-Metaphorized and Written by Harish
Inuit is a group of people inhabiting the Arctic regions. Nanook is the derivation of their word “nanuq” for polar bears.
The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the global average. Two-thirds of all polar bears will be gone by 2050.
Polar bears can live 25–30 years, but most live 15–18 years. Perhaps ‘those were the days’ for us humans. We start in cursive writing, go to schools, to college, get a degree, in the same linear -momentum get a job, learn to make a living, make friends, earn the right to vote, and age to have a drink.
Polar bears spend half their life hunting for food, but they are rarely successful. Successful hunts of polar bear are less than 2%. So are our desires. Not all get to follow their desire, farther term being ‘passion’. We spend half the life finding one’s true calling and other half too busy that we do not answer it. Look at the people around us, behind those cubicles in front of the computer screens. There are entrepreneurs, film makers, astronauts, adventure travelers, army officers and bakers. They are the 98%.
Typically, polar bears are solitary animals and do not form social groups. It is only in movies and commercials that a polar bear meets a penguin. That is because; Polar bears are in the Arctic, the northern hemisphere and penguins in Antarctica, the southern hemisphere. If not for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or even Tinder, we do not meet, to socialize, to talk and most importantly to listen. To hear and to be heard.
Unlike brown bears, polar bears are not territorial. They have home ranges. They choose to escape than to fight. We blame color, creed, caste and country for all our wars. We have boundaries, walls, fences and borders. We do not fight for betterment of human civilization. Intending no disrespect, but we fight for a different interpretation of the book.
There are grizzly-polar bear hybrids and the interbreeding is not surprising, as polar bears evolved from brown bears. They cross breed to create hybrid offspring. All we do is to create offspring and add more to the population to this already overpopulated world. Here’s how we ‘evolve’: From a rented home to a 2 bedroom home, from two wheeler to a car, a single screen theatre to a multiplex, a neighborhood store to a super market, from a CRT to LCD. When we have paid enough taxes from what is earned then start paying taxes on what we spend.
The single biggest threat to polar bears is the loss of sea ice from climate warming caused by humans. Polar bears are one of the first to be threatened by climate change. The societal pressure is threatening ours. From learning to make a living, to earning to make a living, move from a 2 bedroom home to a 3 bedroom high-rise apartment, from a hatchback car to a sedan or an ‘other’ car, from LCD to LED, from a super market to a shopping mall, we realize that we move to the next tax paying slab, and seek exemption on school fee in addition to a home loan.
The magnificent white bear is not actually white. Under the white fur, that is thick and translucent, the skin is black, it is jet-black. On social media, the ones we follow are more than the ones that follow us. Let go of a window seat in a bus to pay fuel costs, the then paid school fees has helped now to pay the hospital bills. It is okay to make mistakes in life and not please everyone. Let go of a desire to upkeep a home. Pay taxes to build roads and bridges. Use a hashtag and do our little part to save the nanook, before they become mere stuffies.
Nanook, roughly translates to an ‘animal worthy of great respect’…so is mankind.
International Polar Bear Day is on 27 Feb every year. It is an annual event drawing attention to the challenges polar bears face in a warming Arctic and to raise awareness about their conservation status
