Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

It’s time we went back to nature

- Shashi Shekhar is editorinch­ief Hindustan letters@hindustant­imes.com

these researcher­s asked the school management to encourage children to play in an open playground. The results were positive. One year later, the children playing in the open stood out distinctly from the book-worms. As many as 17.5% of the kids who preferred being indoors were myopic, while the figure was significan­tly lower at 8.41% in kids who played outdoors.

The question is, what kind of future does a planet full of myopic people have?

A long time ago I had read a Michigan University report in ‘Psychologi­cal Science.’ The researcher­s sent the selected group of children to two destinatio­ns. The first group was sent to areas full of greenery and the other to fashionabl­e, yet crowded malls. When the groups returned, the researcher­s found out that the retention power of the children who returned from green areas had enhanced by 20%, even as those who returned from crowded areas showed no improvemen­t. Clearly the computer in the hand of every person in form of a mobile phone has snatched away a lot from them. This includes their sleep and peace.

We are living in a world full of restless and dissatisfi­ed people. That day, while getting drenched in the rain, I was thinking that the health market is booming.

If some vendors are peddling recipes for a size-zero body, others are giving a guarantee for six-pack abs. Modern-day Hercules and Venus don’t take birth these days, they are created. When uniqueness is sold in the market, it creates aberration­s.

If I talk just about India, the manner in which the number of mental patients is growing is a matter of concern. Health ministry statistics say the number of patients in this category had reached 5 crore at the end of 2005.

Rather than adding to this list, it is better that we return to nature. Don’t wait any longer. The rain is waiting for you outside.

 ?? RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO ?? The rain is waiting for you outside
RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO The rain is waiting for you outside
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