I rubbed the officer the wrong way
Small talk can be difficult
As a journalist, I am expected to meet people, or what in journalism is called “source”, so that information keeps trickling down to me.
Meeting people and having conversations can be challenging for someone like me, as I find it difficult to converse with someone I haven’t met before. But this is what my job demands, so I have to do it anyway.
Yesterday, I had an appointment with an Add Secretary in the Indian Police Service (IPS) from Punjab. For those who don’t know about Punjab, it’s a northern state in India, often called India’s bread basket. It’s one of the most fertile areas to cultivate crops and, hence, one of the largest producers of wheat and paddy.
Punjab problems
Groundwater exploitation
But the bread basket tag has a cost. Punjab has a skewed cropping pattern: Paddy is not suited to growing in Punjab as it requires a large quantity of water, and Punjab doesn’t receive a lot of rainfall.
Most cultivation depends on artificial sources of water: canals or groundwater. The groundwater levels have declined in a big way due to unabated extraction and mindless policies that encourage such extraction.
Cancer prevalence
Another issue that’s related to the above and plagues Punjab is high cancer prevalence in the state. Thanks to the green revolution. On one hand, the use of hybrid seeds combined with the use of pesticides and irrigation helped Punjab earn the label “India’s bread-basket,” but it also led to people in the state getting entangled in the web of cancer.
Although it’s difficult to point out any particular reason for cancer, excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers in Punjab seems to be the biggest reason for cancer ravaging the state.
So much so was the dependence on these chemicals that people were storing water in containers that once had pesticides and drinking contaminated water out of these containers.
Drug addiciton
Drug addiction and abuse is also a serious problem in Punjab. Its porous border with Pakistan, which in turn has drugs smuggled through Afghanistan, has destroyed many lives in Punjab. The administration hasn’t done enough for whatever reason.
Nothing good about Punjab, seriously?
The moment I heard Punjab, “Punjab is notoriously famous for groundwater shortage, cancer and drugs,” came out of my mouth. The Secretary’s face dropped like a sharp drop on the Richter scale.
I guess he was jolted inside by the quake of my words, but I said those things from the top of my head.
He interrupted me, “Suryash, Punjab is also famous for good reasons,” and I said, “Of course,” but nothing came to my mind.
I guess I started on the wrong note, and that’s why I find it difficult to have as many people would say “small talk” with people I am meeting for the first time. But my seniors say that I will learn it gradually.
Btw if you have suggestions on how to start a conversation with people, especially officers, please let me know.
