Aakash Ranison is an environmentalist par excellence. The good thing about him is that he’s a single man army that’s making all the right noises, travelling all over the world with the message—save environment, save the planet. He’s though not selling the doomsday scenario, as the title of his famous book suggests I’M A CLIMATRE OPTIMIST.
This mindlessness in the way we exist, and consume, is about self. Only self. That makes living on the planet unsustainable. We have to look at the larger picture. 28 years old, Aakash in that sense is a breath of fresh air, he talks about environment like we talk about heartthrobs or refurbishing our living room.
A vagabond by heart, minimalist by choice—all possessions can fit into a bag. A vegan, this can’t be said for most of the people—his life is his message. He doesn’t represent an organization or a particular point of view, is pragmatic and a doer. He’s traveling light in the true sense of the word.
Life is his greatest teacher. He has made some strong choices. Mother is his only family, that makes the whole world his extended family. He enjoys his company and is always on the move.
There are aspects of his life that he has shelved, for they make no good sense to him. In that sense, he’s very much in control.
A vagabond, travelling keeps him agog. And he travelled hundreds of kilometers walking, thousands of kilometers cycling. Cycle is an objected he’s obsessed about, apart from his undiluted commitment to environment.
In these long spells of journey where traversed the country many a times, he learned a lot about himself and the environment, and saw firsthand how unbridled consumption is a bad news for the planet.
This mindlessness in the way we exist, and consume, is about self. Only self. That makes living on the planet unsustainable. We have to look at the larger picture. 28 years old, Aakash in that sense is a breath of fresh air, he talks about environment like we talk about heartthrobs or refurbishing our living room.
What I liked about him is that he is true about goals in life. And he has taken some very distinct steps. His message is not ambiguous either. His book is pragmatic and realistic, and encourages people to understand the problem and do their bit, beyond making noises. He’s typical, with unconventional methods, yet very effective.
He's hobnobbing with the world leaders to propagate his message, yet he’s receptive to what’s being told to him, and is open to course correction is, to me, his greatest asset.
He visits me home within a couple of days of our first meeting. I know now well that he eats well, and dances even better, and he can dance for hours at one go, his hands sways like waves, and his feet move in tandem with the music, and his choice of music is Metallica.
He is curious and open to experience, yet never likes to lose control. He’s optimist and his quest for solutions that sets him going to places and meet people. He’s stronger than he thinks, and he thinks he’s strong.
Aakash, his life, as I said, is his message, and his body contains his message in tattoos scattered on his torso. So, let’s map them.
1. Kindness—tattooed on his neck just below his vocal cord.
2. Yin-yang symbol on the back of the neck.
3. Sun drawn on top his right shoulder.
4. Earth just above his right elbow.
5. Grateful tattooed on the inside of the elbow
6. A sunflower just below the 'grateful' tattoo.
7. Five dots underlined by a continuous line is a symbol of five elements is tattooed on ring finger of his right hand.
8. Cycle that looks like the infinity symbol tattooed on inside of his left wrist.
9. Empathy tattooed inside of his left arm just below the elbow.
10. A smiley emoji on the inside of his arm above the elbow.
11. Balance tattooed above the smiley.
A man of action, he’s programmed to act, though hardly ever in a reaction mode. He leads a fairly pragmatic life with high emotional quotient.
The idea is not to focus on problems, but finding a solution. I liked what he wrote in his book “being optimist, and seeking hope in the darkness, is just not a practice that will help us chart a better course for the future, but also as a solution for the mental health crisis that plagues us today. It allows us to re-centre, to focus on what is working and the progress that has got us to where we are today”
His journey is his destination.
(Pictures: courtesy Aakash)
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