The largest cruise liner yet built was launched from Finland on Friday, October 30. Oasis of the Seas is five times larger than Titanic and 40% larger than any other cruise ship in the world. It rises 20 stories high and stretches 1,200 feet. The ship accommodates 8,400 people on board. There are parks, squares, arenas, 12,000 plants, a 750-seat outdoor theater, an indoor theater seating 1,300, four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, a mini golf course, and blah blah blah.

Exciting! Impressive! Symbol of man’s progress and dominion, or, is it destruction?

Why would someone sail on the high seas to play golf? Or volleyball? I lived a couple of decades in the mountain town of Manali. And saw people coming to this beautiful Himalayan paradise, supposedly on holiday, but holed up in their rooms watching movies and what not. Now, why would people do that? They could do that back home in Delhi or Mumbai, or wherever.

What about the 8000 people doing potty on board? That’s a lot. Where does it all go? It is claimed that none of the sewage will be discharged in the sea. Maybe that’s why they made it so big, so several day’s contributions could be carried and dumped, where? Your guess is as good as mine. I wonder how the dolphins feel about it. Like the little boy in Slumdog Millionaire running to meet Amitabh Bachhan.

What about the garbage? The fuel emissions? Looking at pictures of the ship and reading about it gives a disorienting feeling. Is there really an environmental crisis? Or a fuel crisis? Or an economic recession? All those economists and environmentalists must be joking. Or has the situation gotten so bad that you have to call this monstrosity the Oasis of the Seas. That’s irony.