It has been a long break from blogging, a very long one indeed! The metric to measure the goodness of a blog is the quality of the posts, and not the frequency or word length. I try to make each post of mine better than the previous. Therefore I write 1 or 2 posts in an year. Prodded by my avid readers to post new stuff, I have come back, with a handful of posts in my kitty. Here goes..
7th of July, 2008
I love greenery. It never fails to charm me. I have learnt to identify various tree species, some commonly seen in Bangalore, and a few not-so-common ones. All around me, I usually observe the trees that are present, their size, their condition and foliage, and commit this to memory.
When most Bangaloreans construct a concrete structure, they destroy any trace of greenery around it. I had been looking at a Rain tree near a newly constructed building in our locality for quite sometime, untouched by the builders. It seemed like the builders had some love for greenery and had spared the tree. Knowing that there were people who still cared for trees gladdened my weary heart.
But today, as we set out to watch Jaane tu.. Ya jaane na at Abhinay Talkies, I saw that tree cut down. The tree's branches had been chopped off and only the stout trunk stood there bravely, appearing to be laughing at the inability of powerless men to uproot it completely. Surely, even the trunk would be chopped off soon, before anyone took notice, not that they cared if anyone took notice anyway. Such was the psyche of Bangalorean public.
It was the tree that had got cut, and it was I who felt the pain.
What right did they have to do this dastardly act? It was neither blocking their 'view' nor their entrance, quietly growing on the side. I was filled with grief.
We couldn't get the tickets, so we did some shopping and returned home. I was morose throughout. I decided I wouldn't take things lying down. I dashed an email to the Editor of The Times of India, the newspaper that claimed to be a mouthpiece of the Mango People, AKA the Aam Aadmi, the common man of the (Banana) Republic of India. I recounted how trees were cut down, for no reason at all, and that whether it was a new house, or a shopping mall, the first thing that was done was to cut down any nearby tree, even though it posed no harm to the people or the building.
I cited the TOP 5 reasons why people did this, from my own survey and findings,, I listed them :-
5. "I hate clearing away the fallen leaves on and around my property.."
4. "That big tree blocks the sunlight to my plants.. "
3. "It blocked the 'view' of our beautiful house.."
2. "A tree in front of a shop is bad for business.."
and now, the best one... the silliest of them all ;
1. "You mean that wild thing there that grew there? I had a dream that it was going to fall on me one day.. It could have caused my Death.. "
From what I reckon of the situation, in Bangalore especially, there is no solid reason most of the time. It is a deep rooted mentality. There are no permission letters or "cut-1-tree-plant-2-trees-" involved. My blood boils when I mutely witness this , with no power in my hands...
I asked the Editor what could be done in this matter.. I wanted to know if WE, as Bangaloreans could petition the CM to grant powers to the general public, wherein any person who witnessed such crimes could report the wrong doers, and as a community, enforce punishments in whatever way they thought best. If this measure were to be implemented seriously, it would act as a deterrent and more trees could be saved.
Or else, the future looks bleak :-(
But, realistically speaking, we can't prevent every such case.. What we CAN do is plant more trees and nurture them till they are independent. No one can take away this right from you, nor do you need anyone's permission to do so.
Ending on a positive note, lets hope the stout trunk grows again, and the persons involved won't cut that down too!
7th of July, 2008
 |
| from my garden |
 |
| a beautiful street in Nagarbhavi, Bangalore |
But today, as we set out to watch Jaane tu.. Ya jaane na at Abhinay Talkies, I saw that tree cut down. The tree's branches had been chopped off and only the stout trunk stood there bravely, appearing to be laughing at the inability of powerless men to uproot it completely. Surely, even the trunk would be chopped off soon, before anyone took notice, not that they cared if anyone took notice anyway. Such was the psyche of Bangalorean public.
It was the tree that had got cut, and it was I who felt the pain.
What right did they have to do this dastardly act? It was neither blocking their 'view' nor their entrance, quietly growing on the side. I was filled with grief.
We couldn't get the tickets, so we did some shopping and returned home. I was morose throughout. I decided I wouldn't take things lying down. I dashed an email to the Editor of The Times of India, the newspaper that claimed to be a mouthpiece of the Mango People, AKA the Aam Aadmi, the common man of the (Banana) Republic of India. I recounted how trees were cut down, for no reason at all, and that whether it was a new house, or a shopping mall, the first thing that was done was to cut down any nearby tree, even though it posed no harm to the people or the building.
I cited the TOP 5 reasons why people did this, from my own survey and findings,, I listed them :-
5. "I hate clearing away the fallen leaves on and around my property.."
4. "That big tree blocks the sunlight to my plants.. "
3. "It blocked the 'view' of our beautiful house.."
2. "A tree in front of a shop is bad for business.."
and now, the best one... the silliest of them all ;
1. "You mean that wild thing there that grew there? I had a dream that it was going to fall on me one day.. It could have caused my Death.. "
From what I reckon of the situation, in Bangalore especially, there is no solid reason most of the time. It is a deep rooted mentality. There are no permission letters or "cut-1-tree-plant-2-trees-" involved. My blood boils when I mutely witness this , with no power in my hands...
I asked the Editor what could be done in this matter.. I wanted to know if WE, as Bangaloreans could petition the CM to grant powers to the general public, wherein any person who witnessed such crimes could report the wrong doers, and as a community, enforce punishments in whatever way they thought best. If this measure were to be implemented seriously, it would act as a deterrent and more trees could be saved.
Or else, the future looks bleak :-(
But, realistically speaking, we can't prevent every such case.. What we CAN do is plant more trees and nurture them till they are independent. No one can take away this right from you, nor do you need anyone's permission to do so.
Ending on a positive note, lets hope the stout trunk grows again, and the persons involved won't cut that down too!
6 comments:
hey, sorry for the tree.but one individual like u cannot do anythin after the tree has been cut down.and relying on a petition will definitely take years..if not months.
YES,but what one individual like u can do is BEGIN....
i would say go and plant a sapling in the same place...why 1 plant 2...
much better why plant for people who do not care...plant it in ur own compound or building.
recently, near basaveshwaranagar circle, a beautiful tree that has been around ever since i can remember, was chopped down for whatever reasons they could come up with!
i completely share your grief! it feels sad that people should be so very ignorant about conservation even when some of us are yelling at the top of our voices asking them to save trees- maybe not for the tree's sake but for the sake of our planet! every tree brought down takes us one step closer to "Doom's Day"!!
whenever i tell this, people ask me what one person can do save the planet is nothing n will have no effect whatsoever!
when will they realise that when a lot of "one person" do their bit, it CAN actually make a difference!!
but, as a silver lining, there are around 5 parks near my home; every one of them maintained really well!
i guess, for our people, the prospect of dying from cardiac arrest is more of a motivation for conservation than Armageddon!!!
the next time u wanna save a tree, i suggest carving out a Ganesha on the bark overnight!!!
THEY CUT DOWN TAT TREE :-(
THE TOI EDITOR DINT RESPOND TO MY PLEA :(
A sad day for an activist...
The trees which have been there from more than 70-80 years are being cut mercilessly almost everywhere in Bangalore to widen the roads and stuff.. I guess we need fresher air to breathe rather than the smoke emitted from the vehicles running on those BROAD roads..
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