Thursday, September 25, 2008

Kabhi neem neem

Few things anger me so consistently as the stupid, unfeeling chopping of a tree. Came home last night to find a street light throwing rather more light on the walls than it was accustomed to do. It was late, the last day of production—it was only a hazy bewilderment. This morning, with something akin to horror, I found the tree had disappeared. Morons, who know nothing of what a tree can mean, have shorn it—humiliating the young neem, stripping it of dignity and robbing it of several years’ work.


It might be the handiwork of corporation walas who like their electricity wires to survive unhindered, but they seldom clean out a tree like this. I suspect the fell hand of my landlords, who are painting the house and may well have thought they’d like everyone to admire the new coat without the interference of greenery.

I have been telling myself to get a grip, to stop bewailing spilt milk but it’s all I can do not to storm off and speak to them in very cold accents.

8 comments:

Gayathri said...

I hear you! We sold our town house recently, and the new owners chopped our flowering plum tree. It was SO beautiful. Gave us lovely flowers in spring and plums (we still have the jam) in winter. And now, it's gone!

Sheetal said...

ayyo :(. Axe-happy fools!
flowering plum trees sound so haiku-ish.

Prakash said...

this has become routine.In the name of road widening 40-50 year old tress get chopped down.And it literally you could feel the increased temperatures in the surroundings.

Just the other day I witnessed a 100 foot tree come down branch by branch to give way to a flyover.Sad.

Shweta said...

Abba, this bad huh? How can a Neem tree have keedas for heaven's sake?
I find that I repeat myself here-

Kal tak jo tha hara bhara, jo ped tha yaheen khada
Aaj dekha khaakh-e-tar, kahaan yakeen huaa magar?

Sheetal said...

Prakash, see this article that I came across through blogger Ashwini. It talks of the value of a tree, value translated into pounds, which is all some people will understand.

Sheetal said...

Tot, not keedas but a beehive, and they thought they needed more sunlight.

Silpa Swarnapuri said...

And this in a city that boasts of 60 per cent kikar.
Let's put posters of hindu gods and make every tree a shrine so that the VHPeeps would get mad if tree maiiya was hurt.

Sheetal said...

It all comes around: there's an idea. but they're shrines anyway :(. As you can see, I feel very Rig Vedish about this.