The premise of the above topic has assumed today a universal significance, which has never been so in the history of human civilization. My doctor uncle had once said that a man of sound health becomes aware of part of his body only when that part ails. In other words, he becomes conscious of his hand only when it pains. Similarly, we today have become conscious or say, are becoming conscious of a tree, because it is fast disappearing from our lives.
Good to start with an ancient-India example. The civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were aggressively urban. As such there was massive felling of trees and cleaning of forest. Raja Asoka realized this want and resuscitated nature.
Today ‘Vanamahotsava’ of elaborate afforestation is sponsored both by the government and private organizations. The monster of ‘urban’ culture is fast eating up wild nature. We must cry halt to this craze.
What are the gifts of a tree, after all? It gives us shade in summer and rain in season; it preserves the eco-balance by consuming the poisonous gas and stems soil erosion; it yields fruits and medicinal gums and barks. This, however, is only a brief account.
Naturally its preservation is imperative for existence, and the dictum is not denied either. But today human civilization is up against the worst crisis of confidence.
The enlightened nations seem critically aware of the danger involved in massive tree felling. The TV (national geographic and the discovery channels) contributes largely to our understanding the values of a tree. But still the objective recedes. In big cities as well as in mediocre ones we witness ruthless felling of gardens that make room for multi-stories. Reckless and senseless poaches raze to the ground woods after woods – at times even with the connivance of the powers that be! Monkeys or langurs, elephants and other inmates of the forest are driven out of their natural habitat, become berserk and sometimes run amuck the neighbouring towns.
The simple truth is that only by serving and saving nature can we preserve its gifts. Rabindranath Tagore raised Sreeniketan and Santiniketan as examples of natural hermitage. He wished to inculcate in boys a kind of education that shall breathe the natural air! Love and tend the plants and trees. Still there are occasions when these are celebrated, but alas! They have all dwindled into mere rituals – a dead wood of customs.
In our country the picture is indeed dismal. In Kolkata itself nature is the worst victim in her so-called advancement. What is today a lovely garden, paled and protected, falls a prey to the falcon-eye of the realtor tomorrow – and lo! Trees and felled, shrubs put to the scythe. Pilasters, lintels run criss-cross to raise the concrete monster!
Our future generation must look up, for theirs the kingdom. They have to buy back the lovelier world of their forefathers and befriend the trees. No, no government can do this, for government have proved to be venal. They have to do it themselves, individually as well as collectively. The villages where nature thrives must be preserved to weave a harmony between love of nature and love of the new life. Each and every forum of our life and existence has to educate people by inspiration as well as by injecting the fear-psychosis of a life without trees. Or – hark! Global warming knocks at our door!