The Nail

Yesterday there was a murder in my immediate neighbourhood. It was a daylight murder at its gruesome best and well witnessed by few hundreds. I don’t even want to mention that I could sense glee in some of those faces. Then there were others who either turned their heads away or tried to circumnavigate the concerned area. The victim must have been around 35 years age and well in her prime. The cruelty shown by the murderer was heart breaking, but then I guess the murderers were only doing their job. They were paid to do it and the term used for the same in the Mumbai underworld would be “a supari”. Sitting in the comfort of my car, I did give the victim’s life more than a thought. I visualized her standing tall and stoic and remembered the comfort people took under her out stretched arms. She will truly be missed for ever since I moved into the locality she has been there to greet me on my various trips to and fro. In fact every time I saw her it gave me a sense of relief (especially when I am behind the wheel) for it meant that I have reached my “pettai” and thus nothing could go wrong.
The lady in question was a wonderful Butea Monosperma also known as the Flame of the Forest. The reason for her murder was yet another conversion of an independent house into an apartment block. The glee on the face of the onlookers (builders) could well have been the few extra square feet available to make their concrete jungles. Every square feet of land in this area is worth its weight in gold for coming up just across this plot is Chennai’s most expensive apartment building priced at Rs. 8 crore per apartment which when roughly calculated works out to Rs. 30,000/- per square foot.
Being a witness to this murder was not easy; I knew there was hardly anything I could do as the concerned person would surely have got permission from the authorities before going ahead with the hacking. My knowledge is that permission is definitely needed before doing away with the flora of the city. With the green cover being so poor, every sapling deserves to be looked after like an offspring and here was this beauty well in her prime and towering so tall and having years of service left in her being just done with as if what mattered was the couple of lakhs she would bring from the real estate that her base provides. The thought of the green cover over my city and my country was a matter which cannot be contained in the few hundreds of words that constitute my article; however I was reminded of the nursery rhyme which went thus, “Little drops of water make the mighty ocean, Little grains of sand and the pleasant land.” Thus doesn’t my Flame of the Forest have a role in the mighty green cover that we so dearly need?
They say that the next war that would be fought among nations or in the case of our country among states would be for that precious commodity which covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and constitutes more than 50% of the human body and is also known as the “universal solvent” thanks to its properties. Well you guessed it right; the war would be over that never much given thought and as of now freely available substance WATER. We have already reached that phase as our state is at dogger heads with its neighbours be it on the Cauvery issue or the Mullaiperiyar Dam. Why are we fighting over water that is so freely available? The reason is simple; most water found in nature is not suitable for human consumption thanks to its solvent properties. The water required by mankind is the rainwater or that water which is formed when our glaciers (again formed when rain water condenses in the colder regions and at high altitudes) melts and comes down the rivers. When there is a lack of green cover, the carbon dioxide emitted by cars and factories reach the upper atmosphere and helps trap heat around the Earth’s surface. This in turn brings about global warming as well as a change in the weather resulting in the lack of rain. Trees are thus considered nature’s most efficient “carbon sinks.”
The greed and the crass attitude of man are the only reason for this beautiful green cover to be depleting. Little are we realizing as to what would be the result of this action on our planet in the years to come. Much is being spoken about global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer and the green house effect. It is as informed citizens of this world our duty to protect our environment and leave behind something to cherish and hold for the generations that follow. In India we have started experiencing the fall out of our callous attitude with people in cities have to pay a ransom for water that until thirty years ago was so freely available. When bottled water was first introduced in India, I thought it a joke. It amused me that people would pay whatever they did for a one litre bottle when the same money would fetch something more precious. Living in a coastal city, it seemed ridiculous in having to pay for water. Well that was almost 25 years ago and from then to now, I have come a long way. From the water tankers, to the bubble top to the packaged bottle water it seems that we spend a fortune on water alone. (During my recent travel I had to spend almost Rs. 200/- for a normal 500ml of water, and then I thought to myself what the cost of Perrier or any other branded fancy water would be. I have kept the empty bottle as a souvenir.) In Chennai, the water tanker is the king on the road, thanks to commodity that they carry. The other motorists and pedestrians dread the blue vehicles for apart from the license to drive; they also seem to be in league with the fictional James Bond for they carry with them the License to Kill.
I mourn the death of my Butea Monosperma for apart from her beauty and the shade that she provided, her red carpet was truly welcoming. Somehow when I think of her decimation, I am only able to equate her with the quintessential Nail, for the want of which the battle was lost.
I am aware that there are other Nails that are dearly required if this Battle is to be truly won and may be as a start, I would decide to walk more and use the car less. This would definitely result in a 0.0000000000001% better environment and a 100% healthier me.