The minister initiated a campaign; the institute inaugurated the campus; the citizens celebrated a calendar event, the authorities permitted construction – each with one common act - they all planted a Tree. Such ecofriendly actions merely reflect a perverse individual sense of bourgeoise environmental outreach. An affirmation to the plasticity of environmental perceptions and policies prevailing in the current development paradigm.
The Puranas tells us that society is constantly changing; every culture goes through the four phases (yuga) moving from innocence(Krita) to maturity(Treta) to struggle (Dwapara) to decay (Kali). How do I uphold dharma in different contexts? See my slice of reality, my insecurity, my vulnerability, and comfort me, without making me feel small. You have that potential. So do I.
At the first level of the dream, they seeded an idea to transact, at the second a conviction to sanction and deeper in the third they baited a possibility to sell a vision. When it was over, only one dreamer was left behind in limbo – a condition from which escape was impossible. That was, whom everyone referred to as ‘green’.
It was the perfect love story. She was kind and naturally beautiful. He was intelligent and matured than others. He revered and worshiped her; she was giving and intimate with him. Then one day he betrayed. He killed her. But she returned - in a different form. For humanity had a debt to pay; nature had a debt to clear.
Organic’; ‘Eco -friendly’; ‘Natural’ are the new mantras that surround us in the daily today. A mantra for a better lifestyle, health and living. A better that is packaged, marketed and sold with a label of environmental consciousness. But the question is, if the environment belongs to all, why has this ‘consciousness’ and ‘better’ made affordable to represent the elite?
Identify a local virgin. Adore her beauty. Garnish with a few decorative elements to make her popular. To attract crowds, drape her with usual details. Then display her publicly for everyone to enjoy. Cherish the ‘footfalls’ and boast of the income generated. Maintain her, till everyone resists to visit, claiming she is overused. Refurbish her; hunt for another natural beauty.
If someone used the word ‘rich,’ one would not imagine a setting that lies deep within the hinterlands. But look closely, it is where the billions are seeded, what the states want to erase, where revolution is taking shelter and importantly where custodians live to protect their daily. For everyone it is a forest, for the commoners - a battlefield.