An Earth-Shattering Experience!

             

Dusshera is a Hindu festival which is a  celebration of good winning over evil. A wonderful time of the year when everything around is full of ritual, music and vibrant colours. As I do every year, I stepped out to buy flowers from my local flower vendor, an aged lady, with a warm smile, who sits high up on a table in a tiny makeshift shop..
 This shop sits by the main street overlooking the fleeting traffic and is the only bright spot on the street. This little flower shop has a simple scaffolding, like a tent, which is adorned with rows and columns of fresh flowers bursting with colour. Wonderful displays of Marigolds in hues of yellow and orange, blended with the green of mango leaves at measured intervals, fragrant garlands of pink carnations and white Lilies and bouquets of roses of all colours bringing out the best that nature has to offer. I always walked away from this little space with a song in my heart and a spring in my step.

Today, as I approached this tiny shop, something felt different. I could hear the humming of a machine, the roar of an electric generator and the gurgling sound of a cement mixer. A long stretch of cars lined along this street bustling with unusual activity. The shop almost buried in the chaos. I panicked! Now, I know during festivals, flower vendors are dime-a-dozen, but this lady is who I always bought my flowers from, who knew exactly what I needed and delivered it perfectly. As I drew closer, I suddenly spotted her sitting exactly where she always did, overshadowed by the machinery around her. The wall behind her was replaced with what seemed to be high vertical gardens which have become a common sight in big cities trying to practice sustainable development. On closer inspection, I noticed that the vertical garden was a spread of carefully crafted artificial green creepers decorated with intermittent pink plastic flowers. A landscape artist was overseeing the entire layout of this garden, strutting about giving instructions on how much green paint to lay onto the metal scaffolding supporting the garden. I wanted to scream out, 'Hey, painting something green does not make it eco friendly.' And then suddenly I had an earth-shattering experience...literally!! The ground under me shook with a loud noise in the background. I screamed out to the flower vendor enquiring about the mini quake. She pointed out that the building behind her shop was being demolished....of course only to bring up yet another re-developed cement monstrosity in this city. The flower vendor complained of discomfort in her ears and said she feared she might go deaf soon with all the noise around her. She struggled to communicate with her customers and business was taking a hit. I looked around at the busy workers and managers...all of them oblivious of their surroundings and of this lady who makes a living with nature's help.

I don't know how much this city can take, but it is getting beyond ridiculous. Elevated metros, underground subways, re-construction. Is this sustainable development? Is this the best we can do as the most intelligent of species in nature? Should we be choosing green paint which releases toxins, over flowers, leaves and trees which release oxygen for us to survive? Did Mother Nature painstakingly do all her elaborate and intricate work for nothing?

As I walked away from my local flower shop, holding the garlands made just as I wanted, something it shifted in the air...for the first time in so many years,  I felt no song in my heart, I had no spring in my step.