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Caring For Nature
Failure to get in tune with Nature can prove disastrous
By Chandrakant Keni
I had read much about the flora and fauna of Goa, even while I was a high school student. In spite of being born and brought up in Goa I had neither noticed the scenic beauty and natural wealth of the region nor did I have any curiosity to know about it. It was only when I left Goa for Mumbai, I realised that I have landed in a different atmosphere, where buildings were taller than trees and trees were without lustre.
By then I had an idea of the role that trees and plants play in maintaining the ecological balance. But for me a tree without flowers or fruits was merely a showpiece. Fortunately, I was staying at Kandivali, an area which was then still rural. Free movement of cattle, trees and birds amidst human beings was a pleasant sight. Trees and plants were in plenty.
Vegetation added to the greenery of the place and the atmosphere resembled, to a great extent, to that of Goa. Moreover, it was not as congested as it has since become and one could breathe clean fresh air. Suffice to say that during the British rule, the Governor of Bombay shifted his residence to Kandivali.
It was at that stage that I began to take interest in the subjects like natural resources and ecological balance. I gradually came to realise that every moving and immovable creature or thing on this planet has a role to play to sustain the cycle of life. Indeed, it is God�s creation to ensure perpetuation of life and its healthy growth.
Although my stay in Mumbai was short; it proved to be enlightening. It provided me with an opportunity to experience the existing disparity between rural and urban India. I shifted to Delhi in early �50s and surprisingly it was in the fast growing metropolis that I realised the distinct change that takes place in our surroundings with
the change of seasons. Until then seasons for me existed only in the geography book.
For all practical purposes, only three seasons existed for persons like us, living in Goa or Mumbai. The change that these seasons bring is visible. It is either sweltering heat or wet monsoon. On a few days, rather in late evenings or early mornings, we had mild pleasant weather. Do these seasons make any impact on human life, animals, plants and trees, fish and birds? I had not noticed any, either in Mumbai or in Goa. The only impact that I had felt pertained to personal comforts or discomforts due to changing weather. But Delhi was a different place. I was fortunate to live in the vicinity of Raj Ghat, where the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi is located. Delhi then was a more beautiful city, consisting of beautiful bungalows and trees full of flowers and fruits.
In spite of the increase in the industrial pollution, Delhi still survives due to the role that the trees play in providing the
citizens with purified air. It was, and still is, a city of gardens and open meadows, which add to the beauty of the capital. Raj Ghat, in those days, was a remote corner of the capital on the banks of river Yamuna. (Yamuna has since changed its course considerably and drifted about a kilometre away from Raj Ghat, leaving a fertile sandy field between the river and the Samadhi.) The area is in the vicinity of the Delhi Gate, just a few metres away from the historic Pheroz Shah Kotla. Yet it was still an undeveloped area and resembled a forest due to wild growth of thorny Babul trees.
Auto-rickshaws in those days refused to ply beyond Delhi Gate after the sunset. That should explain the type of atmosphere that prevailed in Delhi. It was a lonely spot in every sense of the term, with hardly any vehicular or pedestrian traffic. But the presence of birds of different variety was a sweet compensation. They were the first to give a waking alarm. They would gather on the branches of a
tree just outside my room and sing melodious songs. I would get out of the bed to watch these tiny creatures of different colours and sizes. Their voices were different, but collectively it was like a big symphony. I always thought that they were offering their morning prayers to the rising Sun, the source of life, to the mother earth and to the Great Creator, to whom the world should ever remain grateful. They kept themselves busy, always singing even while working, feeding their little ones or collecting material to construct a weather - proof nest.
Seasons changed and so changed the atmosphere in Delhi. Some species of birds disappeared; some plants blossomed with fragrant flowers and fruits of different types and colours. The onset of the next season was never a quiet affair. Even a regular plant and bird watcher would suddenly realise the change that had come about. Various types of �guests� from various parts of would land in our modest garden, loudly heralding their
arrival. Pigeons, peacocks and diverse flying species of different sizes would mingle with one another like children�s group at a school picnic.
Delhi taught me the art of bird watching, although I am still unable to identify a large number of them. The rhythm of their songs was individually distinct, but their intermingling was so perfect that it would be difficult to believe that so many birds were singing at the same time. Later I had the good fortune of visiting the Himalayan region, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Eastern and far Eastern regions of the country. I was overwhelmed to see the vast variety of the birds that we have amidst us. It was a matter of shame for me when I was told that the innocent animals were scared of human beings. The presence of any human movement in the vicinity brings their songs and dances to a grinding halt and they fly to their hideouts.
Delhi, with all its defects, continues to be a place where the impact of changing season is visible to
the human eye. It is up to the people of Delhi to realise the necessity of preserving these characteristics of the Capital, which no other State in India has.
Returning to Goa after liberation, I somehow felt that the number of crows, which were visible at every corner, had gone down considerably and I wonder ed what could be the reason for their disappearance. The other change I noticed was that the number of species of the birds in urban areas too had gone down greatly, maybe due to inadequate open space. There was no free movement of the air and healthy growth of trees.
We still have some courtyards and gardens in private households and nearby villages, but the symphony is either imperfect or incomplete. We do not require a connoisseur or an expert to tell us that the nature is losing its rhyme and rhythm and perhaps its reason. Those who have travelled across the Karmal Ghat in the past will be shocked to see the devastation that has been carried out with official
patronage and in the process we have lost several rare species of animal and plant life. It is not an uncommon sight to see the systematic deforestation in the reserved forest areas and periodical poaching of animals and birds in official sanctuaries.
Nobody appears to be concerned about the future except perhaps those friends of nature who visit Goa to watch the movements of birds and listen to their music. Things can still be improved, and the damage undone, if the Government and the people of Goa realise their folly and take immediate steps to ensure safety and freedom of animal and plant life.
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