Tied Hands

Why was I feeling sad from the moment I woke up in the morning? Did I fight with my best friend yesterday? No, I didn’t. Did my mom scold me for not studying? No, she did, day before yesterday, but not yesterday. I had already forgotten it, as I kept my promise to study the very next day, and I know my mom was very happy about it. She had even told me that it would be nice if I continue the same routine daily. So, why was I feeling so sad? I wondered.

I wouldn’t call the feeling sad; rather I would name it helplessness. I was desperate to do something, but my hands were tied. That was how I felt. I was sitting on my bed staring through the window, consciously finding out the reason to my vulnerable feeling.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as my mind focused on the sight which my eyes were watching for a very long time, though it failed to send the message to my brain. Now I understood why I felt so frantic. Right in front of my eyes, the giant was falling. He was being slaughtered and I could do nothing. His arms were cut. His trunk was poked, hurt. His entire body was tied with several ropes and his muscles were stretched. A number of on lookers stood by, but nobody raised a voice against the injustice being done. I felt like killing the perpetrator. But, again I was helpless. I was just a poor young gal, whose feelings mattered nothing.

“Sara! Here is your glass of milk.”

I turned my eyes to see my mom. She looked at me questioningly while my eyes dropped a tear or two.

“What happened? Why are you crying, Sara?” She voiced her question when I did not answer her look.

I raised my index finger and pointed to the scene before my eyes through the window. She craned her face to look what I was pointing to and she said. “Oh, Sara! You are becoming unmanageable nowadays. Why would someone cry for a tree being cut?”

“Ma, it’s just not a tree. It’s a living being. It has got life. Look at its plentiful strong branches. Look at the young fresh leaves. Look at its beautiful flowers.  Does it look like a just a tree to you, mom? I don’t look at it as a tree being cut, but a slaughter; a brave warrior who has won thousands of wars, a wise old man who has seen hundreds of our generation is being killed mercilessly.”

“My goodness! Be practical, Sara! Stop all your crazy talks. It’s a tree and it’s just a tree.”

“Mom!” I screamed in resignment. “Mom. Do you remember how we used to sit under it in the evenings and relax? When you women used to chat and discuss about every event that’s happening, we gals, used to play around. We would wait until dad and other men come home from their work and we would get in to resume our work. Do you remember the number of days you used to water the tree, in spite of the fact that the tree belongs to the government? Do you remember what you used to tell me when you pour the water we had used to wash clothes or vessels?”

Mom remembered her own words.

‘Why waste water? Instead of pouring it on the floor, at least the tree would get some food. It is so shady and many passersby relax themselves under its shade. Just a small service from our side.”

Mom’s eyebrows greased a bit on listening to me.

“Now our road is going to be bare with no trees. No shade. We can’t sit under its shade and feel the fresh cool air around us. People who walk on our road are going to feel exhausted under the hot sun and there is going to be no tree for them to relax. You are not going to get the flowers for your pooja. The tree is gone. It is dead.”

I saw the trunk falling to the ground with a big thud. It has taken almost half a day for the men to cut the giant tree. Men at work were tired of their hard work.

“Why would they cut it, mom? Aunt and uncle used to pour buckets of water for it to grow. Why would they cut it all of a sudden?”

“The tree has grown very big. It has overgrown. The branches have grown to hit the walls of their home. They saw it as a threat and decided to cut it off.”

“Why can’t they simply cut those branches alone and leave the tree there?”

“They have been doing that for a long time. Every year this happens that they had to cut the branches off. They are now tired of it and thought they could save money and time but cutting it whole.”

“Doesn’t the tree belong to the government? Was it not planted by the municipality? They had planted the tree only to help the poor animals dying of hot sun and the passersby. How come these people were able to cut it without the municipality’s approval? Or didn’t they go to the municipality at all to seek permission? Or has the municipality given its approval? How could the municipality do that? Can’t the government bring a rule not to cut the trees planted? Or couldn’t they at least insist people to grow five plants in place of a tree cut?”

Mom looked at me. “Ask your dad about all this. I don’t think they would have sought the municipality’s permission. Who sees it as a big issue? It’s just a tree.”

“All of us are watching it happen. Didn’t any of us question them if they had sought the approval? If all of us join hands together, we can stop them.”

“Nobody other than you is going to take this matter serious. Even Appa would not listen to you. Do you think someone would go and start a fight for such a small thing?”

“Ma, it’s not a small thing. Don’t you know the danger our earth is in? For the amount of pollution that is caused, we need to plant more and more trees to save the earth and instead we are killing more of it. Urbanization is causing deforestation and this is leading to global warming. Our earth may end, mom, because of all this.”

She let out a sigh. “Who worries about what is gonna happen to the earth as long as their home is safe? People don’t realize that their home is in the earth.”

She laughed out loud and went to resume her work. I looked out at the fallen tree. I wanted to lay my hands on its trunk and hug it once before the men could clear the place. I moved out of my home. I felt as if I had lost my childhood friend.