© Yurok Aleksandrovich | Dreamstime.com

The trees have all gone. Cut down ruthlessly in mindless greed. The soothing bird sounds replaced by the intrusive noise of construction machinery. The fresh cool breeze transformed into a soiled, discomforting oily presence leaving a fine layer of dust everywhere. The wide open space now jammed edge to edge with cement and steel. Right before my eyes, a suggestion of Eden has rapidly degraded into a stifling nightmare.

Another block of flats rises inexorably next to ours with no breathing space in between. We will soon be able to climb over our balcony into our future neighbor’s. In some of our rooms we will have to keep the lights on during the day. This is not just happening next to us. It seems to be happening everywhere. A city named for its once abundant banyan trees is busy digging its own grave and doing it with gaurav, pride, one step away from the proverbial fall.