When 200 trees were hacked in the middle of the night in Aarey in 2019, Abhishek Jingar, a vocalist, and Mayank Parashar, a flautist, knew they had to raise their voice against it. Even before the duo from Jaipur — who call their outfit Yugm — headed to the protest site, they rustled up a few verses of Kuch bhi chahiye in 15 minutes. A satirical reminder of society’s selfish, consumerist nature, a stanza in the track speaks to the powers that are out to destroy the last remaining green lungs of Mumbai. And when newly appointed deputy chief minister (CM) of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, recently overturned the decision of former CM Uddhav Thackeray to shift the Metro-3 car shed from Aarey Milk Colony, Yugm dropped a snippet of the verse, which has since garnered hundreds of likes and comments from supporters of the cause. 

With lyrics like “Pedo ko tu kaat ke bola Metro chahiye/ Par vacation ki location retro chahiye” and “Nature ki tu vaat lagake/Bola bhaiya vatavaran friendly chahiye”, the song pokes at our double standards with a side of humour. Jingar tells us they also visited Aarey in 2019 and performed there.