Green cover or un-cover?

Sir PM was fully drenched by the time he sought refuge inside the cathedral despite his sturdy rain gear from Crawford Market As soon as he spotted Lady Flora they laughed heartily because their wish to the rain gods from last week seemed to have been granted going by the heavy rainfall that hit the city its suburbs and the catchment areasAs soon as Sir PM was in a lessdrippy state courtesy the heavyduty ceiling fans that worked wonders he and his friend did what they enjoyed the mostmdashdiscuss the health of the city ldquoPheroze I was relooking at frames from the forgettable evening where I nearly got run over by overexcited cricket fans en route to cheer for their World Cup cricket heroes along Marine Drive I noticed how the number of trees along the seafacing promenade had reduced since the last time I had walked down that stretch Was I imagining it or do you think so as wellrdquoSir PM looked a bit surprised it was partly because he wasnrsquot paying attention to such key details the last time he passed by the promenade He had to pretend that he knew about it which was tough to pull off with his hawkeyed friend ldquoYou are right my Lady I am pretty sure that in their enthusiasm to get this important project ready the trees got the axe literally Dr Viegas too was mentioning about this vital loss of green cover particularly towards the end near the Princess Street flyoverrdquo Phew that was close God bless Viegas for keeping me in the know Sir PM sent a silent lsquothank yoursquo to his old palldquoThis is a serious offence I mean how could they possibly hack these trees in the name of infrastructure This is such an iconic landmark the trees add muchneeded shade especially in the summer They also add character and natural beauty and now this eyesore I believe this happened quickly such that even the local citizensrsquo associations had no time to react or raise an alarm How very unfortunaterdquo she thundered adding ldquoDo you know that London has one of the worldrsquos largest urban forests On my recent trip via London I learnt that the city is home to 84 million trees across public and private spaces I shudder to compare it toour countrdquoSir PM felt he could help ease the disappointment to some degree with a possible solution ldquoLady Flora I have had enough of how the civic gods are taking our environment so lightly despite numerous warning signs right around them Look at how the city came to a standstill once again during this past week of rain A lot of it my environmentalist friends say is because of the consistent thinning of green cover across the metropolis We still have the rest of July to negotiate and August too Donrsquot forget that dreaded deluge of 2005hellipSo herersquos the plan I will initiate a campaign with some of my trusted comrades to ensure that the removed trees due to the lsquobeautificationrsquo are replanted to bring back some of the lost charm and muchneeded shade along this promenade You will back me rightrdquoldquoOf course We are in it together We have a lot of work to do so letrsquos get to the drawing board soon First we need to identify the species that were originally planted in those spots Next we contact the many citizen groups in this stretch who will be keen to join the campaign to show solidarity for this green cause We can chart out a series of assemblies where experts will create awareness and garner interest After all they should know how they can contribute and why it matters Remember the more the numbers the better shot we have to create a positive wave Those who did this must be made accountable and initiate the replanting of the same trees Timely followups will ensure this campaign reaches its logical conclusionrdquoBy now his friendrsquos enthusiasm had rubbed off on Sir PM in a big way The sky was clear and they decided to head towards the stretch concerned on Marine Drive It saddened them to see the altered promenade near the Coastal Road entry point ldquoSurely a solution could have been found by the planners of this project by consulting with botanists and environment scientistsrdquo sighed Sir PM ldquoWhat has happened cannot be redrawn Instead letrsquos look forward and use the immense strength of peoplersquos power to get crackingand get the civic gods to get cracking too hopefully Green should always be our favourite colour letrsquos do our best to ensure the Bombaywallah never thinks otherwiserdquo exclaimed Lady Flora buoyed enough to fight fiercely once again for her fave citymiddayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes herShe tweets bombayana Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom