Click here for more...


Click here for more...


Vol. XXI No. 11, September 16-30, 2011
Chipko at Nandanam
(By Deepa Ravi)

It dawned just like any other day. The koyals nesting in the tree next door cooed endlessly, urging the world to wake up and get on with life. Squirrels let out startled little squeaks and leaped restlessly from one branch to another with their tails in the air. Dogs, tired after a busy night, curled up for a snooze under the shade of the 50-year-old tree, oblivious of the call of the koyals.


One of the two trees that was saved in Nandanam by two tree-loving women.

Everyone went on with his routine. Sleepy kids left for school. Office-goers grumbled their way to work.

And then it happened.

A brood of lungi-clad men came with saws and started hacking branches of the tree. My neighbour upstairs saw this happening – as did all the neighbours around. She, along with her daughter, went and protested. They were there to cut two 50-year-old trees on our street – to make way for a stormwater drain, the men stated. The two women argued that the path of the drain could be curved around the tree. Why cut two lovely, full-grown trees? The men insisted that they had orders to cut the trees and they would do so. Even as they argued, one large branch of the tree collapsed under the tyranny of the saw. The two women persisted, argued, screamed, raved and ranted. Finally, the men gave up and went away threatening to come with greater force some other day. Surprisingly, not a single person from the neighbourhood went to support the two women. In fact, one of our neighbours asked the two women to move away and let the men get on with their work!

When I came back from work that day I saw the mother and daughter sitting by the gate of our building. When I asked them why, they told me the entire story. I promised to support them in case the men came back again.

And they did.

This time, fortunately, on a Saturday morning – when we were all at home. Once again, the two – mother and daughter – were the first to get down and protest. The men were prepared for them. They quickly tied ropes around the tree and were all set to totally uproot the trees forcibly. The mother went and held on to the ropes and refused to allow the men to cut the trees. This was when the rest of us heard the commotion and rushed down. It was a ghastly sight! The mother had the rope around her waist and was literally being manhandled. At this point we all rushed to the spot and the men had to back off. A heated argument ensued. The men called the police who came and admonished us for obstructing their work. We stood our ground and said that we wanted a chance to appeal and save the lives of our trees. When the police and the men saw that we had all joined force and they did not have much to defend themselves with, they backed off!

The men went away grumbling that it was just a handful of us protesting and not letting them do their work. To prove them wrong we printed an appeal and collected signatures from all the houses in the vicinity. Around 50 of our neighbours gladly signed the petition. This was then filed in court and we got a legal stay order on the cutting of the trees. Meanwhile, we also contacted Shobha Menon of Nizhal who advised us on what to do next and gave us the right contacts. It really helped.

A few days later, the men resumed work, this time they started to dig around our trees! There was no more talk of cutting the trees. The work is now almost over and our trees stand proud and tall. The koyals, the squirrels, the crows, the chameleons and the entire ecosystem built around the two trees continue to thrive.

I salute the courage of the mother and daughter who had the gumption to stand their ground against those men and the neighbours who later supported them in this initiative. It certainly goes to prove that when we work together as a community, a lot of good can come out of it.

Please click here to support the Heritage Act

In this issue

Marina's elevated road plans now abandoned
Chipko at Nandanam
Publicising films, then and now
Two men of letters
From the Madras Week Blogs
Growing awareness of City's past

Our Regulars

Short 'N' Snappy
a-Musing
Our Readers Write
Quizzin' with Ram'nan

Archives

Download PDF