A live wire left unattended on ground killed Sunita, a little school girl a few days back in Bangalore. A rag picker also fell in an open drain and died. These are not stray incidents. They happen time and again to claim lives randomly in a city falling apart at its seams. A wall falls, killing a young girl and the blame is shifted and shrugged off till no one knows whose fault it was in the first place.

 Life goes on in Bangalore. The character of the city is altered, old buildings decimated or defaced to accommodate malls and offices. Residential areas are losing foliage and the luxury of silence. But yes, something is being taken  care of with almost militant competence. The removal of what is left of the green cover in Bangalore. And there is the rumble about street dogs and how dangerous they are to the human species and must be culled. How convenient it is to blame and remove elements from our environment that cannot speak out for themselves and blame anyone. Trees get in the way of ‘progressive’ blue prints where every road must be enlarged to accommodate more cars. So they must be cut, no questions asked, no answers given. The long term effects of such indiscriminate butchery notwithstanding. 

Stray animals must be cruelly disposed of too without addressing the reasons why so many of them roam our neighbourhoods. Improper garbage disposal, half-hearted sterilisation, an ineffective system without any compassion for healthy or rabid dogs cause avoidable incidents. Which are then highlighted by certain sections of the media to justify a macabre massacre of creatures who have as much right to life as we do. But we are the dominant race and look, how well, we are managing not just this city but this planet. 

 Last week Unboxed Writers filed a report about how citizens are fighting back to save one of the last remaining green spaces in Bangalore..the trees lining the Sankey Tank Road. It is an ongoing battle and they are up against odds even they cannot fathom the full extent of.

But they are determined to be heard and will gather again at 5 pm  on Sunday 17th July at Sankey Tank (Malleswaram Gate). Last week too on Sunday, the citizens had gathered to voice their grief for the trees that were cut despite a stay order and to show their commitment to the cause of fighting for the ones still left standing.

Dr Meenakshi Bharath, one of the key figures of this movement had filed with some others, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and was not only briefly arrested but also has been at the receiving end of a dismissive, disrespectful rhetoric by vested  interests who have tried to trivialise the entire citizen initiative.  Without ofcourse first analysing that a bunch of shade loving citizens can have no possible political stake in protecting a few trees in their city.

Terms like “fashion parade” were used to describe the women in the movement but should women activists apologise if they dress well? Does their attire, which was in no way inappropriate, make their motives frivolous?

Vani Murthy, another active member of Save Trees. Save Bangalore (https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/groups/220078971356960?ap=1) says, “It is unfortunate that this issue has been politicised so much. I have been associated with Dr Meenakshi for four years and have seen her commitment and passion, be it towards solid waste management or any other issue. Her energy is tremendous and she motivates everyone around.”

Dr Meenakshi is habitually unfazed by these attempts to discredit her motives because she sees this issue not as a personality based conflict but as a struggle to defend the right of an ordinary citizen to a healthy, honestly managed city. Says she, “The arrests were made to intimidate us. We had not committed any crime. We were just trying to protect the trees. Haven’t we seen  over the years that road widening is not a solution? Our roads do not just need more four wheelers. They need to be walkable for pedestrians and safe for cyclists too. Widening a road does not solve the problem of traffic congestion.”

Especially because lakhs of vehicles are added to our roads each year and Dr Bharath like many other citizens would like to see better traffic management and long term solutions rather than knee jerk axing of trees as if they are obstructing the traffic flow! It is unfortunate that what most Bangaloreans feel about the state of their city does not manifest in visible support and Dr Bharath says, “People have little time to get involved in civic problems. To give a day to  a cause means a day without pay and not many can afford it.”

However what that absence of visible defiance creates is a certain pugnacity that we saw when law was used to protect tree cutters from those who were trying to protect trees at Sankey Tank!

The fight is long and tough, believe Dr Bharath and the green activists fighting for their city. And they know also that they will be targetted but they see themselves as part of a solution and not a problem.  In a city that loves its  green heritage but will not stand up in huge numbers to protest its disappearance,  there are some who are speaking out persistently to save what is left. To know how you can be part of the change you want to see in Bangalore, join Save Trees. Save Bangalore on Facebook and  stand up to be counted when they come back with an axe again to take away one more piece of your city’s soul.

Reema Moudgil is the author of  Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/b/books/perfect-eight-reema-moudgil-book-9380032870?affid=unboxedwri )