Once Upon a Time!

Bhoomi was excited! This much of greenery is a rare site for her. She came to spend her summer holidays.

“Grandpa your garden is amazing! Sooo many plants and trees!! Sooo many flowers and fruits!! You know? We never get to see so many plants at our house in Hyderabad.” She felt the city robbed her of all this magic.

Grandpa sighed for a moment. “Bhoomi ,when you were young, the house we lived in was not surrounded by dense concrete jungle like it is now. It was a spacious, beautiful, green colony. All homes had a large backyards. Bigger than the one you are seeing now.  Mango, neem, coconut, banana, guva were a minimum variety in all households. And the list of flowering plants, vegetables, creepers is enormous.

You were born in that house. Nurtured with the touch of nature. Your grandma and ma used the tulasi to cure you of cold. And when you had a severe bout of chickenpox, the neem saved you . "

“ooh! We had bigger backyards than this one?! There is just one neem tree in our street now.“  she said, chasing a butterfly. “wow grandpa, these butterflies are so colourful. Were there  butterflies also in our backyard?”

“yes dear! A vibrant variety of them. I always cherish the memories of –little you running behind the small naughty butterflies all around the backyard! You would compete in singing with the koel. You would talk in some heavenly language to the birds, ants, bees. You are lucky enough two be the last generation to enjoy all this.”

A breeze of nostalgic memories swept the emotions of the two.

“Grandpa, was I really so intimate to all the plants and animals? But now, I see them only in my textbooks . But, where did they disappear all of a sudden ?”

“ Tall apartments invaded small sweet homes. Pillars substituted trees. Parking slots came in place of flower pots. Our house transformed into a tall building of that sort. So, me and your grandma moved to this home in the outskirts. We could not adjust there without our trees and birds.”

“Why is it like this? Can we not get back those good old days?” asked Bhoomi. She was rather lost in her thoughts.

“All this happens when man’s greed takes over his sensibility. Now, after all the adverse effects of the unbalanced development, man realized the need of a flourishing biodiversity  for his own well being. This problem is not just yours and mine-its of the entire mankind. Let us hope the UN CBD gets back our good old days. After all hope anticipates!”

 Bhoomi and grandpa paced towards the other side of their garden to get a better view of the rising sun.  

( Article by Sahithi Yalamanchili )