And in the night they came into Aarey Forest; the woodcutters! With blackness as cover, they pulled out electric saw and iron axe, startled the sleeping birds in the trees, their young in their nests, and brought their homes crashing down. Creatures of the night, who come out, while all the world sleep, destroy what the day has made, are generally thought of as thieves and robbers.
But when a government chooses to use the darkness of the night to carry on it’s activity, one has to look at that government and ask why?
Why was night used to cut two thousand and more trees in Aarey?
Why was stealth used, when governments, the guardians of the law, have to resort to tactics used by breakers of the law, who with implements of destruction, use the cover of darkness to do their dastardly act?
And does this reveal a mindset, a new pattern we need to ponder on?
That it is the cover of darkness now the norm? The sudden demonetization and other recent acts, that happen without warning?
Warfare allows stealth and surprise, democracy does not!
No, it doesn’t! Such moves, done in times of peace, spell cunning, clever craftiness, deviousness and deceit!
All things, that do not to democracy belong!
Oftimes I sit in my garden at sunset and watch the creatures of the day, slowly disappear as they go back, I like to think, to home and family, and as I watch darkness slowly embracing the earth, I see the same friendly plants which a while ago, where beautiful to behold, suddenly turning to strange shadows on the ground, unfriendly, aloof and cold.
And then from nowhere come the creatures of the night, long tailed lizards, that cling to wall and ground, peeking surreptitiously at me, and then from a corner I see strange movement and feel a sense of fear; is it a snake? Cold and ruthless its eyes stare back at frightened me!
Such are the creatures that take over the night; hostile, aggressive, pitiless, harsh and savage!
Are these the creatures that have taken over our fragile democracy?
Yes, in the night they came into Aarey; the woodcutters! With the blackness as cover, they pulled out electric saw and iron axe, startled the sleeping birds in the trees, their young in their nests, and brought their homes crashing down.
That was Aarey, in Mumbai! The victims; the birds and the trees! But be this, the master plan for the rest of thy country?
Wake up from your slumber ye Creatures of the Light, before like same trees, we be destroyed, quietly, soundlessly, noiselessly.
Two thousand seven hundred trees, could well be just the beginning, of the end of one point two billion..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
This is alarming !
Yes, it is
Arrogance has seeped into the Administration. Needs to be curbed.
Front page news… SC stays tree-felling at Aarey till Oct 21, but 98% already cut. Need anything more be said ? Thoroughly disgusted!!
The authorities may be rejoicing over what they have achieved while majority remained silent and forgetting what happened to trees and creatures of Aarey forest may happen to anyone of us. It’s a wakeup call for all of us.
Its sad we are helpless citizens of this so called democracy
Feel sad for the greenery lost and afraid that more will happen in future
A true wake up call. V scarry.
There was no need to show their strength at night. I wish they’d work on other issues of growing concern, at night. Like cleaning up roads , blocking potholes etc. Not this for sure!
A v sad state of affairs.
Dont be the change that you want around you! Is that what we want? Many of us over 50 years of age, reminisce the ‘good old Bombay’ which one had thoroughly relished thru its development phase then! But tday the infrastructure has collapsed & everyday commuting is a nightmarish CURSE!! To answer your QUESTIONS: 1)But when a government chooses to use the darkness of the night to carry on it’s activity, one has to look at that government and ask why? ANS: We all have heard that Mumbai vity never sleeps!! This was done to least inconvinience the general public so that theier already existingbfight for their daily commute doent get even worse… 2)Why was night used to cut two thousand and more trees in Aarey? Delaying the project costs the wxchequer tons of monies whichnwill come out ofnourbpocket as a consequence… making the METRO project non viable too!!
We used to always complaint that Govt doesn’t work properly & now we have finally a Govt in place which is working for the masses & we still have an issue??!! Request is we keep both the checks & balances on the table & for the people tobuse gheir good judgement! Should the commuters then wonder about lizards n snakes n owls & the Night creatures; than reaching back home to their loved ones in one piece & with some pride & dignity in their life!! That shall bring back the pleasentness which has vanished from our surroundings!
It is alarming as the people in whose palms we placed the security and protection of everything that constitutes the Democratic India has literally pulled the carpet from under our feet stealthily .
The question remains as to what choice do we have now ??? same
Someone enlighten me, was the Aarey forest the only place available for the metro shed ?
For us sad news same government is once again back in that state. Peoples voice is so silent . May God hear the cry of the birds and their young ones of Aarey forest.