Love the Trees, Save the Trees

Here is a true tree lover. Did not want to cut down the tree for his wall and he just let it grow and built a fence around it.

As a child, I had great liking for trees. I loved to climb trees, spend time on trees eating fruits. In our family home, there used to be Guava tree and as a child I used to always climb the tree and eat Guava fruits. A whole range of things used to happen on the tree. Few of my friends used to come to my house to play and we would share the branches of the tree and divide amongst ourselves. So, the group members need to take the permission of the branch owner, before going to that branch and eat any of the fruits from that branch. Sometimes a bunch of Monkeys would come and that is the time, when everyone has to jump from the branches and run for their life. Neem tree used to be my other favourite tree, where I would spend lot of time eating ripe neem fruits. Neem tree wood is very strong and gives nice shade. Of course, there are so many other medicinal properties to the tree twigs, leaves and fruits etc. The next one was a Banyan tree, which was huge and hard to climb. But, it was worth the effort because it’s a nice place for watching birds and squirrels.

Talking about trees, there is a famous movement in India called, Chipko (To Hug) through the act of hugging trees to protect them from being felled. In legend, this practice began with Amrita Devi while protesting against a King's man who wanted to cut a tree. In khejarli village 363 Bishnois sacrificed their lives in 1730 AD while protecting green Khejri that are considered sacred by the community. The modern Chipko movement started in the early 1970s in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, then in Uttar Pradesh with growing awareness of rapid deforestation. The landmark event in this struggle took place on March 26, 1974, when a group of peasant women in Reni village, Hemwalghati, in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, acted to prevent the cutting of trees and reclaim their traditional forest rights, which were threatened by the contractors assigned by the state Forest Department. Their actions inspired hundreds of such actions at the grassroots level throughout the region. By the 1980s the movement had spread throughout India and led to the formulation of people-sensitive forest policies, which put a stop to the open felling of trees in regions as far as the Vindhyas and the Western Ghats.Today, it is seen as an inspiration and a precursor for Chipko movement of Garhwali’s leader is Sunderlal Bahuguna.Bahuguna was evacuated from Old Tehri to his new home on July 31 along with his wife to a two-storeyed house at Koti, a little hillock overlooking the Bhagirathi river. I was a little bit saddened to learn this news (which is a few years old) because, I actually visited his house in a village in Uttarkashi and stayed there for a week.Met him and his wife, who are so simple and plain hearted. I will write more about it, next time when time comes.