For Our Lost Tree Shaded Roads

Had to step out today into the Bangalore from hell… It’s hot out there, not hot as hell, yet but we’re getting there.

I was born in Bangalore and brought up here. I’ve spent almost all of my life in this city that I love and I hate to see what’s happening to it. I remember the roads of my childhood, they had a canopy of trees and travelling on them was bliss. You didn’t feel the heat, the sun didn’t burn your skin and the hot wind didn’t take your breath away.

Today was terrible as I travelled across the city, I got a tan I don’t like, actually its more a burn than a tan – a dirty brown. The wind hitting me was hot; it felt like I’d opened the oven door in my face. There was no escape from the heat and a sprinkling of trees to hide under.

Oh yes, there are a lot of trees on the sides of the roads but we’ve knocked down the huge tall canopy offering trees for these stunted 10-15 foot monstrosities that offer no shade whatsoever. All in the name of still trying to be a green city!

So much has changed, yes we’ve developed and become a big city but is it really worth it as we strip away the real beauty and replace it with concrete. A city where the buildings reach out to the sky rather than the trees. Roads that make you feel like bread on the toaster conveyor belt, so what if this toaster can accommodate more bread.

I miss the Bangalore of my childhood, I loved that city to bits and just don’t know this one anymore. Don’t fit here in this furnace anymore and don’t know how long I’ll last before I’m charred!