Few meters from my home I find myself stuck in sort of a traffic jam,a rare occurrence on that road. My mind was quick to imagine few scenarios like some wrongly parked vehicle obstructing the traffic flow or an accident. As I trudged forward realized that my imagination was quiet of the mark and it was something else. Felled of tree branches were blocking a section of the road there by effecting the traffic flow. My initial assessment was that it was the effect of last night's heavy rain, until it stuck me that last night was more of a down pour sans strong wind. That was when I observed couple of man axing the branches of another tree few steps ahead. An oncoming procession helped me connect the dots, that its the start of the Vinayaka Nimarjan days.
Cutting down the branches of trees which seem to obstruct the processions taken out during these days, especially with ever increasing size of the idols is something which has been a practice since long. It does seem to make sense that the effort is to allow a smoother passage and avoid any inconvenience to the procession and the general traffic as well. But this is where I have a problem. Trees might be the single most factor which contribute towards keeping the environment as the way it ought be, It does not sound so logical when one thinks these branches ( and in some cases , Trees ) to be removable obstacles to facilitate some thing which would be lasting a few days. It would not be until the next year that we would have these Nimarjan processions. Is it worth to fell of the branches ? it does take a lot of resources for the branches to develop and a re investment for the tree in growing back the branches , which in turn might be felled off in the future again for the very same reasons.
It would be unreasonable on my part to blame the folks axing them down as their effort was more on to facilitate something to prevent a further problem. This has to be treated on a larger scale. Can we not be more conscious of the environment and make an effort to see the idols can be on the smaller end so not to have these hazzles. I am pretty much sure that the size of the idol and the blessings are not in any direct proportion. While an awakening and cognizance towards the nature on an individual level is much appreciated , there is also a bigger role to be played by the administration to bring into effect the laws restricting on the size of the idols as well as to create an awareness campaign of developing sensitivity on these.
