Trees

Who does the tree belong to?

“This tree does not belong to you. Who are you to ask us questions about why we are cutting it?” I was surprised, angered and held pity for the guy who said this to me today when I asked questions about someone cutting a tree in front of my house.

This is the first time that I am writing a post on something apart from travel. But, I believe it is worth a mention considering the degrading levels of tolerance and patience in city dwellers.

Today someone knocked on my door and asked me to park my motorbike somewhere else so that he can cut a tree in front of my house. He said that because he didn’t want the branches to fall on the bike. He seemed to be pretty annoyed when I asked him that where has he come from and who has asked him to cut the tree. I eventually had a conversation with the family who had asked him to ‘trim’ the tree due to over growth, and the issue got resolved. The question was answered that they weren’t cutting it but only trimming it.

Eventually, someone who was the head of the family came in evening (riding on a horse) and started bossing around. I was quite surprised by his petty thinking when he said that the tree does not belong to me and that we don’t hold any right to ask what they are doing. I told him that if something is happening in front of my house, I will ask. Still his ego seemed to have gone for a toss because someone in the colony asked him a question. My only concern was that the tree should not be cut as it was giving shade. Maybe we have become so arrogant that we have started owning even the creations of nature.

Another older man (apparently his father) was much more patient and understanding (quite naturally looking at his age). I want to know from the readers who are living in cities here – Do you think we are loosing patience and even a smallest thing triggers us out of proportions? Have you had such experiences in neighborhood before? I hope we get some peace and sanity. 🙂

Feature image: Three trees by Harold Litwiler is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Gaurav Bhatnagar

Software Engineer turned Travel Writer, Photographer, and Public Speaker on Responsible Travel. Entrepreneur in Responsible Rural Travel @ www.thefolktales.com

One thought on “Who does the tree belong to?

  1. It depends on the people living nearby. However, no doubt that people are becoming more arrogant and egoistic.. Isi liye zyada kisi ke mamle me padna bhi dangerous ho chuka hai…. Nonsense people will not understand a simple matter of sense…. If you have RWA there, u can bring it to their notice…. About objectionable behaviour of this man, otherwise let it go.

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