Articles made out of handmade paper

2008 Order Not To Concretize Base Of A Tree Never Followed

Mumbai: 2 days after a woman and her daughter died when a tree fell at Nariman Point on Sunday, the BMC announced that 1.5 meters space will have to be kept open around the base of a tree. Tough such a rule always existed with the tree authority, it was never implemented and that the base of the banyan tree that uprooted was sealed with paver blocks.

In March 2008, the tree authority proposed that 15 inches around the base of a tree in the city should not be blocked with paver blocks or concrete. The space to be covered in mud and manure should have a boundary of bricks.

Tree Authority member Nilesh Baxi said that it was a pity that the directive was never followed. “Owing to the paver block or concrete seal, in many cases water cannot seep to the roots, even during monsoon,” he said.

Experts say the utility providers also caused damage. “There should be more junior engineers to keep a check on trees,” said TA (Tree Authority) member Niranjan Shetty. Decline to comment if the civic body was short staffed, deputy municipal commissioner Suhas Karavande said the post for a junior tree officer was creating two ago.

                                                                                           -Risshi Jain

Beauties of Nature

Nature is the treasure house of beauties, glories and mysteries. It is a panorama of beauty. It is a store-house of wonders, sights, sounds. Love of nature is instinctive in man. Nature, in her changing moods, appeals to every heart. If a man shuts his eyes to the manifold beauties of nature, he soon realizes his mistake. Nature is a book of gold, her every page is a glimpse of beauty.

Every object of nature is beautiful. Nature is one universal mother who gladly offers her gifts. She presents her beauty of a thousand shapes and forms. The sunrise and the sunset, the silvery clouds, the thunder bolts, the lightning, the star studded sky, the rains, the rainbow, the Milky Way, the moon are the manifestations of the beauties of nature. They delight every heart on earth. The lofty mountains with snowy peaks, the limitless seas running up to the horizons, the waterfalls, the rivers and lakes with shinning water sheets, the pearly dewdrops on the green grass are the wild beauty of the forest medleys. The Earth is dressed in a green and gold mantle. Birds sing, peacocks dance, flowers bloom. These myriad beauties of nature add color and grace to our dull life. The great board to nature Wordsworth tell:

                 “One impulse from a verned wood

                   May teach you more of man

                  Of moral evil and of good

                  Than all the sages can.”

The education of nature is of greater depth than that of dusty old books in the dingy class rooms. It is man who sleeps over the beauties of nature. Nature is flawless. John Milton rightly says:

           “Accuse not nature she has dome her part, Man should not be a slave of the money by making himself buy in the getting and spending of money. He should give himself up to nature. He should have a mind that watches and receives.”

Nature is a symbol of God, so lovers of nature seek God.

Harleen Kaur

IX A

Akshita Shetty
IX B