If the sky could speak, it would plead for smoke-free clarity. For the sky is smoggy, covered with dust particles, and polluted by the defeaning roar of firecrackers. In the name of celebration, there is a blatant disregard for the environment, in decibels violating sound thresholds beyond control or civic sense.
Open your eyes and heart to see the world around you. When you light a cracker, you cause irreparable damage to birds in the sky, animals on the streets, pets at home, small babies, elders, the sick, and the plants and trees in nature. They are all helplessly bearing the pain of your so called “fun” time.
Feel their fear and understand their helplessness, and have a heart.
Be human and self-introspect. Celebrate a noise-free Diwali.
Light a lamp and let it shine and glow a path of love, hope, and clarity.
I enjoyed writing it as I began playing with space in and around the poem unknowingly at first but then intentionally after the sixth line. As I patterned the flow… I began channeling my thoughts …in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 6, 5, 4, 3,2,1 words.
An unexpected yet beautiful burst of colour contrasting the bright blue sky prompted me to click a photo in a split second, enroute a road trip to Goa a few years ago…
P.S.
Sharing some amazing facts about the positive ecological impacts from one fully mature tree, that I came across.
Key Environmental & Ecological Impacts
Natural Climate Control: Through evapotranspiration and shade, one healthy mature tree provides a net cooling effect equal to 10 room-sized air conditioners running 20 hours a day. This can lower local microclimate temperatures by up to 3°F–5°F.
Carbon Vault: A single tree absorbs roughly 48 pounds (22 kg) of CO₂ per year. Over a 40-year lifespan, it locks away nearly 1 metric ton of atmospheric carbon in its trunk, roots, and surrounding soil.
Oxygen Generation: One fully grown, leafy tree generates enough net oxygen per year to sustain 2 to 4 human beings.
Hydrological Shield: A single mature canopy can intercept and soak up 2,300 gallons of stormwater runoff per year. Its root network stabilizes topsoil against erosion while filtering heavy metals and synthetic pollutants before water enters local aquifers.
Air Filtration: Leaves and bark actively trap particulate matter (PM2.5) while absorbing gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone, and sulfur dioxide—removing dozens of pounds of air pollutants annually.
Biodiversity Anchor: A single native tree (such as an oak) can support over 500 distinct species of insects, birds, mosses, and beneficial microorganisms, functioning as a self-contained ecosystem.
That I am fond of trees is nothing new… I have written many verses on trees before as well, yet in here I share a message close to my heart…
Nurture nature Nurture trees.
You are doing an important service to help support self sustaining powerhouse of oxygen to our planet.
We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community. Haile Selassie
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