Another eco-friendly house goes down

Rajiv Sharma

The owner had named it ‘Aalhana’ (the nest). An ochre house at the beginning of our street was an enchanting landmark. The single-storeyed house boasted of a beautiful lawn in the front and at the back. Two tall and sturdy bottle-palms stood guard at the entrance. A row of ashoka trees at the front guarded the privacy of the family with their thick foliage. A couple of mulberry trees, laden with crimson berries, alongside the boundary wall, invited children to perfect their tree-climbing skills. 

Though side walls had a wire fencing, the dense grapevines hid the thorny wires in its embrace and dangling bunches of sweet and sour grapes completed the picture of the poetic beauty of Aalhana. 

The house was an important identification mark of our street for more than four decades until the owner passed away. Because of its proximity to the main road, land sharks started hovering around the nest. They smelled a soft target. Sons and the wife of the deceased were lured into the trap of striking it rich overnight. The vulnerable family eventually fell prey to the lucrative offers and the nest was sold, much to the dismay of the residents of our street. 

Once the deal was struck, ditch machines lost no time in descending on the scene. The house showcasing the architecture of the early seventies was brought down within hours, without much resistance from the forlorn walls and distraught pillars. 

Palms, ashoka and mulberry trees were uprooted, severed and sold off in a haste. The grapevines were mauled and mangled along with the shrubbery and set afire. It took only a few days to raze it to the ground and a barren and mutilated piece of land lay ready to become a commercially viable venture. 

Excavators dug up at a frantic pace and a basement was ready in a few week, to be followed by incessant construction activities lasting over a year. A multi-storeyed airproof structure was ready to kneel to the demands of the market. The tranquil nest metamorphosed into a commercial giant in no time. 

A swanky gym boasting of the latest exercising equipment, minus oxygen, opened in the basement while the ground floor was rented to a private bank with elaborated lighting and an ATM. A coaching academy and a visa consultation centre have sprung up on the second floor to assist in brain drain, while the third floor awaits a prospective tenant to add to the conundrum. 

The serenity of Aalhana has been swapped with the non-stop humming of heavy-duty air-conditioning units and smoke-spewing generators. 

Aroma of the cool breeze that delighted our senses has given way to hot gusts of air emitted by the air-conditioners. Car-owners and bikers have invaded our little street in large numbers to park their vehicles, much to the chagrin of the street-dwellers. Another eco-friendly house has been sacrificed to satisfy the ever-growing needs of the urbanites. The vulture of commerce has gobbled up another thriving nest to raise a skyscraper without any eulogy.