Two tall coconut trees, swaying lazily in the breeze. The sound of rustling leaves and the chirping of birds. Aab would open his eyes in the morning and see squirrels jumping nonchalantly from one tree to another. At first his eyes would open wide in fear, wondering whether the little furry ones would miss their target and crash to the ground. Slowly he realized that those jumps were as easy for them as it is for a human to put out one step after another while walking.
The harmony of nature presented itself in many ways every dawn. Smoothly sailing clouds formed a backdrop, birds flitted around, never crowding or intruding into each other’s space. The lumbering cow shared the left-overs with stray dogs in the garbage bin. Even the tiny stream of water from the previous night’s rainfall carefully meandered down the sloping road without disturbing anything.
Then one day Aab woke up to see two concrete columns rising into his vision beyond the window. Piercing the sky like giant swords. Soon they morphed into a huge cement slab. Like an avalanche wiping out everything in its path, concrete blocks filled in the left over bits of sky — blotting out Aab’s vision of the sky, the trees, and the squirrels.
A new dwelling is coming up. Another family will rejoice their new luxurious homestead. Another tiny bit of nature obliterated. The stray dogs will move further away, the trees will be chopped down, the squirrels will disappear. And man will celebrate his supremacy on earth.
