Friday, October 11, 2019

We killed the bus driver

Ref.: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/tree-crushes-pmpml-recovery-vehicle-driver-dies-of-injuries-6062513/


The tree trunk has been moved to a side. But this is how it looks, the square cement structure where the three used to stand and the fallen tree. Now let's look at the bottom of the fallen tree trunk.


Do we notice the flat spread? That flat spread of the tree was above the square cement structure. The part below the cement structure couldn't grow due to the constriction of cement. So the tree trunk started expanding only above the structure. Let's take a closer look.


Couldn't we think beforehand that this is how the tree would grow if one fine day we suddenly build that structure around it and constrict its bottom? Isn't it very obvious? Is it not very very basic science?


This is the top view of the remnants of the tree within that structure. Ignore the freshly fallen mass of cement into the pit. Look at the rest of the contents. What were we thinking when we were pouring the sand-cement mixture into every possible crevice of the tree trunk?

How to face the family of the bus driver? How to apologise? How to deal with the guilt? How to understand ourselves- us, who are still filling up the bottoms of the trees in our premises with cement while renovating, rebuilding or constructing new spaces?