My house on the hill with the green roof is the closest to heaven I’ll ever be. For it is perched in the middle of the lush, green forests near George Everest Point, Mussoorie, where many rare species of birds and animals reside. I run my homestay ‘Seegreen Lodges’ and a little café, under nature’s loving embrace, with the cool winds from the Himalayas refreshing my soul and the splendid sun coquettishly peeking through the clouds.

Alas, this pretty picture will soon only represent a memory of how things are supposed to be. The Government proposes to construct a road from Bhatta village to Mussoorie mall via Hathipaon (Rikholi Bhitoli Kamadi Road) that will seek to forever adversely impact hundreds of species of flora and fauna that have called this place home for generations gone by. They justify their acts with the promise of better roads, better connectivity to my place, more revenues, the real estate value of my property increasing, and yet, all this wealth will never compensate for the loss of a most priceless commodity – nature.

 And so, I appeal to you all to support me in putting an end to this never-ending greed. With this petition, I solicit your help in STOPPING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS ROAD.

Let me tell you why.

 Every night, the calls of the Mountain Scops Owl put me to sleep and the shrill chirping of the Indian Tree pie wakes me up. Plum-headed Parakeets, Bee-Eaters and Rose Finches are my only company as I sip my morning cup of tea, before the tourists come in. The Benong Wildlife Sanctuary is a mere 2.5 kilometers away from this proposed road. Birds know no boundaries and I feel that this entire forest area in and around my homestay belongs to these birds and the wildlife that lives here. It is they who own this place; we are only guests!

 Nature has learned to strike a balance long before we existed; it is us who needs to learn when to stop. As a species, no matter how much we achieve, it is never enough. We find spaces crowded and roads narrow – we continue to clear forests – so as to accommodate our selfish needs. If you take an aerial view of these mountains, you will see the destruction caused to the natural habitat under the guise of ‘development’. We have taken over what used to be forest land in Barlowgunj, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Mall Road, Dhanolti, Chakrata. Constructing one more road connecting Bhatta Village to Mussoorie via Hathipaon won’t be the end of it; we will continue encroaching on nature, thereby putting our entire ecosystem and our very own existence at risk. How many more natural calamities is it going to take for the message to come through?

Things will continue to get worse…

 Unless…

 We stop and ask ourselves, HOW MUCH WILL EVER BE ENOUGH?

 Unless…

 We remind ourselves of the destruction caused by us and we now start living within our means.

Let’s return the forests to their true owners – the birds, forestry and wildlife that flourish in these lands. Let’s save ourselves from our own fate.

Nature has been trying to tell us something for a long time now…

Do we have the sensitivity to pay heed to their plea?

Are we listening?