My green thumb

Anahata - The heart chakra is green!

Having written for over 15 years on environmental and ecological issues and everything else about the planet as our beautiful home, I recently made a shift to writing primarily on spirituality, Yoga and Meditation, basically focussing on Awareness.

All along I was talking of Ecological Awareness, Environmental Awareness, Health Awareness, Social Awareness, History Awareness, Population Awareness, Civic Awareness.....The list is endless. Now I learnt that the key to it all is awareness.

My heart still lies with writing on environment and ecology and the invitation to this blog has indeed come as a godsend!

Green Chennai has got a lot to it than just trees. But yet, a healthy canopy of trees is indeed a great indicator of the city's health. As one who practises Yoga, I am aware that Green is also the colour of the Anahata Chakra or the Heart Centre. The more green we see around us, the more love and compassion there is. The more love and compassion there is, it is the basis for a peaceful, joyous and prosperous living too.

I am a great believer in dreams and visualisation. Vikalpa or Imagination is again another technique in Yoga. It is giving a positive use to the capacity of the mind to imagine and visualise. I invite you to visualise with me - A Chennai that has a thick green canopy, with enough space for adequate sunlight to stream through the leaves, a Chennai where the roads are well laid, neat and clean, with adequate pavement space for pedestrian safety, a track exclusively for cyclists where we see many students and office goers on a bicycle driving safely, a zero garbage city where the bio-degradable wastes go back to its source, the Earth, plastics get recycled, paper goes for recycling after maximum reuse, glass is put back to be made again as glass, cloth, rags and other compostable materials get composted as manure, electronic waste and unusable junk and batteries and hazardous wastes get disposed in a scientific and sanitary landfill, all the city dwellers get pure drinking water comfortably through the taps, the rain water is harvested well and makes the soil fertile, all vacant land is covered with some form of greenery, the canals and rivers are gushing with pure water fit for bathing and drinking (I know it is difficult to imagine, but 10 million imaginations can make it a reality, believe me!), beaches, parks and public spaces are recreation centres that are clean, neat and tidy as if they were an extension of our homes, our power is just a supplement to all the solar energy we harvest, cars, bikes and automobiles are moving in a silent atmosphere, fuel efficient and with zero pollution and everybody in the City is so ecologically conscious that Chennai shines like a bright light setting an example for the whole country and the world. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Picture: An oasis in Nungambakkam where I lived for nearly two years!