When you're living life in the heart of the city, you never really have access to a lot of green scenic areas. It's probably the same case for 8 out of 10 cities in the world. But what makes Dhaka stand out, is the capability to somehow "withstand" both the rapidly increasing population and pollution. It's like most of the people born and raised here have some sort of an in-built iron lung and air filter inside of them, because the air pollution is so bad here, sometimes you can literally see it lol.
We never even had much greenery in this city to start with, that's how I've seen it at least.
Now, on top of that we have all these new projects chopping down trees and trimming down the shrubbery at super sonic speeds. The plan being to make another useless shopping complex or corporate building. In the end most of these buildings will be half empty for over a decade or so, that's how it's been so far.
So, the only form of ecotherapy and greenery we have access to right now is within our home. Taking care of our little plants and flowers, sometimes sitting by them in the balcony and reading, maybe having some coffee or tea.
If you have a balcony or terrace big enough to accommodate plants and trees, a fair bit of greenery, then you're one of the lucky ones. Yes, there are a fair few people mostly living around the outskirts, who are fortunate enough to be living around open areas, parks and natural lands of green, but around here the only jungle you have access to is a vast concrete jungle.
That is why we as a family have always had little plants in some corner of our balcony or terrace, a little bit green of our own.
My father is the one who's most active when it comes to gardening and the greener activities. We do have a big garden with a pond of our own in our village home, but nowadays we barely get the time to pay that place a visit. Fruits, veggies, tall trees providing shade, fish "snorkeling" through the ponds, that place of ours has it all. Most of the work there has been done by my father as well, while we assisted him in the process. Sadly, now it's all a thing of the past.
Whenever we'd visit that place my routine would be to get a huge banana tree leaf and put it on the ground by the pong, then just lay down on it for as long as I can. Sometimes the company of my siblings and relatives would be welcomed too, but mostly I'd be alone. There was nothing as relaxing as those moments, not much to worry about, and a clear head to think properly if needed.
No car horns, streets empty and calm, birds chirping, winds howling, and a night sky decorated with glimmering stars. 🌠
It was a yearly thing back then, to visit that place whenever we got the chance, sometimes twice a year if lucky. A powerful dose of green, a sky with the deepest of blues, the darkest and calmest of nights, it was nature's solution for us city dwellers; a reset, therapy of some sorts, one that is now long-forgotten.
Nature has solved a lot issues in the past, it helped clear out a lot of things, helped me find myself in a way, but now I can't even manage the time to pay nature a much needed visit.
Yet, I do hope that I can give myself another one of those resets very soon, because I know I'm badly in need of one, a fairly lengthy one too.
"By discovering nature, you discover yourself" - Maxime Lagace
