From Brikkho Mela to a greener city

The month-long Brikkho Mela (tree fair) got off to a promising start with arboriculture and enthusiasm for plant life --- by extension Nature --- of the urban people finding a meeting place in the capital's Agargaon. While nurseries and arboreal organisations showcase their collections of diverse plant resources, city people --- many of whom miss life in close contact with flora and fauna all around --- have a chance to take a nostalgic journey at the fair.
In fact, they get a treat beyond their expectation when many of the saplings, plants and trees with fruits hanging from branches welcome them. Some of those are known, others they have read about in books and still others they have no idea about. Yes, those may be indigenous or even exotic. In some cases, young people born and brought up in the city may have enjoyed some fruits without ever seeing the trees that bear them. Here is a chance for them to have a look at the fruit-bearing trees from close quarters. This is quite an experience for them.
With the city becoming a jungle of concrete, many people have turned to rooftop gardening mostly because few inhabitants of the city have spaces enough around their buildings to spare for an orchard or at least a flower garden as found in cities in the developed countries. Commercial considerations have been so overpowering that spaces, if any, are used for business or other purposes.
It is this reality that has compelled people to develop arboreal creepers or plants that can be raised on balconies or even in the corners of a room. Flower plants and fruit-bearing trees and even vegetables developed particularly for rooftop gardening have taken the effort to extra lengths. Overall, people want to have a feeling of staying close to vegetation.
A visit to the fair can be enlightening because there are not only plants and trees, cactuses and orchids are also in plenty there. Bonsais too. The world of cactuses is altogether a different one. There are so many of them in different shapes and sizes, one cannot help wondering how Nature nourishes life through its multifarious manifestations. It is this sense of wonder that the young generation in particular needs to develop in order to connect themselves with Nature. Cactuses and orchids are more suitable for home decoration. Some of them are, however, very sensitive. Unless given proper care, they refuse to unfold their splendour. They are pricey too. People with large purses alone can afford those. However, they have to be connoisseurs of such rare species. If flower plants are suited to the taste of the average educated and enlightened people like the mainstream songs, these varieties are like classical music only the connoisseurs can appreciate.
So much for cactuses and orchids, what about bonsais? This is called an art of dwarfing giant trees. This scribe is opposed to this. Why? In Mysore, India, there is a sprawling garden of bonsais. The truncated, emaciated and deformed trees give a noxious feeling akin to the deformed children used for begging in this city by criminal gangs. Suffice it to say that restricting the natural growth of any species is against Nature and it can never be an art much as its proponent may claim otherwise.
Quite a few of exhibits at the tree or plant fair are artificially developed but not dwarfed. Grafting is used for producing fruit-bearing trees within a limited space and a short time. This is not quite perfect but at least this much concession can be made because, after all, from just a branch, there grows a tree on its own to bear fruits like the mother tree.
Let alone the ethical questions. What needs to be aware of is the dissociation of man from Nature. Brikhho Mela is no substitute for woods and orchards, let alone forests. What about bringing the entire city/cities under as much green cover as possible? It is not an outlandish proposition. The mayor of Dhaka North has planned to plant 0.2 million tree saplings in two years. That can be a start. If each and every space available on the roadside and near residential or commercial buildings are used for this purpose, the city can wear a much greener look than the stark and naked one it has now. Bangalore is a city of woods and trees. Dhaka can as well be one like that. If there is a will, this is quite possible.