6.What decision did the poet's father take about the banyan tree?

Chitre has expressed his concern over ecology and his grave concern for nature. His poem is a caution against the pace with which our traditions are changing, thus breaking the old cultural values with the western and modern science. His poem, “The Felling of Banyan Tree” is a silent protest against the disregard for moral values on which our traditions were built upon and which are now considered as ‘age old values .’Chitre has expressed his resentment through the poem, “The Felling Of Banyan Tree in which he speaks of his father’s decision to ask the tenants living in the surroundings of his house, to evacuate and the structures to be demolished just keeping their house intact, and of course the trees though temporarily. Though the poet’s grandmother said that ‘trees are sacred and felling them is a crime,’ the poet’s father paid no heed to the religious sentiments of the poets grandmother and brought down all the trees, the sheoga, the oudumber, the neem, all except ‘ the Banyan’ which stood differently from others. The legends that surround these trees are, these trees are considered extremely relevant and holy in Hinduism, and cutting them is considered t be a sinful act as they are worshipped according to the Holy Scriptures. Even now also in our society, the ‘raw mythology’ stands excessively relevant. Thus the poet tries to emphasize on the religious sentiments of the old folks like his grandmother. But as said earlier, the Banyan tree stood differently from all other tree because of its close connections with the Hindu mythology, thus establishing itself extremely pious in ‘The Bhagawad Gita’ and of course relating itself with the enlightenment of Lord Buddha in Bodh Gaya. ‘The Banyan Tree’ was three times as tall as the poet’s house with its trunk having a circumference of fifty feet. The branches were sawed off for seven days leaving the insects and birds homeless. The poet is fascinated by its grand structure as he says ‘the great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years.’ The physical description of ‘the Banyan Tree’ that the poet gives in his poem, carves an image of mystification. The aerial roots of the trees drooping from above i8n an effort to touch the ground proves the existence of the tree through decades and years. The poet witnessed the massacre of the tree which he calls ‘slaughter’ with great horror, and then leaving for Bombay soon which was quite different from Baroda in respect of the growth of trees. There are no trees in Bombay except the one which is carried by him from Baroda in his faded dreams. The memory of the Banyan tree in his own garden flashes in his mind and he personifies the tree by saying that this is the tree that grows in one’s dreams (i.e in poet’s dreams) and says that it boils (seethes) in anguish as it has been cut down.The poet lays utmost stresses on the age old customs, and expresses his concern, anguish and resentment for mistreating and disregarding the moral values of our traditions through his verses in his poem, “The Felling of Banyan Tree”.