Suniel Shetty

‘Anna’ As He Is Popularly Known, Has Many Large And Small Eco-dreams To Give Nature A Chance In Our Increasingly Concretised Metros And Techsaturated Lifestyles. Here, He Shares His Many Visions For A More Greenoriented Lifestyle, Including ‘terrace To Table’ Farming; Eating What Is Grown On Your Own Terrace Or Backyard!
 

- Sangeeta Wadhwani

You’ve been very concerned about the diminishing green cover in Mumbai? Please tell us where or how it started?

“I think it comes from having been born in Mangalore, which is always lush, green, all forest, beach and sea. I don’t think there is any place in the world that is as green as where I come from. And farming is what I always saw with my grandparents, when I went visiting for every holiday – I was not interested in going anywhere else – just swimming in the backwaters, swimming in the ponds, fishing; all this was close to my heart.”

What changes around Mumbai, the city you have grown up in, disturb you most?

“Where Mumbai goes, we’re seeing rapid growth and unplanned development. It’s looking more and more like the down towns of cities in the West, buzzing by day, but abandoned by night. I am worried about security; when you have no trees, everything becomes visually bare. We see the eradication of even the informal commercial spaces – you know the banyas, the kirana shops that are there, are all disappearing to make way for high rises. These high rises are manned by one person, with 500 to 1000 metre walls. That’s no real security. We’re taking people away, taking nature away. Creating a more and more isolated quality of life. The solution? I think the green spaces should go back to the public. Sure they can be owned by the city’s municipal corporation, but they should delegate maintainence to people in the area. Green cover makes spaces alive.”

How have you created change, rejuvenated territory?