The Giving Tree

“There’s a lump in my throat. Seven years ago when I stood here it was a pristine, wild, enigmatic forest. I camped for three nights on the river, tree-drenched mountains fencing us in and the constant chatter of the water keeping us company.

- Cara Tejpal

While trying to get warm in my sleeping bag that first night, I had thought to myself that the valley will stay untouched for decades. It’s too far, too remote, too untouchable. It hasn’t been even 10 years. Now, we drive, rumbling along the road that is being built. Each mountain is wounded