Did you happen to notice?

It was a deserted road and Mr. Arora was more than sure not to meet a company by the break of dawn, which was still about some nine hours away. 

He walked breathlessly towards the only open tea shop, with a heavy bagpack and two huge suitcases. He walked for what seemed like forever but as crazy as it sounds, the closer he went toward the shop the further it appeared to be. 

He finally stopped still to breathe. As he did, he looked at the view ahead of him and thought of the striking contrast between what he saw and where he came from. 

The sky was lined with shimmering stars, not street lights. The air was fresh not polluted. The only sounds audible were those of crickets, not vehicle horns. But all the above observations were least significant to Mr. Arora. 

His way of looking at the contrast was analyzing the industrial development. It was negligible where he was right now and considerably good from where he had come. It would be safe to say, majority of credit for that would go to him for the factories put up by his company. 

His new target was this deserted region. A vast stretch of land perfect to be ruined with some more pollution-inducing factories. His team had visited the place a month ago when they reported that it would be a pretty economical choice to buy land in the region. And that's precisely what led him to go on a secret visit to the site to check it for himself.  

He resumed walking, thinking of just how much hardwork it would require to urbanize such a land. 

It was deserted in most parts, sure, but some were miraculously dense with trees. Those parts looked as out of context as a large portrait of a forest in the middle of a desert would seem. It made Mr. Arora curious. 

What kind of a geographical anomaly was it? 

Just as he was wondering the same, a hand rested on his shoulder from the back. Mr. Arora evidently shivered by the unexpected gesture. 

From behind him, a man laughing hard revealed himself. "Relax", he said. "It's just me. Shopkeeper to that little tea stall right there." Mr. Arora sighed with relief then and followed the man to his tea shop, which was now mere feet away. 

Not having seen a human for three days straight had made Mr. Arora somewhat talkative now. He chatted with the shopkeeper at length. It was a chill talk about Indian politics, cricket, bollywood gossip, stock market and anything they could think of. Mr. Arora was pleasantly surprised by the Shopkeeper's knowledge in various subjects. 

The Shopkeeper asked Mr. Arora what brought him here. Mr. Arora narrated the whole story of buying the land to industrialize it and his future plans regarding the same, hoping to sound impressive with his sky-high dreams. 

Strangely, the shopkeeper didn't react to any of it at all. Instead, he asked the man if he noticed those patches of forests in the middle of the desert. 

Before letting him get a chance to speak, the shopkeeper added "They are very special trees, you see" 

Mr. Arora wasn't surprised. Ofcourse they would have to be special to survive desert conditions, he thought.

The shopkeeper then looked into Mr. Arora's eyes, with a stare so sharp that it could make it's way till his soul. 

"That's not the main reason the trees are special" said the shopkeeper.

Mr. Arora felt some chills as he managed to ask, "then- what is?" 

"You'll find out soon. My word" 

Mr. Arora was uncomfortable with the weirdness of the topic, so he started to change the subject.

"You know how economy and environment protection have always been inversely proportional? People say factories pollute the atmosphere but they create so many employment opportunities, and when the choice is between money and anything else...money always wins." 

As Mr. Arora finished his speech he felt perplexed and lost. Because he didn't remember saying a single word of it intentionally. It was as though someone pried his honest opinion out of him.

"And money will do WHAT exactly when you have no oxygen, no fertile soil for cultivation and no clean water to drink?" 

That was all Mr. Arora could hear before he fainted. 

When his eyes opened, he felt thrice as tall as he was before. He tried to walk but his legs were rooted to one place firmly. He looked up just to see branches emerging from his body, which now he realized resembled a tree trunk. 

He helplessly started to cry for help, just as the neighboring trees said,

"No point buddy, they can't see us during daytime.

 And nobody walks by at night, unless of course..." 

The following night

Mr. Arora's fellow colleague to the shopkeeper: "I promise you a modern, urban, developed future. All it will take is you signing this document that says you grant us the land where your shop is at whatever amount you desire and-"

Shopkeeper: "Did you happen to notice those trees there?"