There is colour everywhere but little substance, as bureaucrats and businesspersons meet at a three-star hotel, to plan a tree-planting drive. A private company has planted trees along the road, on behalf of multinationals, with a logo on the tree-guard, and has been paid Rs 50,000 per km. Benetton marketed "chemical-free' garments, without the usual advertising stunts. Not to be outdone, a local entrepreneur sold shirts, tagged "nature-dyed', priced at over Rs 600 apiece. The shirts had the authentic crumpled look of the export reject.

Actions sometimes border on the whimsical. A middle-aged man collects seeds of fruits he eats and plants them surreptitiously at the neighbourhood municipal park. Yuppies clad in rainbow-coloured "Save rainforests' roundnecks and pyjamas with the wood-cut print of the Mohenjodaro bull, talked on green issues in a soft tone and a culturally-correct accent. A lady frequenting "eco-friendly boutiques' confessed: "My only environmentally-unfriendly act is the use of air conditioners.'

But some are very serious about it. Ajay Mahajan, a young school teacher-turned-photographer carted organic chilli and pulses from the mountains and peddled it in Delhi. Sujatha Malhan, a research student, does organic farming in memory of her mother, who died of leukaemia. An organic food regime had helped her mother live longer.

Gitanjali Singhal, a young architect, says she uses bathwater for gardening and soapnut and shikakai instead of soap and shampoo. But eco-friendly architecture finds few takers in Delhi, she notes.

People Tree