This is my garden. I spend every magical afternoon here. A cool breeze blows continuously, touching my body like a feather. Soft sunbeam kisses the fresh green leaves with immense affection and a golden wave of light dances around me. It feels like I am sitting here in a magic world, enjoying the silent love and oneness of nature. It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty and intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living. I feel like I am the Emperor Vikramaditya, a legendary character of ancient India. He is characterized as an ideal king known for his generosity, courage and patronage of scholars. His royal court had nine eminent and erudite people. They were called Navaratna (Nine gems) of Vikramaditya's royal court. I assume myself as Vikramaditya, green Earth is my throne and plenty of gems are right here in this garden, from the tiniest of plants to the biggest of trees. The group of nine extraordinary people from Vikramaditya's royal court was eminent scholars and was very proud of their knowledge and wisdom. But voiceless companions of my garden silently teach me the unheralded moral wisdom and an improbable and formidable model of what is noblest in the human character. They do not expect anything in return. I am their emperor and they adore me. The more I think about it the more I feel ambivalent towards the world.

Trees are the oldest living residents of Earth. They came into existence millions of years ago. They played roles in human evolution and the dawn of civilization. The trees have not only witnessed history, they have shaped it. It is no wonder that trees have captured the human imagination since the beginning of time. Their strength, deeply rooted on the Earth, is an inspiration. They live for hundreds or even thousands of years, and so we revere them as keepers of past secrets and sentinels of the future. Trees are considered sacred in virtually every place where humans have settled, a sign of the deep relationship between people and trees. My beloved readers, please try to understand what I actually want to convey. We are running against the clock here. But at the same time, I think we shouldn't just be thinking about quick fixes, just about massive tree-planting programs. We need to worship nature, not subdue it. Nature is our religion. The Earth is our temple.

We all read books of general knowledge in our childhood. It's nearly impossible to memorize every information that you read. We can't remember everything because there is just too much information entering the brain relative to its processing and storage capacity. I even tend to forget the hottest and coldest regions on Earth or the smallest and biggest countries of the world. But two things got stuck in my memory, Seven ancient and modern Wonders of the world. I find them worthy of discussion in this book.  One more thing that fascinates me too is the rainforests of the Earth. Rain forests play a pivotal role in keeping our planet healthy. They are Earth's oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for atleast 70 million years. Rain forests produce about 28% of our oxygen and store a huge amount of carbon dioxide, drastically reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. I will discuss about the rain forests too.

In between our discussion, exchange of thoughts and experiences, I must return to my native land for a short while. Natshal, a very ordinary and remote village in the district of Midnapore, West Bengal, India.
My birthplace. My eternal home.