This story is from an American city of Chicago, generally known as the windy city (though not the windiest in USA). The story opens as heavy rain and strong wind passes brushing an avenue of houses in one of its suburbs. In between two rows of houses, at their backsides, lay the ally with an old tall tree in it. It could not withstand the pressure of the wind and it slowly fell down with its heavy branches touching the compounds of three houses but only doing minor damages to them. The tree also had hit the local power line pushing some 20 houses into darkness the whole night.
Within some 10 minutes came in the police followed by ambulance. They fixed barricades and warning boards on the cross roads touching the ally. One gentle man visited the nearby houses and warned every one not to go near the fallen tree and power lines. The next day came electricity people; they cut just those small branches, which lay obstructing the power lines and went off. Two days later came the city people. They cut the main trunk and cleared the ally, which was under their administration, and did not touch the other branches. In USA, no workers are allowed to leave the garbage anywhere and so both of them had to remove what they cut.
The responsibility of clearing these branches and compensating the damages belonged to the insurance companies concerned. Fortunately or unfortunately all the three houses were under the care of three different insurance companies. Each company individually assessed the damages and cleared the branches under their responsibility in three different days. This fortunate tree thus had the privilege of being cremated in five holy centres followed by solemn ceremonies that continued for two weeks. Photographers were there, videographers were there and press people also were there for its wake. Common cents and common sense are different; right?
Joseph Mattappally
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