Unwept and unsung, these sentinels of the Garden City of Bangalore fall, one by one. As the city races towards development, the casualties are old and venerable trees that must make way for sleek flyovers, highways, road medians and apartment blocks. Drive out of city, take any road and what greets you is a grim sight. Venerable trees chopped to the waist, shorn of branches and leaves, silently defy the march of development. In some places, chopped logs lie mutely on the ground awaiting the highest bidder. Hundreds of trees that were once strong agents in ensuring the city's salubrious climate have given way to "symbols of development' rising from the very same spots.