MUMBAI, July 5 -- Every time Prakash Nayak, 43, walks past the Ashoka tree near Kavale Math on Walkeshwar Road, a shiver runs down his spine. It's been eight years since a branch broke off and fell on his 91-year-old aunt, claiming her life, but the trauma lives on. "I received a phone call asking me to rush to GT Hospital. Locals had taken her there after the accident and I cannot shake off the image of her lying in bed, her life slipping away," he recalls. But it's more than the one Ashoka tree the Nayaks worry about. Something as ordinary as passing beneath a tree now fills them with unease. "Since the accident, we are extra-careful while walking under all trees, especially in the monsoon. After all these years, low, looming branches still make us anxious, " says Nayak. Leela Sukhi lost her life while returning home from the Banganga area at around 6:00pm on May 29, 2018. A branch fell 20 feet and put her in hospital with injuries from which she never recovered. "She was the foundation of our family and we always sought her advice before taking important family decisions. Losing her has left a huge emptiness in our lives," says Nayak. Sukhi, a graduate of Elphinstone College with a law degree, worked at the state secretariat before joining the Taraporewala Aquarium as a cashier. Until four years before she died, she taught Sanskrit, Hindi and English to students from Classes 1 to 10. To Nayak, her death came far too soon. He says the family never received any financial compensation from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after the tragedy. "We too never approached the BMC because we were not aware that compensation could be claimed. It is unforgivable that someone can lose their life to a falling branch and families are left to cope with the loss on their own." Eight years later, Nayak still looks up whenever he passes the Ashoka tree. "We still keep an eye on it. Its branches have still not been properly trimmed by the authorities."...