The first music we make, long before we learn of cries, howls, lullabies and nursery rhymes, is the beat in our heart. As we draw in air, the heart kicks in, improvises and relaxes into a steady tempo, which stays with us till the end of our song. In this, all of humanity, all birds and animals and insects, all that lives and breathes and moves, is one, like a chorus. So, why is a 25-year-old Marathi rapper from Mumbai-69 ringing the alarm bells? Because we want the Metro so much, we're willing to sacrifice Aarey for it. Because we want to save time, we're willing to gamble away our time on earth.

When we meet MC Mawali (Aklesh Sutar on his birth certificate) at a park, rain is in the air, waiting for its cue. His squad, a bunch of dreadlocked, scruffy, too-cool-for-school kids, is in the background, practising handstands and high kicks. An old soul in the frame of a stick figure, Mawali is one of the co-founders of Swadesi, a hip-hop crew and a trekking group. Under the former, he releases protest rap like Laaj Watte Kai (2014), an anti-rape song; with the latter, he maps the Sahyadris on foot. His two burning passions came together in February in the track, The Warli Revolt, with folk singer and tribal chieftain Prakash Bhoir. It's a clarion call to save Aarey's 2,238 trees, which the government wants to axe for a Metro car shed. Its hook sums up their ask: "The jungle is our mother/To save her, we'll lay down our lives." At 25, Mawali has cottoned on that fighting for tribal rights is fighting for the natural world; to be a Dalit Panther is to be a green panther.