This paper will focus on Arun Joshi’s, The Strange Case of Billy Biswas (1971) and Sarah Joseph’s, Gift in Green (2011). Both the novels talk of two cultures: One is the simple life in close contact with nature, where the forest and the water provides adequate resources to sustain the inhabitants there. This is the indigenous life-style, where the tribals of the forest, or the inhabitants of the idyllic island of Aathi take care never to exploit nature excessively but to take only what is necessary for their sustenance. They remain contented, happy and healthy. This is juxtaposed by the urban life-style of big cities, which appears sophisticated with modern facilities. The cities try to expand by exploiting nature indiscriminately in the name of ‘development’. This eventually causes an adverse impact on the surrounding ecology, (as is depicted on the island of Aathi in Joseph’s novel).