Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Killing a city

Locate it far away from a water source and at a height of 3000 ft above sea level. Pump water from a river, 100 kilometers away, up a gradient of 2000 ft. You have uncertain power for the pumps and not enough water in the river. You allow this ill planned and ill located city to expand in all directions and it is nearly 50 km from one end to the other. You choke the roads with so many vehicles that there is fear of impending gridlock. You breathe in foul air and drink infected water and live in an environment guaranteed to cause mental and physical disease. This is what we are doing to this city of Bangalore.

Dismal is the mood when I see the traffic flow,
With watering nose and smarting eyes
I watch the wretched human, in this
jungle of concrete and moving metal,
numbing my mind and depressing my spirit,
This urban sprawl we call progress!

1 comment:

G.D. said...

Very apt & well presented!
Nothing more needs to kill a city, known not very long ago as 'Pensioner's paradise','Garden city',etc.