If you want to see how beautiful our city is, Start at RBI square, Drive past the beautiful colonial Allahabad bank building and the Vidhan Sabha, and carry on past the historic GPO up to CP Club, then turn around and drive through Walkers Street to the High Court.
And that’s it! …Everything that is beautiful in the city is over and done with!
The rest of its 217 sq km is ugliness and apathy! A shabby urban sprawl, which is the outcome of criminal neglect, Visionless planning, Corruption, and atrocities by architects who should quietly be taken behind barns and shot!
Look what happened to Telangkhedi Lake, it had a heritage Bund built by the Bhosales, where the young of the town loved to meet, it was buzzing with life and activity, lined with interesting little cafes and eateries. Then they blocked the view of the waterfront, demolished the cute cafes, put in fountains that immediately stopped working and built a huge stadium that is now good for nothing, with a car park complex of a size that defies logic..today it is all a wasteland!
At Gandhisagar Lake, a beautification project has been on for years. ‘Beautification’ is a word that strikes terror in the hearts of the aesthetically inclined… It means SS railings, indiscriminate use of granite and silly planters shaped like Penguins.
Seminary Hills were the lungs of the city. Till a few decades ago, we could see Foxes and Hares sometimes in the car headlights. But they kept grabbing land for unbelievably ugly government office complexes. Now there is only a small patch of forest left. God knows how long before they get their grubby hands on that as well!
See what’s happened to Byramji Town, Once the smartest street in the city, Beautiful Parsi bungalows and grand residences lined the street, including that of the Vice-President of India, Hidayatullah. Now the authorities have allowed buildings of 26 floors to come up and the bungalows are going one by one, the news is that a restaurant is opening up on the street, soon banks and pan shops will follow…
See what has opened to Cement Road in Dharampeth, It is now a ‘Street from Hell’, totally commercialised with offices cafes and restaurants making it hell for the residents, with noise pollution, late-night drunks and car parking woes.
Look at Canal Road, Ramdaspeth, All the beautiful houses have gone and been replaced with cramped apartment buildings with no gardens or green spaces.
Dhantoli, Where the Maharashtrian royalty “gloried and drank deep” now is a pit of medical refuse, full of nursing homes and clinics and chaotic traffic with parked cars clogging the streets!
We have grown in size and population by leaps and bounds and that should also come with some rewards, But our Airport is still pathetic, We have only one 5-star hotel, Only a handful of quality restaurants, and only one mall worth the mention! We have no theatre scene, no art shows and you can bet your last dollar we are not on Bryan Adam’s list of venues when he tours India this December.
We seem only to excel in opening small mobile phone shops and medical stores, and for some reason bakeries that keep mushrooming everywhere, Serve rubbish and shut soon.
We have not attracted Foreign banks, Corporate offices or the IT sector, and no large industrial house has shown interest in investing here.
Our quaint roads are being cemented, our traffic has become intolerable in the rush hours. Lovely shopping streets like Sadar are now best avoided. Our heritage structures are crying for care and attention, as are our parks and gardens! The few Tourist attractions that could have been developed are left to go to seed.
The ‘Orange’ city is going ‘Blacker’ by the day,
As someone passionate about the city I am devasted and saddened by its decline.
Nagpur, My heart weeps! What will become of you?
An old Sufi quote goes…
“When the ‘Heart’ weeps for what it has lost,
The ‘Spirit’ laughs for what it has found”
So what one is clearly in need of, to lift this dark mood, is some ‘Spirit’. An Old Monk and Coke at ‘Bullockcart Bar’, would do nicely.
But on second thoughts, forget it! … I’ll never find parking on Mount Road.
#bits of beauty everywhere
@bits_of_beauty_everywhere