Hyderabad on the Rocks!

Millions of years in the making....smoothened and polished to perfection by the ravages of the elements. Cradling the cycle of life on a miniature scale in its nooks and crannies. And a mute witness to the birth of a city, its growth, its political turmoil, and again fast paced heady rediscovery and growth of the modern times! And then the silent bystanders were blasted away..silenced forever exposing in its place, ugly scars which tell no tales. Yes...the city is growing, its roads are widening but environment is being held ransom!

The unique grey-black granite structures which lend Hyderabad a distinct spot in the geological map of the world and has rendered a rustic awe-inspiring charm to the city’s landscape are what I am talking about. They are almost like pieces of abstract art and are a sheer delight to the eyes. However, insensitivity to the heritage nature has bestowed on us, a nefarious greed to encash on the real estate boom of the last few years and frenzied and unplanned growth of the city, has resulted in destruction of these beautiful rock structures which dotted the terrain of this city...located right in the heart of the Deccan Plateau. In most places what remain are skeletons of the erstwhile beauties....ugly quarries in place of natural splendours.

Geologists say that these are amongst the oldest and hardest rock formations in the world dating back to 2500 million years ago!!! The Government has woken up after the mass destruction is almost over to ‘protect’ a handful of the more prominent structures. But what about the other not-so-prominent, yet fine pieces of nature’s artwork? Just last month one such structure, right in front of my daughter’s school was blasted away to make way for a palatial concrete atrocity!

I am all for growth. I, like millions of my countrymen, want to see India at the pinnacle of success…as a leader of the world. But at the same time, I want my country to retain, nurture and cherish the bounty of nature that we are blessed with. Economic development will cease to happen in a country indifferent towards social and ecological responsibility. Our insensitivity towards ecology, lack of basic civic sense, a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots are not what leaders of the world ought to be. A balance must be sought. Where material progress, infrastructure growth happens… but not at the graveyard of ecosystem equilibrium.

Live and Let Live...

STATUTORY WARNING: this is NOT a science blog nor a socio-political one…these are the thoughts of an ordinary person with only the layman’s knowledge of astronomy and evolution.

In an infinite and ever expanding mystery we call the universe, teeming with a billion solar systems containing countless planets, satellites and creatures who may or may not exist, who are we? Where do we figure in this vast and elusive boundary-less expanse of unfathomable space?
From the unicellular prokaryotes of a zillion years ago, the cell-toting technology-crazy organism of the 21st century has come a long long way indeed!

We, the human beings, are the self-proclaimed superior-most of all living beings to have set foot on this planet earth! We made the Gods and Devils. And now we are playing both the GOD and the DEVIL. Our creativity added to earth's beauty and many a heaven on earth was made. And again it was us who transformed the earth into hell.. as we killed, maimed and destroyed nations, regions and fellow humans. We still are…in the name of religion, altruism, diplomacy, fanaticism.

While on one hand, our technological advancements make us Super Powerful, millions are starving or dying for the lack of basic amentities. WHY I wonder?

From the perspective of the entire limitless universe, our planet is not even the size of a speck of dust. We are insignificant...powerless in the greater scheme of things.

-We don’t know how we arrived (the continuous discoveries of physicists and astronomers are part speculation part reality);

-We don’t know how we evolved from the unicellular to the multicellur complexity of our present form (we all are actually agglomeration of cells consisting of electrons, protons and neutrons!!!!!). Who knows what the next form of the evolutionary chain will be...

-We have no idea how many more years Mother Earth can bear our undisciplined and unrestrained treatment of nature and environment before we are subjected to her wrath and fury.
What with the natural disasters becoming rampant, drastic and unwelcome changes in weather conditions, melting of the ice-caps of Mother Earth, doomsday seems to be drawing closer (not the 'closer you and I can even contemplate....it's still lightyears away...but in the universal perspective, that's not too long away!).

For all we know, the lifetime of each planet may be finite. Just as it required a BIG BANG to create us, another BIGGER BANG BANG BANG may be enough to sniff the life out of our beautiful green planet!!

Why I wonder, cant we live in peace, harmony, happiness? Why does history have to repeat itself so often and still we dont learn?
Why cant we all live and let live? Why Why Why???