Diwali brings in the Hindu New Year and also ushers in holidays for a large portion of people living in India. Like countless others, we also decided to holiday away from home with the family. This time it was Saputara, a hill station in the south of Gujarat, in the Dangs district.
Thanks to a contact in the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited, we could book enough rooms for all of us at a distance of three weeks prior to our scheduled departure, in the Toran Hill Resort at Saputara. It is located at the entrance as it were, into Saputara. The town or whatever little of it is there, unfolds from the traffic circle at the entrance of the winding road as it reaches the plateau atop the hills.
Partly out of human tendency to do so and partly out of the staggering contrast, I could not but help compare my experience of this place 14 years back and now.
This hill station used to be a place to salubriate and now it is there to be consumed. Its uniqueness as a quiet cool location has given way to it being a noisy, busy, entertainment facility that is constantly under development. The outskirts of Saputara are still quiet and sylvan, and, partly in Nature's control. Here in the further reaches, the bees hum more often than the buses. You can visit any of the myriad websites and find out more about what to see and how to go, and I will not go into the details of that.
I felt deeply relieved to experience that a lot of us still do live outside the internet and the so called social networks on the net. It was not just the village folks that seemed to be living that way; even the visitors were eager to explore the jungles, the rivers and the falls, and, the customs of the tribal brethren. The over riding urge was to reconnect with Nature, first hand.
A completely new phenomenon this time was the arduous and seemingly annual pilgrimage that thousands of people were seen undertaking, walking all the way from their homes somewhere in the southern Gujarati towns, and aspiring to reach Shirdi, to pay their obeisance to their revered saint, the Sai Baba. This town of Shirdi, in the state of Maharashtra, is located about 180 kilometres away from Saputara. Groups of men and women, clad in uniform like T-shirts, were seen walking along the mountainous roads chanting, talking, occasionally resting by the way side, being serviced by their organizers in make shift shelters or schools. A number of service vehicles were also seen; these were carrying those that were in some way compromised by walking long distances. Some of the faithfuls were obviously in pain for they limped as they walked, allowing their companions to go ahead while they carried on their faith walk in a solitary manner, perhaps benefiting from their communion with the Nature around.
As we visited some nature sites, notably the Gira Falls near Vaghai, the contrast between our two trips was highlighted even more and painfully so. I remember visiting these places at the same time of the year on the previous sojourn. Then the falls were robust and the location was an unspoiled natural beauty; not so this time. Now the falls were significantly less forceful and voluminous, and, lower down, the pooled water was stagnant. A large number of shanties have cropped up around the place to help people with food and the obvious littering thereafter.
I felt that weather changes and commercialization have dealt a double blow to our natural resources and locations. Why should everything natural that is there not be allowed to simply exist? Why should it all be put to commercialization and consumption? How can we be so greedy and insensitive in our approach? In that perspective the sense of reverence that our previous generations had for Earth and all its elements is a more sophisticated and sustainable approach than the way our generation is 'using' our Earth's various resources.
The question now is not whether we should carry on the way we are, but whether if we do the way we have, will we sustain or even survive? I personally feel that, the gifts of modern technology not withstanding, a few previous generations were the last to have seen the Earth at it's prime. We are in the midst of a decline and we are not able to, or woefully, willing to, perceive it.
Can we not consume Nature less and learn to protect and revere it more?
Can we not learn to re-connect with it more meaningfully? Rather than answer or argue about it, can we not act, each one of us, and thereby usher in the revival of our own survival ? Please don't just think; the plea is to act, if you can. Thereby you will help yourself first, and the world later. That's quite a lot even from a self serving perspective.
Thanks to a contact in the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited, we could book enough rooms for all of us at a distance of three weeks prior to our scheduled departure, in the Toran Hill Resort at Saputara. It is located at the entrance as it were, into Saputara. The town or whatever little of it is there, unfolds from the traffic circle at the entrance of the winding road as it reaches the plateau atop the hills.
Partly out of human tendency to do so and partly out of the staggering contrast, I could not but help compare my experience of this place 14 years back and now.
This hill station used to be a place to salubriate and now it is there to be consumed. Its uniqueness as a quiet cool location has given way to it being a noisy, busy, entertainment facility that is constantly under development. The outskirts of Saputara are still quiet and sylvan, and, partly in Nature's control. Here in the further reaches, the bees hum more often than the buses. You can visit any of the myriad websites and find out more about what to see and how to go, and I will not go into the details of that.
I felt deeply relieved to experience that a lot of us still do live outside the internet and the so called social networks on the net. It was not just the village folks that seemed to be living that way; even the visitors were eager to explore the jungles, the rivers and the falls, and, the customs of the tribal brethren. The over riding urge was to reconnect with Nature, first hand.
A completely new phenomenon this time was the arduous and seemingly annual pilgrimage that thousands of people were seen undertaking, walking all the way from their homes somewhere in the southern Gujarati towns, and aspiring to reach Shirdi, to pay their obeisance to their revered saint, the Sai Baba. This town of Shirdi, in the state of Maharashtra, is located about 180 kilometres away from Saputara. Groups of men and women, clad in uniform like T-shirts, were seen walking along the mountainous roads chanting, talking, occasionally resting by the way side, being serviced by their organizers in make shift shelters or schools. A number of service vehicles were also seen; these were carrying those that were in some way compromised by walking long distances. Some of the faithfuls were obviously in pain for they limped as they walked, allowing their companions to go ahead while they carried on their faith walk in a solitary manner, perhaps benefiting from their communion with the Nature around.
As we visited some nature sites, notably the Gira Falls near Vaghai, the contrast between our two trips was highlighted even more and painfully so. I remember visiting these places at the same time of the year on the previous sojourn. Then the falls were robust and the location was an unspoiled natural beauty; not so this time. Now the falls were significantly less forceful and voluminous, and, lower down, the pooled water was stagnant. A large number of shanties have cropped up around the place to help people with food and the obvious littering thereafter.
I felt that weather changes and commercialization have dealt a double blow to our natural resources and locations. Why should everything natural that is there not be allowed to simply exist? Why should it all be put to commercialization and consumption? How can we be so greedy and insensitive in our approach? In that perspective the sense of reverence that our previous generations had for Earth and all its elements is a more sophisticated and sustainable approach than the way our generation is 'using' our Earth's various resources.
The question now is not whether we should carry on the way we are, but whether if we do the way we have, will we sustain or even survive? I personally feel that, the gifts of modern technology not withstanding, a few previous generations were the last to have seen the Earth at it's prime. We are in the midst of a decline and we are not able to, or woefully, willing to, perceive it.
Can we not consume Nature less and learn to protect and revere it more?
Can we not learn to re-connect with it more meaningfully? Rather than answer or argue about it, can we not act, each one of us, and thereby usher in the revival of our own survival ? Please don't just think; the plea is to act, if you can. Thereby you will help yourself first, and the world later. That's quite a lot even from a self serving perspective.
1 comment:
Pls don't miss the Sahyadris. Unspoiled.Verdant. And mostly non-littered.
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