Ode of the nearby stream Ar. Hrishikesh Ashtekar Faculty. PVPCOA ashtekar.pvpcoa10@gmail.com
Today the Rain caught me on the street and casually got me off my feet. Said the nearby stream ..Wait today I will show you clogged drainage lines and streams which you changed directions. You never understood my topographic connections. However you try with your machines and intelligent resources, you will never be able to change my natural courses. The Hills which you injured with your JCBs and trucks got water in your house today full of mud and muck. Your Plastic waste choked me yesterday for which I showed you my terror face today. As there were sad deaths and life was fear, my eyes were full of tears. Hence my friend, please listen to my wise advice. “Don’t Change but Save each of my courses for our natural resources”.
The ‘Urbanizing Peripheries’ of Pune has these kind of common juxtapositions of large residential projects in the countryside with several such streams and yet to be developed agricultural fields. In the recent flash floods in end of September 2019, few such streams overflowed on the streets and housing colonies , also breaking their channelizing edge walls. As Pune progresses towards becoming a global city (also as one of the 11 megacities of India by 2025 with more than 4 million population), the question of ecological issues remain unanswered in the spate of suburban development. The original poem above in ‘Marathi’ written by my wife Mrs Sheetal Ashtekar (graphic designer and artist) brings out the plight of such a stream. The same is further expressed in English by me.
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