At the edge of Delhi, in the westernmost part of Uttar Pradesh, a passionate young man—half-sage, half-maverick—has been convincing his landed Gurjar community to convert their 50-acre patch into the model that Gandhi, Adityanath and Modi (at a subconscious level) dream of, but just haven’t got down to seeing it through. There are just too many critics and detractors. But our Gaurav Bhatti’s “smart” city is smarter for the future. Though he won’t take no for an answer, he needs a hearing at the highest level.
Legend and, maybe, history record that Ravana’s father, Rishi Visharak, lived here and that the wise and erudite Ravana prayed to an octagonal Shiva linga (dated to be some 5,000 years) before he went and conquered Lanka and lost his head in power and lust.
Tall buildings now surround this sacred vatika resembling any overdeveloped space like Gurugram, but at their heart lies this pre-coronavirus dream. No one could see its importance when Bhatti spoke about it or got people to come and tell the village elders what legacy they wanted to leave behind. The Bisrakh Dhamija plan is to rejoin the community glue that has been diluting over the years.
According to Bhatti, though coronavirus is a disaster, it has also put our earth on repair mode with the air quality index in the capital dropping from 300-plus to just 46 within three days of the lockdown due to a decrease in emissions from factories and vehicles. The ozone layer has also started to heal. The decreased levels of pollution will also impact global warming in a positive way and the world, in general, is becoming a better place to live for us and for our future generations, observes Bhatti. So Bhatti’s remedy for the future is to maintain the quarantine in some way or the other. “It’s my humble suggestion that after the corona situation is ably handled, the governments of every country should decide on quarantine days for all citizens every month. Speedy progress can wait so as to maintain the balance and make the earth a better place to live,” says Bhatti.
Bhatti’s plan merits a keen look. He believes that BHARAT is a land of KRISHI and and RISHI and our assets lie in the very motherland (Matrabhumi). The potential of having more than six seasons and the potential to find our lost science is important. People might call it the anger of the gods but the land of BHARAT knows deep down that this is pure cyclical science and will come into effect from time to time as we humans will discover to our horror, says Bhatti.
According to Bhatti, our way of living life has endlessly reminded us that there is no such thing as RIGHT and WRONG and it’s all about what’s RIGHTEOUS at the time. Our knowledge (RISHI) is deeply embedded on this very soil and we have to realise that building skyscrapers is not our forte, he contends. “We have acted as the philosophical ANNADATAS to all humanity on this planet but at the same time, we have to ensure that coming generations of humanity understand that the only way forward is LIFE with CONSCIOUSNESS.”
Bhatti adds: “I can understand today’s easy argument that ECONOMY will always win over ECOLOGY. Today’s scenario with coronavirus might act as gentle reminder to us humans that just the economy holds no value over ecology and if we dip low now, might not be able to leave a healthy planet for our coming generations. I see immense construction in India to a level that now empty flats are being used by the Government as quarantine facilities. The current food shortage might also remind us that if we are locked down into our current so-called ‘city heavens’, they will soon have the potential to turn into a FOOD WAR ZONE. What is happening around us is nothing but our KARMA. We have to take it graciously and work towards finding solutions. I could foresee something of this sort happening since the last SAAVAN (July 2019) and all I did from that moment was to talk about just one thing: SELF-SUSTAINABLE, CARBON-NUETRAL COMMUNITY LIVING.”
About The Author
More Columns
Forever Yours Kaveree Bamzai
Battlefields of the Mind Kaveree Bamzai
Punjabi by Nature Rachel Dwyer