Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
Here in the UK, we’ve had our share of motorway bypasses built over beautiful little 12th century churches or ancient saxon burial grounds or even just a little old lady’s back garden. Due to the outcry because of this it’s now practically impossible to build a new road or train line. The practice of destroying towns to build a road through them goes all the way back to Roman times and beyond.
Unfortunately, India’s rapid economic growth means that many more projects like this will be built. It’s so sad that Yamunaji is being treated like a sewer, but don’t forget that this is Kali Yuga, and as it progresses the holy places will get more covered by the material energy. “The material energy” does not just mean hogs in open sewers, it also means these soviet style poured concrete monstrosities.
It’s a sad fact of life, that as Vrindavan becomes more built-up and developed, that infrastructure will be built to cater for the new population. Perhaps rather than complaining about this bridge being built, one might campaign against the overall development of the area. How many of us enjoy the nice new upgraded NH-2 from Delhi to Vrindavan?
Many of the people who are up in arms are from western countries, and have bought or built houses in the Vrindavan ‘metro area’. Many of us have stayed in the luxurious new ‘guesthouses’ built recently in Chaitanya Vihar. Do those same people not stop to think that the concrete for those buildings must arrive in those dirty smelly lorries we hate so much. Those lorries need roads to drive on.
Much as we hate to admit it, we, the foreigners who come to live in Vrindavan, are the root cause of this bridge. We are the ones who made Vrindavan so popular among the suburban Delhiites and their new-found wealth. This means that we’ve got a bit of a responsibility to look after this place. We need to show the people who want to develop at any cost the massive cost that this will have on *their* lives, and how it will be them that suffers in the long run, as they no longer have any cute authentic little villages to go on their weekend trips to.
I don’t think we want Vrindavan to become another Chowki Dhani