I live in a colony called the National Media Centre in Gurgaon. It is one of the oldest housing societies to have set up in Gurgaon….well before the path of supposed progress made its way here with glass fronted buildings and unruly traffic increasing in direct proportion to basic amenities such as water, electricity and roads decreasing.
A veritable oasis in the desert, the NMC is located on the NH 8. A brief drive inwards leads to the actual houses. The area between the main road and the houses was originally ear-marked for future development as a green belt, but given to the Society to maintain. This by the Government in power at the time. This green cover (the society planted and maintained trees) and its design and layout helped the colony maintain its peace and quaint character despite all the chaos around us i.e. unfettered construction of commercial buildings around us. Not for long though.
The first blows were of our water table diminishing leading to water problems….you see all around us we had these huge monstrosities soaking up the water and leaving us little. Over time as the number of people travelling to Gurgaon increased, so did the traffic leading to choked roads. They thought that the Delhi Metro connectivity would ease things but no not really. Then the government and a big bully of a builder decided to build a Rapid Metro-which would connect people to the main Metro. Sounds terrific I know. But you remember the area for the green belt? They encroached on it with no permission and as bullies and cowards will….in the dark of the night.
So we managed to stop them felling some trees, but their construction went on anyway and the matter in court.
Chugging along in this fashion, the Rapid Metro is due to be commissioned soon and the matter of the land treading the slow course of the law in our country. I guess they were not making enough money….these politicos and the bully builder…..a plan for widening roads came into being. Ostensibly to ease the traffic jams. That green belt?….was to become grey and tarmacadammed. Green? Huh!
Again matters in court. And again, early in the morning today, when we slept, like true thugs and bullies with not an iota of ethics or conscience, they broke our ENTIRE boundary wall and large equipment is now parked on that Green Belt. A matter of time before the beautiful old trees are massacred.
If you are wondering why all this is SUCH an issue….firstly If it was all above board and legal….this could have been done in an organised way and in daylight, with notice. Not by skulking up like thieves and attacking. Like I said…….cowards. Secondly, down the road from us is a hulking mall. Initially the area where the mall is, was a huge water body and the housing there was sold with the USP of a lake facing etc etc house. Now, that lake is a 7 storey mall and the traffic getting into and out of that mall causes a large part of the jam and blockage. Clearing a mall construction there is SO clearly a decision of commercial gains and thickly lined pockets. So yes….Green belts are being maintained…..holding up all those trousers laden with money.
Do not please for a moment think that we as a colony are hankering for that land for any vested interests. It HAS been maintained as the Green Belt it was intended to be by us. Our protest yes at factual levels is about compensation and money matters…but all residents are not privy to it nor do they need to be. A section of the socities’ elected representatives are handling it.
As a society and place we reside in and our children are growing up in, the residents of National Media Centre ARE protesting. I can voice my feelings. May be the others will too.
Yes- I protest against this blatant and sickening display of money bought power. It troubles me that money is all that matters and people will go to any lengths to achieve their ends. It angers me that perhaps I have no choice but to stand back and let injustice happen. It saddens me that this is happening with the support of a government I have elected. It makes me believe that this is indeed “kalyug”- ironically….I read a description of it in an email today and it was so disturbingly apt.

A description of Kal(i)yug

“As the Age turns to evil (that is, when Kaliyug begins) every virtue decays and vanishes: honesty, forbearance, kindness, memory and strength disappear.

Wealth replaces a noble birth, character and conduct. Might becomes right, for might alone determines dharma and justice.

Trade and fraudulent practice become synonymous.

The law will favour only the rich, and will have no regard for justice. He that can curse and swear best will be considered the finest scholar.

Poverty will be sufficient cause to establish guilt in the eyes of the law, while wealth and ostentation will be indices of character.

Rudeness and brashness of speech will be equal to dharma.

He that maintains his family by the foulest means will be considered respectable. Dharma will be observed only for exhibition.

Whoever is strong and daring will become the king, and will rule like greedy lustful bandits, with plunder and rapine of their own subjects, who will often flee such tyranny and seek refuge in forests and mountains.

Exhausted by cruel taxes, deprived of rains in lands from which true dharma has fled, the people will subsist on wild vegetation, roots, flesh, fruits, flowers, etc.

Kings will become mere robbers, and men, driven by despair and poverty, will become thieves, liars and murderers.

Men will become bestial and perverse– miserly, ruthless, greedy and

Arrogance, hypocrisy, deception, dishonesty, sloth, somnolence, cruelty of every kind, delusion, terror and wretchedness will rule.

Brigands and robbers will rule the land. Kings will all be tyrants.
People will espouse gluttony, lasciviousness and venality of every kind.

The vilest men will become the foremost traders, making cheating and thievery the common practice of the marketplace. Even when they are not threatened with any danger, men will take to forbidden means to earn their livelihood, and pride themselves on it.

Relationships between parents and children, brothers, friends and relations will not be valued.

Seated upon the sacred thrones of great and holy gurus of yore, men that are masters only of vice will expound dharma to the gullible populace.

Depleted by dreadful taxes, tormented by drought, starved, owning none of the bare necessities of life—homes, clothes, food and drink, a bed, a bath,etc. –men will seem more like bhutas and pisachas.

Over small matters, members of the same family will fight their own blood relations, even unto death, forgetting all ties of affection.

No one will bother to look after their old parents any more; they will only live for themselves, and will neglect their own children. ”
–Bhagavad Purana- 12th Chapter.