As someone who grew up in Chennai (then known as "Madras," a name that I still prefer) my fondest memories are of the beautiful Marina Beach and of my family's Sunday evening trip there. Over the years, the beach has suffered tremendously. The shells that we would collect as children are no longer to be found because sewage that is let into the sea kills off virtually all of the marine life. And the daily encroachments of "civilization" and its runoffs, continue to inflict harm on one of the most beautiful things about a lovely city.
There is now a great group working to preserve the Marina and Besant Nagar and other beaches, and trying to influence other cities to do the same to beaches that they have messed up as much as Chennai has messed the Marina up. With the controversial name Let's Rob, this group plans to "Reclaim Our Beaches" as a beautiful environment for the Indian people to enjoy again. This is a group of highly dedicated people working hard to do something that will benefit millions. I would request everyone who can to please volunteer or spread the word about them. These are good people. They deserve all the support that they can get and I hope that they succeed beyond their own wildest expectations. For India's sake, they deserve to.
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Mehul I agree with you on the state of the beaches in Chennai. As you rightly said, as someone who has grown up in Chennai, these beaches have a very special place in our hearts and memories. Just seeing the current state makes my heart bleed. If you were to look at some of the photos that I have posted on FB of the beach taken in Oct 09, the only thing one can see is people, plastic and waste all around. Where are the beaches that we children have run around on without running into a fast food stall or cutting your feet on broken glass and plastic bottles?? The fresh air has been replaced by the odour of stale cooking oil and the sound of waves breaking on the shore is overshadowed by the cacophony of the so called civilized race. While we all do our bit in cyber space, lets sincerely pray for some visible efforts and results on the ground as well. We should all do whatever we can in any forum for these wonderful spaces, else the only place where the beach would then exist would be in our memories, and I shudder to think of such a situation.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your response, Manoj. Yes, it hurts to see what is happening to the beautiful beaches of Chennai and other cities like Mumbai as well. Fortunately, this particular group in Chennai has some very dedicated people and they have taken the task of reclaiming the beaches to colleges, schools and to the people who live along the beaches - both the poor fishermen and their families and the wealthier residents of Besant Nagar etc - with a broad based and aware public, fortunately, we can be more optimistic about the future, I think. Let us hope that they succeed soon and in a far bigger way than even they hope to. As you rightly point out, this is a struggle to preserve our beautiful heritage for the future. My hat is off to these people for their very good work.
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