1. A city with lakes spreading thousand
petalled delight
Filled with lotus
blossoms red, blue and white
Welcoming flying birds
with feathers bright
With nimble swimming
colored fish in waters clear
With soft fragrant
breezes in tranquil atmosphere
The banks dense with
green trees and charm
In brief, a fit paradise
pure and calm.
2. A city with teeming parks and rows of
trees green
With pure salubrious cool
breezes clean
A city well-known for
beautiful flowers
With plenteous water and
drizzling showers
Where tourists come to
escape from blazing heat
A city with wide pathways
smooth and neat.
3. A city with thriving commerce and
trade
Where various artists
their talents displayed
Where industries rose
without harming Nature’s wealth
Without endangering
public health
Where royal patrons inspired modern trends and change
Without violating
tradition and cultural range
Where people from
different regions live in peace
Sharing their skills and live with harmonious ease.
4. Where are those thousand blue lakes gone?
Where are those gardens
and trees that once shone?
Where are those spacious
lawns and bowers green?
Where are those pools and shining wells serene?
Where is that balmy cool
breeze fresh and soft
Where are those cool arbors
and historic spots?
No merry twittering cheerful
sounds of birds I hear
No space to walk through,
enjoying fresh air, I fear.
5. What made this cool paradise vanish
into thin air?
What now I see a dry,
congested city beyond repair
A confused maze of buildings
with no space between
Unplanned cancerous
spread of skyscrapers seen
The fabled lotus-laden
lakes with breezes cool
Encroached and shrunken
to stagnant pools.
Gardens and lawns displaced by shops and noisy trade
No broad-branched
trees spreading panoramic shade.
6. The highways choked with vehicles,
too hard to pass
For hours waiting too
hard for people to cross
So many hurdles, too
exhausting we feel
The curse of unplanned
vision, ignoring public weal
So many lives are lost in
this mad rush of traffic indeed
Hasty decisions of
selfish minds often mislead.
Now not so easy to set
right this chaotic state
Impossible to restore vast space and lakes, too late.
7. Most of the lakes vanished; those
that remain
Became cesspools where
effluents are drained
Swelling with fluffy
clouds of foam befouling air
No water springs; an arid
stretch of blocks everywhere
Thousands of trees hewn
and burnt for enough space
For buildings, firms and
malls leaving no trace
Loud sounds, tall
mansions, and cars, people deemed
True progress: lost
treasures of Nature can we redeem?
8. Dried up borewells and rivers and no
water-trace
Dry weather with burning
heat people have to face
The city overcrowded cannot
meet our needs
Traffic rush, pollution
and diseases it breeds
Too many firms and
industries spoiled the charm
Raising so many problems,
dangers and alarm;
Can we bring back the
former glory of the past
In this pollution-ridden
congested city vast?
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21st June, 2024 Somaseshu Gutala
Note : The future fate of any modern ultra-modern cosmopolitan city in our country is portrayed here. Overurbanization with commercial attitude and lack of planning and vision, makes our cities congested and unlivable. Unless urgent and timely measures are taken the modern cities are bound to face many problems which will affect our future generations and disturb the equilibrium of nature endangering the existence of flora and fauna. So let us pay heed to the warnings given by scientists and technological innovators and live in harmony with Nature and limited sources available to mankind.
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