Laying low the mighty Himalayas
playing loud music. The lake, once the abode of Shiva and Parvati, has lost its grace. The Leh of today isn’t an adventure but excursion.
Are we spoiling the Himalayas or inviting self-destruction? Geologists believe the mountain range is still under formation. That’s why its height increases by two millimetres every year. So an earthquake is enough to shake its foundations and that’s why residents and tourists should stay sensitive to these dangers. But the exact opposite is happening.
Last year, the Annals of Glaciology published a paper by Anil Kulkarni, a scientist with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. According to this paper, glaciers in the Chandra Basin had melted at a much faster speed between 1984 and 2012. According to Kulkarni, although the threat isn’t immediate, if the trend continues, our rivers may eventually go dry. Can you imagine the existence of human life without rivers such as Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Sindhu, Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra and Spiti?
Kulkarni’s study is based on extensive research, but there is much that an ordinary person like me can comprehend. Let me give you the example of the Sahastradhara near Dehradun. Many years ago, looking at its streams, one got the feeling of having arrived at a mini Manali: waterfalls emerging from the womb of the mountain, forests surrounding the mountains and a cool breeze that made the setting even more inviting. There is a bungalow built by the public works department near the waterfalls, where Jawaharlal Nehru came and stayed and appreciated nature’s bounty. Today the stream of water has become feeble and nature’s glory has been lost. It has been replaced by a number of concrete buildings. There are hundreds of such stories of destruction. As Indians, we haven’t managed to build a hill station after Independence, but we’ve destroyed the existing ones.
Yesterday, on the occasion of Himalaya Divas (Himalaya Day), you would have seen the government and NGOS going through the customary motions. Till when will we keep celebrating our destruction?
Shashi Shekhar is editorinchief Hindustan