Friday, October 14, 2011

Romancing India's East Coast...

...Ok, the title is rather misleading, scavenging is more like it! Scavenging for a decent place to rent as a short let in the refuse heap of Vishakapatnam Real Estate.

...The jewel of the East Coast, where the thickly wooded Eastern Ghats and the cerulean blue waters of the Bay of Bengal romance each other for miles together along with stunning white beaches and startling black rocks...

...Where a city, who's earliest written records go back to roughly the 5th century BC is being raped to death in the 21st century...

...Where entire hills are being decimated to build massive, soul-less apartment buildings and garish resorts because people are seemingly too boorish to comprehend either ecology or aesthetics...or they truly believe that leaving behind a legacy of blood money from a destroyed earth is better than leaving behind a beautiful earth to their descendants...

And then there's Venkat, a funny, sweet guy, honest to a fault, ruefully presiding over his real estate business and collection of brokers, deflecting his chagrin over the sad state of affairs with cynical humor...

...Looking over the umpteenth newly built apartment, this one somewhere in the far vicinity of the sea, on the 5th floor of a building, I am standing on the balcony feeling paralyzingly claustrophobic when he comes out,

"You even have a little bit of sea-view in the distance" he points out and then "but to enjoy that you have to first see this"...turning my attention to the massive open drain filled with fetid liquid ( I can't call it water) and garbage, sluggishly trying to flow past the apartment..."Whew! Thanks Venkat!"

On the other side of the same building, within a short distance, beyond a few buildings, is one of the many hills, thick and green rising up straight from the earth like a gloomy warrior watching over the death of his troops...and I ask him,

"Are there any apartments right next to the hills?" and he bursts out laughing...

"No! but don't worry, the tiger comes to the city these days, SO YOU  don't need to go that far!"

Here's wishing the beautiful land of Vishakha a posse of man eating tigers to eat up all the "developers" responsible for greedily destroying their home...

...and I think I finally found a home as well, a small apartment in an older building across from the beach, which currently looks like a haunted house with a particularly impish ghost in residence but once cleaned up and done up should make for a charming living space, at least, that is my fond hope of the moment...we'll see...

Moving back to India is proving be very like India...an experience of extremes!






2 comments:

  1. Roona, it's so sad to hear about a grand and beautiful ancient city being destroyed by greed and ugly constructions. I hate those kinds of apartments you've described and I'm so glad you found something with some character. I hope it cleans up into a cozy space for you. . . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Milli...it is indeed heartbreaking to see such ruthless progress...
    Roona

    ReplyDelete