In the past I have written about the waste of money planned on building the Shivaji Maharaj Statue in Mumbai. Now with the Government which had planned for the statue back in power, for the next 5 years, the work will be starting soon on it. Recently I read the novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Since I have not ever been to Washington, I saw the pictures of the monuments mentioned in the book on the net.
These monuments built ages ago are today a symbol for the city of Washington. That made me think of any monument present in Mumbai.
Well we do have 
some structures….under Heritage Structures….but I dont think they are taken good care of. We have age old gardens like Hanging Garden, Five Garden, National Park….but they are all in a very bad shape. We have structures like the Victoria Terminus, Central Library, Rajabai Tower(the less said about its condition the better). But are these monuments really looked upon as tourist attractions.
some structures….under Heritage Structures….but I dont think they are taken good care of. We have age old gardens like Hanging Garden, Five Garden, National Park….but they are all in a very bad shape. We have structures like the Victoria Terminus, Central Library, Rajabai Tower(the less said about its condition the better). But are these monuments really looked upon as tourist attractions.
There are other places in India which are hardly taken care of …..Jalianwala Baug in Amritsar, one doesnt even come to know of the infamous well, which has now been covered up, and not a single signboard has been kept in its vicinity to indicate its history. The bullet marks on the wall are left to everybodies imagination.
So that again make me think, that if we dont want to take good care of such huge monuments why build them at all. Ofcourse a developing city like Mumbai needs tourist attractions, but first atleast take care of the existing ones. If we cant take care of our existing monuments, there is absolutely no need for additional ones.
It is wierd.. I was watching a Walk the Talk Show on NDTV and the venue was the Parliament Building in Delhi..
ReplyDeleteI just had a simple thought.. How many buildings can I think of that have been built post independence and are of the same quality that were built by the British or by the Mughals. The Umaid Bhawan, I read was completed after Independence, however that too was manaeged by a Britisher.
Leave alone managing, we need to also ensure that what we build will stand the test of time, which brings to your question.. If we cannot take care of our existing heritage, what is the need for new ones?
Here is the link to my older blog on the statue...
ReplyDeletehttp://jayantgajria.blogspot.in/2009/09/shivaji-statue-and-waste-of-money.html