Liberate the woman

The land turns and twists and winds itself around trees. For miles and miles together all one can see is the green . The green and all its shades under the sun .The green of the tree leaf , the green of the cabbage , the green of the grass , the green of the bushes , the green – for miles and miles together – the green and JUST , the green . Nature standing proudly to display all its colors. Proud - Proud of itself , Proud of knowing and understanding what it contains and has is fabulous and unique , Proud of knowing it holds its audience spell bound , Proud of the fact that it indeed is - the MOTHER nature. Proud yet giving , Proud yet not arrogant. The Road dances beneath our feet – ever so gracefully. The road like a kid – excited , for the visitors have come to HIS house , for the visitors have chosen HIS home to see . The kid showing off himself to the visitor and where all he can take them , the kid showing off his territory – HIS AND ONLY HIS territory ! The wind turning into a warm caress , a loving caress , soft and smooth . Flowing along playing with the green . The Huts growing out of the ground , thatched roofs , made of hay , raw , unadulterated , untouched , natural .

It is overwhelming to be in a setting which provides warmth and comfort like human relations do . The landscape , the setting , the trees , the flowers , the road , the huts , their people , the land , the farms , their farmers . The entire surroundings and the way leading to it talks to you . The conversations over coffee , more candid , more interesting , more satisfying , more giving . Oh by the way , its not coffee , its pure unadulterated smooth cool Lassi .I am Alice and it indeed IS the wonderland in the city .

It loosens the hold of the plasticity of a city that unnerves with its chaos , its superficiality , its artificiality . It lets the User enjoy and relax . The left turn from the Nizammuddin Bridge did turn out to be wondrous. The kid showed us around too . We ran and played along towards the river . River – the giver of not only one of the most valuable natural resource but of warmth , of love , of grace , of power , of dignity , of strength , of fertility . The river means a lot to a lot of people . The river means a LOT period.

We jumped , giggled , laughed , skipped , hopped to the river . The breeze , the green , the road leapt with joy and so did I . Until .................

We reached the river , the kid stared out in what was standing in front of it , stared blankly at the catastrophe lying in front of it . Dumb silence . Morbid silence . Piercing Silence .Loss of the woman , the mother , the sister , the lady , the grace .The Loss !

It was indeed a sad sight to see the once graceful woman lying tied up in the worst shape one can imagine . The river was a mess . She needed help . LOTS OF IT !

Over the years she was exploited , tortured , taken advantage of , raped and thrown aside . and all of us just stared , stared at the lady suffering in front of us , stared as if it was the right thing to do and when it was really tough for us to look at the exploitation , we turned our backs to her . We turned our faces the other side to talk about Development , about more houses , about quality living , about sky scrapers , about plastic malls , about pubs , about shopping complexes but not about the lady who gave us the city – our city – the city we live in .

The river was not more than a nallah . It was narrow , black , filthy , dirty . Though as a citizen of Delhi it aches my heart to associate such words with the Yamuna , its sad but its true ! Visiting the River was a huge disappointment .

She was bound by all of us . She was exploited by all of us . The ones who inflicted the torture on her and the ones who kept quiet and turned away . It is time we turn back , it is time we give HER all the care and support she needs , its time we give HER our time and focus on getting her back to the graceful being that she was. It is time we Develop the biggest resource of the city . Its time we give back love that we received from her all these years . Its payback time – and its only Fair !

As an Architect and as a citizen of Delhi I believe the redevelopment of the Yamuna river front is one of the few opportunities to give the city back what we‘ve taken from her . One of the opportunities to make the city a better place to live in . The Yamuna river front development is the agenda .

So lets liberate the woman who gave birth to our city !

So lets liberate the woman ! Liberate the woman !