VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

A version of this article also appeared in the Times of India, Vizag Edition, today Nov 18, "Forget tourists, develop city for its own people". ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Over the last several months I have been travelling out of Vizag often. Each time I return I am glad to be back. Not only because I am coming home to family and friends but because I come home to Vizag; my stunningly beautiful city.    It is natural that the residents of the city to be proud of Vizag. And from this pride comes the tendency to show off the city to others. That is why we Vizagite say “We should develop Vizag into a tourist spot”. The rationale for wanting tourists is that: tourism brings in visitors who spend gobs of money here and generate employment that makes Vizagites rich . Notice how a subliminal pride of the city is rationalized into what appears to be a good reason. But what is the truth about tourism? ...

Last evening it rained cats and dogs (and I stepped into a poodle!) This morning I went down to the beach road for a walk. I was hoping to walk along our pristine sands breathing in the fresh sea air and watching the sea gulls strutting at the water's edge. Yeah - in my dreams. But what I found was plenty of garbage, quite a stink and thousands of crows (bless them for they help clean our mess). I pity Vizag's beach cleaning brigade, the GVMC sanitary workers -  they have quite a job cleaning up the beach after a storm. But I digress... What caught my attention was a heap of bottles gathered by a couple of beach combers. Some bottles were already filled in large sacks and others were lying in neat piles. I asked them how many they had collected and from where. They said around 300 or so bottles already this morning from the gedda nearby. I was curious and asked him how much they were worth. He said the going rate was Rs. 15 per kg and he hoped to collect around 15 kg at that...

Who killed the Bora caves?     The buzz over Bora Over the last few days there is quite a buzz about promoting even more tourism in and around Bora and Araku. This news is scary. Why? You ask. Well, a visit to Bora Caves illustrates the huge adverse impact of tourism on the area. Gone in a blink In the early 1970’s I have visited the caves, long before it was made into a “picnic spot” and spent time admiring its imposing beauty.  Now, this important and sensitive geological formation has been made into an amusement park, with visitors clambering all over the formations and thousands carving their graffiti on the cave walls.  Guides The freelance tribal guides do not bother about the vandalism. They  are poorly trained and mope around, completely demoralized by their APTDC bosses.  Gone in a flash What took millions of years to form has been destroyed in a mere 10 years ... a blink in geological time. Formations, what f...

The Robert Wadera  News example Last night every English TV channel carried Arvind Kejriwal's news conference asking how Robert Wadera the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi got so rich so fast. I was expecting to read more about it in this morning's papers. I subscribe to the "Deccan Chronicle" and "The Hindu" . As I sat at the dining table sipping my sugar-free filter coffee and munching on my digestive biscuits, I noticed that while The Hindu thought that the story deserved front page mention, The Deccan Chronicle did not breathe a word about it in their front page. "What's a 300 crore scam in this day of lakhs of crores of scams" , the DC must have thought. "The public don't care about these piddly little scams, and who in Vizag bothers about Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law?" I am yet to compare the Telugu dailies . However the comparison of the front page of the two English papers shed light on how public opinion is shape...

Karthik Masam is here.   Starting at the end of October and stretching for a month. Hordes of picnickers will descend on Vizag's best green spaces and dump heaps of garbage everywhere. They think it is a spiritual communion with nature! Last year I made and circulated these flyers and posters. I will be doing it this year too. My tiny little bit to make my city clean. If you want to help, get vocal, protest if you see picnickers littering. Let them know you are unhappy. Keeping quiet wont help. Please pass this on to friends. More later, Sohan

Whats your pole number? Do you know your pole number? You know ... that electrical pole outside your apartment or villa? If you do not know, then as a good citizen, go down and take a look. What do you see? Does it have a number on it?  I don't mean the number of the packers or movers, or the friendly local electrician. I mean the number of the pole itself as allotted by GVMC or EPDCL. Why would you need the pole number? Well, if the street light is not working in your part of town, you will have to call a GVMC  number to lodge a complaint. To do this you will first have to know the street light not working complaint number.  This telephone number is not displayed anywhere prominently for the general public to see. Going by how few people know this number I assume it is a top secret classified number . But, have no fear, I will reveal it to you. The number is   155304 . However if you call the number to lodge a complaint, they will ask you for your POL...

What does our Andhra University say about us? When we think of Universities, what generally comes to mind is, imposing buildings, green lawns, old trees, a dignified island of academics. Peaceful, distinguished and clean. But, when it comes to Andhra University what comes to mind is ramshackle buildings, poor maintenance, filth and dirt. Don't believe me? Just visit the Convocation theater  toilet. You would rather go in the bushes than go into the loo. Library Andhra University Library Compound The famous D.V.S. Krishna library is a poor imitation of its past. The structure needs urgent attention both inside and outside. Look around the lawns. A couple of vending carts have taken the role of a library cafeteria. Several people eat and drink here. Thousands of plastic tea cups and  plates are scattered all over the compound. What type of people create the garbage? What type of people allow this hideous apology for a canteen to run here?  Are they reall...

THE TOURISTS ARE COMING! THE TOURISTS ARE COMING! MAKE SOME ROOM DOWN THERE... There is a lot of hullabaloo about tourists coming to Vizag. The newspapers are talking about it. You even hear it at parties, chest swelling with pride, you hear someone say  "we have great tourist potential in Vizag, our beach is fantastic, we must get more tourists here". I shudder when I hear that. We don't even have space for Vizag residents and we want to inflict the crowds on the hapless tourist? Take a look at our beach road, you cant walk 10 steps before bumping into someone. Perhaps we can fit in some genuine domestic back-packers ...

I recently came across a news item which I have scanned and am pasting here: Do Vizagites have our priorities right? The news report says that Vizagites do not adopt animals, birds or reptiles at our Indira Gandhi Zoological Park. The report says that only 15 donors have come forward till date. I know that one of the 15 is myself. I made a Rs. 11,000 contribution in March 2012. Every few days we hear of people dropping crores worth of cash and jewelry into temple  hundis  as if to tell God  "here is a little something for you - help me to earn even more money and I will continue to give you a commission" .  While they attempt to appease God, they do not bother about God's creatures. A stanza of a poem by  William Henry Monk  which  I read in school comes back to me: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful: The Lord God made them all It is a matter of great concern when those with ...

There is one place all of us are headed to   The end of the road, the last halt…the giant terminal-terminus in the sky, the point of no return. Yep, we are all going to die. They say we cannot escape death or taxes - unless its funds stashed away in Swiss banks, in which case you are safe till Baba Ramdev gets you - but cheat death? Naah! So, if we are all going to pop it, why does the after death experience become hell for those who we leave behind? Take for example a death in a Hindu family. Spouses, children or parents go into a numb state of mourning. A support group generally steps in and takes over the management of the last rites. Forms are filled and if it happens in a hospital - bills are settled. Relatives and friends are informed. A mortuary cooler is brought in, flowers are procured, a poojari is entrusted to perform the rituals. Typically on the day after, the body is moved to the Crematorium. The wise men of the past advised that only men should go...

The promise of trees everywhere If we go by what we hear in the papers, Vizag will have millions of trees planted by the end of this monsoon period. That will be quite amazing in the long run. In around 10 years time it will help reduce air borne pollution, improve precipitation and hopefully get more rainfall, improve groundwater retention and drop the ambient temperature in the city by at least 2 degrees centigrade.  A couple of winters ago I recollect walking from Dwarakanagar to Dabagardens. As I crossed the old jail area which still has a few old trees standing I could sense the temperature drop suddenly. God bless these wonderful large trees and God save us from misguided developers who would rather cut these trees down and build a mall there. VUDA's miserable green track record In the past our local administration has failed miserably in maintaining Vizag's green cover.  As is clear from any Google satellite image of Vizag, almost...

Expansion of ports - news reports In recent months, and as recently as last week, there have been news items in the press about the expansion of Vizag and Gangavaram ports. Reading these reports makes me feel like a prisoner being sent to the gas chamber! Please read these news items: 1. "Gangavaram Port in expansion mode". http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article3348360.ece 2. "Gangavaram port expansion set to take off; funds tied up" http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article3473764.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy VPT - The emperor of pollution  Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) is the most notorious polluter of Vizag. The sea water in the port area which was full of marine life, now thanks to the oil, coal, ore, sulfur and  pollution supports no life at all. Their Coal and Iron Ore Dust spreads all over the city. From Soldierpeta to Gyanapuram. From Kotaveedhi to Suryabagh. From Jalaripeta to ...