A story about a man’s search for the magical water of his youth, only to find it murdered and buried by ‘progress’.
Santa was in a deep, nostalgic melancholy.
He was sitting in the courtyard of their ancestral village home, sipping from a plastic bottle of mineral water.
He swished the water, his face crumpled in disgust.
“This is not water, Banta,” he complained.
“It is a plastic–flavored insult.”
“I am pining for the water of my youth!”
The sweet, cold, life-giving water from our village Naula.”
“Remember, Banta?”
“Old Nani-ji used to say it was ‘amrit‘, blessed by the mountain gods!”
Banta, too, remembered.
“You are right, Santa,” he said, a rare smile of nostalgia on his face.
“There was nothing like it.”
“Then it is decided!” Santa declared, jumping to his feet.
“We are going on a Yatra.”
Not to a temple, but to our sacred Naula!”
“I must taste that sweet water one last time!”
They grabbed their walking sticks and began the familiar trek up the hill.
The path, however, was no longer familiar.
It was now a wide, dusty, under-construction motor road.
A new luxury hotel was being built on the slope above where their Naula used to be.
As they got closer, their excitement turned to a sick, hollow feeling.
They arrived at the spot.
The beautifully carved stone Naula was gone. The gentle, moss-covered Naula was gone.
In its place was a massive, ugly, unstable pile of construction debris, rocks, broken concrete bags, and plastic waste.
It had all cascaded down from the hotel construction site above, completely burying the Naula and the small agricultural terraces that surrounded it.
A foul, grey sludge, mixed with cement runoff, was oozing from the bottom of the debris pile.
Santa fell to his knees, his face a mask of true, profound grief.
“They… they killed it,” he whispered, his voice cracking.
A man in a bright yellow hard-hat, a supervisor from the hotel site, ambled over, chewing paan.
“What’s the problem, uncles?” he asked, not unkindly.
“Looking for something?”
“Our Naula !” Santa cried, his anger rising.
“Our Naula!”
“The sweetest water in the Himalayas!”
“It was right here!”
The supervisor spat a stream of red paan onto the debris pile.
“Oh, that old, leaky ditch?” he shrugged.
“It was just a messy ditch, uncle.”
“Always making the ground wet.”
“We were finding a good, empty spot to dump the debris from the foundation.”
“This ditch was perfect.”
“Out of the way.”
“Don’t you worry,” he added, trying to be helpful.
“Our new hotel will have a beautiful swimming pool and 24-hour mineral water… for guests, of course.”
Santa was speechless.
Banta stepped forward, his voice cold with a quiet fury.
“Sir, you have not filled a ditch.”
“You have destroyed the socio-ecological services of an entire village.”
“You have buried their primary water source.”
“You have contaminated the Gool that irrigated their fields.”
“And you have destroyed the agricultural terraces that fed them.”
“You have not just buried a Naula; you have buried a way of life, all so a tourist can have a swimming pool.”
Santa, finally finding his voice, pointed a trembling finger at the man.
“You… you are the real disaster.”
“You are the landslide, in a yellow hat.”
संता – बंता की इस जुगलबन्दी से आज हमने क्या सीखा:-
मलबा मतलब आजीविका की क्षति / Debris Destroys Livelihoods
ऐसा नहीं है कि मलबा निस्तारण से कोई पीड़ित नहीं होता है। इससे नौलो व धारो के साथ ही खेत व अन्य सामुदायिक संसाधनों को क्षति पहुँचती हैं।
This story provides a graphic, personal example of the article’s core point: debris dumping is not a victimless crime. It directly destroys critical community resources like traditional water sources (Dhara, Naula) and buries irreplaceable agricultural land.
परम्परागत जल स्त्रोतों की क्षति / Loss of Traditional Water Sources
नौले व धारे स्थानीय समुदाय के महत्वपूर्ण जल स्त्रोत हैं जिनके न होने पर समुदाय पूरी तरह से बाहरी जल स्त्रोतों पर निर्भर हो जाता है, जिससे उसकी घातकता में वृद्धि होती हैं।
The story highlights the crucial role of Dharas and Naulas as sustainable, community-managed water systems. Their destruction forces a dependence on unreliable and expensive piped water, increasing vulnerability.
बेमेल विकास / Development Disconnect
विकास के लिये उत्तरदायी व्यक्तियों में स्थानीय समुदाय की पारम्पराओ, मान्यताओं, आवश्यकताओं व ज्ञान के प्रति कोई सम्मान बाकी नही रह गया है।
The supervisor’s attitude (“just a ditch”) illustrates the dangerous disconnect between modern, top-down development and local, traditional knowledge and resources.
अनियोजित पर्यटन की असली कीमत / True Cost of Unplanned Tourism
पहाड़ो में प्रभावी मलबा प्रबन्धन योजना के बिना, बेरोकटोक किये जा रहे निर्माण कार्य के एवज में स्थानीय समुदाय को भारी कीमत अदा करनी पड़ रही हैं। फिर पर्यटक भी तो यहाँ प्रकृति का आनन्द उठाने ही आ रहे हैं। अतः प्रकृति व पर्यावरण का खयाल रखे बिना पर्यटन को बढ़ावा देने की कोशिश बेईमानी हैं।
The “progress” of a new hotel, when done without a debris management plan, has a direct, devastating, and permanent cost for the local community, destroying the very environment the tourists are coming to see.
संता – बंता की यह जुगलबन्दी आपको कैसी लगी, कृपया हमें जरुर बताये
व
इस जुगलबन्दी को बेहतर बनाने के लिये अपने सुझाव अवश्य दें।
हमें हमेशा की तरह आपके सुझावों, प्रतिक्रियाओं व कटाक्षो का बेसब्री से इंतजार रहता हैं और सच मानिये इसी के आधार पर हम अपने आप में, अपनी सोच व रचनात्मकता में सुधार करने को प्रेरित होते हैं।
सो अच्छा – बुरा जैसा आपको महसूस हुवा हो, कमेंट जरुर करते रहें।
The water springs are the integral part of ecosystem and hydrological cycle,
We must conserve and rejuvenate the water springs with nature friendly assisted efforts.
These must be protected from, debris,waste disposals, excretions, etc,