Morning ripples !



The Powai lake right here in Mumbai offers some of the most pristine e sights. Peace like a Buddhist monastery. Tranquil like a double dose of valium. And beauty like a professional photographers frame. Its just there.

On one side there is a hotel called Renaissance! (Let me not talk of irony or whatever). On other there side is the Indian Institute of Technology. On another there is a bustling road, teaming with traffic that can compete with any road for ‘The most snarl prone road in the world award’.


The bustling road opens into a residential neighbourhood which boasts of wealth (residents would file a defamation suit against me, if I hazard a guess about the quantum of wealth! For I am sure I will be off the mark by many marathon kilometers !)

Of course, the one remaining side remains what it was. Untouched. By and large.

Along the bustling road, the government and some well thinking folks have built a park and a joggers track along the banks of the lake. Complete with concrete, spaces for flower beds, children’s parks et al ! All for development you see.

It usually provide a lovely setting . A good run, looking at the hills afar, is always soothing. Blokes like me catch a run in the morning. Children soak in some shrieks of laughter in the evening. The elderly sing a few notes from memory as the moisture laden Powai air comes alive by the lake !

The lake also comes alive when its festival time. Where articles and idols that were worshipped are immersed ! Last years Ganpati Visarjan for instance, saw huge cranes help the immersion ! it’s a natural process, you see.


The IIT holds bustling thought for the future minds. In this case, there seems to have been a persistent afterthought as well !!

That’s the setting. You get the idea ! Don’t you.

Today, I run. With a lazy drizzle, muffled huffs and puffs, early morning traffic and such else for constant company! From a distance its such a pristine sight. The lake. At least one side of it. With hills and their reflection.

Today, I try and keep the buildings and their reflections away from my sight. Somehow, the hills afar seem prettier..

It is at that time I see him. Majestic and beautiful like a royal monarch inspecting his army.

I stop on my tracks. Open mouthed. Half from the run. The rest on just seeing him. I just stand and watch.

A crocodile.

A few feet away from me. Slicing through water like knife through butter. A small crowd gathers. Mostly staring. Some incessantly chatting. A lady mutters – ‘they should do something about this’.

I notice that I am nodding my head. I notice my nodding stops and my open mouth opens further, like a crocodile would, upon hearing her next statement.

“They cant let such animals live near our homes !” she says.

She could well have been a spokesperson for the crocs ! And spoken the same lines for the crocs as well.

As I stand watching the croc glide away, a shudder goes down my spine ! I wonder what I would say, if my home was encroached on by the buffalo and the bumblebee ! (Despite my home loan)

I stand there. Seeing him glide away. Hoping he will understand the pain and sense of loss some of us share. About his loss and ours too.

He continues gliding away. Somewhere in the middle of the lake where the hotel’s ‘Renaissance’ signboard’s reflection glistens in the morning waters of the otherwise still lake, is where he pauses and disappears.

There are silent ripples. That distort the reflection of ‘The Renaissance’. Perhaps reflective of us and our renaissance !


15 thoughts on “Morning ripples !

  1. such animals indeed!

    🙂

    If you had snapped a picture of the croc, it would have made the news on local papers!

  2. Carnic says:

    Fond memories of my stay in Powai get refreshed. Powai lake ofcourse is one of the prettiest natural sights in the whole of Mumbai!

  3. Glad to see the crocodiles prompting a return to blogging.

    There was a time during the last 30 years when we would see a crocodile sunning itself on a jutting rock in the middle of the lake somewhere, and the shores would buzz with schoolchildren retruning from morning school gathering to stare and tell outrageous stories to each other.

    I guess all those municipal contraptions designed to save the lake , and construction silt has redefined the centre of the lake. And so she comes out , once in a while, takes a disgusted breath and goes back in again.

    And we grumble on the 9th floor when someone occupies our favourite parking outside Haico.

  4. Lovely, lovely pics, Kavi!

    And yes, the crocodile must be thinking “They cant let such animals live near our homes !” Lol!

  5. Scribbler says:

    Powai Lake has been one of the fav places for me in Mumbai…

    The pictures are fab Kavi..

    I liked few lines in your post like:Today, I try and keep the buildings and their reflections away from my sight. Somehow, the hills afar seem prettier.. so much depth !

    Croc??OMG…

  6. Aparna says:

    Well, the lady is right, something ought to be done.
    They can start by banning any more construction in Powai. The hills are slowly disappearing, and I do not hear any protest. They should ban immersions and fishing. They should see that builders do not throw construction waste in it. (once this was rampant)Once this pristine place made me calm, now it just makes me sad.

  7. Shiva says:

    Looks like a huge lake. Does it need to be desilted?

    I wonder, how many species would be annoyed at us and thinking the same way as the woman who thinks the crocodile has encroached her space!! Perhaps, they wouldn’t as they are more humane

  8. c.v.ramanaa@gmail.com says:

    Most Hindu festivals are such nuisance. It claims at least a few lives in Hydeabad ! Sankranthi, Ganesh Chaturdhi.

  9. Neha says:

    and I thought humans were more dangerous! I loved the second para..I am not aware about the “irony” of Renaissance..I wish u could click the crocodile..

    🙂

  10. It set me thinking…where do we belong, rather, does anything belong anywhere?
    Loved the way your words showed me around the place, great pics too!

  11. Pearl says:

    Having just returned to Minnesota from Florida, we could have the same thing, minus crocodiles and plus alligators…

    THe more land we take up, the more experiences we will have with the other members of our planet. Hopefully we can keep from eating each others’ lunches in the process…

    Pearl

  12. Insignia says:

    The crocodile should actually be saying those words!!

    Intruding their privacy. Poor things!

  13. aativas says:

    It feels like experiencing the tranquitiy of Powai lake again!

  14. Jeevan says:

    I guess u write about this lake long back, the lake snaps were awesome and the single palmyrah remind me our village lake. I wonder even a croc could survive now, what a great wildness it would be then. It’s truly worth to think that people left at least this much to exist and how long its going to be like this is ?

    Lately I was surprise to see the shadows of a multistory building on the IT corridor changes the view of the Mutukkadu Lake on ECR. Usual we see many birds there and the sky used to be widely open and today it was just like a enclosure to the lake.

  15. radha says:

    Crocodile tears in this instance would be real. No faking it!

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