The Mirage of Progress
We will sell
lake-view apartments, but the lakes will vanish, leaving us parched, praying
for rains that never come.
We will build
riverfront resorts, but the rivers will dry up, forcing us to buy water in
bottles, sip by sip, drop by drop.
We will market
hill-view hotels, but the hills will be flattened, leaving concrete jungles
where we gasp for air, sweltering in heat we no longer understand.
We will design garden
cities, but the gardens will be pixels on screens, while outside, our lungs
ache for a single breath of life.
We will advertise
village-themed villas, but the villages will rot, their farmers displaced,
their soil poisoned, and their stories erased. We will wonder why bread tastes
like plastic.
We will glorify
farmhouse estates, but the farms will be deserts, stripped of crops and cattle,
leaving us strangers to the earth that once fed us.
We will host
traditional-themed celebrations, but the traditions will be costumes and hollow
rituals performed for cameras, not ancestors.
We will stage cultural festivals, but the
culture will be a hashtag, a souvenir, a relic behind glass. We will forget
what it means to belong.
In the name of modernization, we risk losing
our long-held values and succumbing to capitalism. The wealthier individuals
will have hotels by the lake, private rivers, hilltop villas, and expansive
gardens that host rich flora and fauna. They will develop serene villages,
large farms that practice organic farming, and a tradition and culture that
will become the new norms. We will save to experience this during vacations and
call it a dream come true.
Welcome to a world driven by greed, where common
sense is rare, and humanity is even rarer.
M.L. Narendra Kumar
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