Independence day pleasantly spent at Karla caves near Lonavala. Well, mostly pleasantly. A drive on the Mumbai Pune expressway. A nicish climb up a hundred or so steps to reach the caves. Getting drenched in the rain all the way up and down.
And then the magnificent chaitya(chappel equivalent – Buddhist) at the end of the climb.
The principal cave is the largest Chaitya among Buddhist cave in the country, Being 15meters wide and 16 meters high. The most remarkable feature of the cave is its arched roof supported by wooden beams which have astonishingly survived the onslaught of elements for more than 2,000 years.
Onslaught of the elements they have survived. What about the onslaught of the humans?
Not just the humans who have steadily and thoroughly defaced and destroyed the magnificent architecture in the caves through the centuries. Religious motivation? Part of the plundering of the vanquished? Or was it just timepass…?
No, not just them from the past.
Which is the not so pleasant part. The litter. And the noise. And the plastic. And the catcalls. And the beer bottles. And the utterly unimaginative bunty-heart-arrow-babli graffiti. And the stench of urine inside the caves.
And did I mention the litter?
Why this utter lack of pride in what is ours – our heritage, our past? Is it ignorance? Or just plain indifference?
And all this from people who took off their footwear somewhere towards the top of the hill – before they entered the ekvira temple just near the caves. And bent low before every stone that had a flower and a red and yellow mark on it along the way…
These caves have survived – are surviving these ‘elements’ too – for how much longer, I wonder…
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There is a wonderful group on flickr called Ruins from India. If you liked these pictures, have a look at more pictures and the interesting discussions there.
I wonder what ASI is doing about this? Nothing.
Probably just a sign outside warning people of a 1000rs fine or 3days in prison or both.
Charu,
Great write-up and very informative for me.
Thanks,
Anshul
The littering habit is baffling. A thorough lack of civic sense. A few years ago the littering (though not ok) was not that harmful because all of it was organic waste. Now, with plastic and glass and styrofoam (which don’t degenerate) it’s terrible. You can blame some of the littering on lack of infrastructure, but even where there are trash cans, the trash goes where ever. There is no sense of ownership. And what about the spitting? You better not have the misfortune of being beside a bus on a bike or a car with open windows or an auto. More than likely, you’ll be rained upon.
nice pictures, charu – especially the sunlight streaming in – and nice post. happy independence day.
Its time to have the billboards in these caves….
Akshay, the ASI has a warning board outside. fine not just Rs.1000 but Rs.5000 and some vague threat of imprisonment. yeah, big deal.
Anshul, thanks
Sujatha, yes, the litter habit is bafling. in this case, I happened to look for a dust bin but couldn’t find any. But as you say, what about the spitting? And people had *peed* inside the caves. And there was a toilet at the far end of the path too.
And families had got mats with them – which they spread out inside the caves and proceeded to eat their picnic lunches. After which, they merrily left their plastic waste and chikki wrappers right there.
And bunch after bunch of hooligans (they sure looked that way on the dark inside the caves) who screamed and whistled… And made high-pitched howling noises supposedly to “scare” people groping their way inside the dark caves…
Uma, thanks. happy independence day to you too.
Shivaji, grrrr. And growl.
And the story is true of so many other sites in India. Even monuments like taj Mahal have so poor infrastructure surrounding it, bad roads, no public toilet visible though they do keep your mobile phones for you free of cost.
Yes, I know what you mean Mridula – there is no spot so sacred that they won’t litter and pee at will. not even temples – which they otherwise consider sacred places.
Keep mobile phones for free – I saw this in the Vishwanath temple in varanasi recently – though I declined to leave it at the stall and preferred to stay away… do they do this at the taj too? wonder why…?
The first photo is very good. If you scroll up-down with yr mouse, it kinda gives it an animated feel. š The second one: I think if you’d have moved a bit to yr left, then instead of the sunlight coming directly onto yr lens, you could’ve seen the rays coming in sideways bouncing off the arches.
I don’t want to start commenting about the littering š
Charu – I have been to these caves. Actually camped there for 2 days.
It stinks and is used as a urinal … so sick… The Government is at fault for sure ,,, but the people who are littering and urinating are Indians.
The other point is that these people (like you and me) went there to “see” the caves … made it a point to visit them … it was not as if the caves were on the road sie and I threw out the garbage there or that it was the best place to urniate etc.
I mean the people who are at fault went there to enjoy the caves…see the structures they why do they litter there … why?
Suhail, the first photo is actually slightly blurred (thanks for telling me this subtly:)) – a tripod would have been great given the light (or lack of light) conditions within the hall…
and me too š about the litter
(and did you notice the bigger better comment box? this one goes out to you!)
@mit, it happens that most of these people did not go there just to see the caves but to pray at the ekvira temple. they offered their prayers there and did not think twice about peeing right next to it. what can anyone say about such people?
I don’t know about the peeing and spitting but it’s only a generation or so since North Americans stopped slinging garbage around all over the place. It took a combination of ad campaigns and actual clean-up services to start things off. Once the peer pressure kicks in that’s when things really change. That being my own culture, I have a tendency to hiss and glare at litterers, something that doesn’t go over too well around here.
One problem is the relatively sudden shift to plastic bags, plastic packaging, plastic cups, plastic plates, not to mention the thing that will bury us all, the “Bisleri” bottle. Add densely populated cities and no municipal services to speak of and you get a rising tide of garbage.
Eye Spy, I am very surprised to learn that North America had a litter problem – I think one of the first countries to get their act cleanedally was Singapore – I remember watching a Tamil movie recently – it was shot in Singapore some time in the late 1970s – and it had a scene on the roads – and I spotted a sign saying – fine for litter, 50 $ or some such thing!
Hiss, glarr, even pick up a fight – nothing works – I really can’t understand how and why men want to pee in the wide open spaces when they have toilets for them everywhere…
Yuck, plastic. let me not get started on that one!