I remember reading an article in an American website about how military garrison towns in Europe and America often end up protecting flora and fauna because these towns are not allowed to 'develop' the way a normal town has to.
Mhow, where I live, is also a paradise of nature. The East India Company was given this town in 1818 after the Holkars who ruled Indore state till 1947 were defeated at the Battle of Mahidpur and the Treaty of Mandsaur was signed. Cantonment laws prohibit any form of building and the civilian population has its complaints about these laws being outdated and relics of the British Raj. The net result of all this is the sheer profusion of flora and fauna.
The English chose their cantonments well. Mhow, Pachchmarhi, Pune, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Wellington were some of the towns chosen in Central, Western and South India as being fit for training institutions. Pune, Bangalore and Secunderabad have changed beyond recognition thanks to the IT revolution and globalisation. But Mhow has still remained the same. The writer Jaisinh Birjepatil whose novel Chinnery's Hotel is set in a fictional Mhow and has been selected by Khushwant Singh as one of the best post Independence (post 1947) pieces of fiction written by an Indian had told me in an email that he chose Mhow because it has hardly changed.
I have spent most of my life in this small town. A few months ago I decided to make use of a modest sum I earned through my weblog at Sulekha and chose to buy a digital camera. This has enabled me to snap hundreds of pictures which have to do with various aspects of life in this small town. This includes the trees, birds and animals I see here. I am posting these as a series of linked blog posts titled Nature Note From Mhow in my Sulekha weblog.
Click here to see these posts and the beauty of the Malwa region of Western Madhya Pradesh.
4 comments:
Howdy Dev!
I must say that the pictures stand for themselves. And thanks for the tidbits on Mhow. Who knows, I might wander by your timeless abode if I am fortunate enough.
Real-estate being what it is, I was taken aback when I'd visited Kerala last time to find the natural habitat in shambles!
Great work! We need everything archived. Who knows we will see history many times in one one life.
Hi Rajesh, expect more on Mhow in the coming weeks. And yes, if you (or any of our Neti Neti gang) want to spend some time and savour the timelessness of Central India all you have to do is call (email) :))...
There are many more interesting aspects of Mhow which I intend to write about... Keep watching this space...
The photos are beautiful. I have to say many see only what they want. I live in a desert but to me it too is lush and beautiful with life, creatures and flora all around. The eye is what finds beauty. It is the eye that loses it too.
Hi echo, welcome to Neti Neti... many see only what they want how true... And you are right about a desert teeming with life.. Nature is everywhere... One has to learn how to see...
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