Saturday, April 26, 2008

Photo Essay: Termites in a hillside

During a recent trip to India, I was in a car going from Bhopal to Indore and just outside Dewas, I noticed this low hill, which looked a bit strange.
 
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Can you see the shape just behind the truck? it almost looks like there has been an avalanche, no?

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come closer and you see that it is almost like the hillside has been sliced off. When I rolled down the window, I could hear the distant explosions. The hills were alive with the sound of explosions.

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to get an idea of the scale, keeping in mind the perspective, see this petrol (gas for the yanks) station in the foreground.

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this termite business has been happening for a long period of time, the excavated areas are slowly turning green.

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see the far right hand side of the hill, it is stepped as the Saqqara step pyramid.

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on the left hand side, blasting going on, see the cloud of dust in the shadow?

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Looks like even the Gods are helpless against the depredations of man on the hills

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And now the cloud of dust on the sunlit side, bushes with plastic bags stuck on them, manky trees. It is a sad landscape.

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But moving on, you can see farmland, with trees and even more dusty explosions.

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The trees are having a valiant battle to hide the eyesore, but I am afraid, they're failing miserably.

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A solitary palm tree stands at the end, looking rather sadly over the termite ridden hill. This made me sad. Pragmatically, I know we need those rocks to make gravel, to make houses and roads, to make buildings and bridges. But to see a hill which took millions of years to form being torn down in a matter of decades....., what are we losing in the pursuit of development?

As before, here's the full slide show in larger resolution.

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