As if the noise pollution is not too many decibels intolerably high, we now have dancing fountains to entertain the tone deaf and insight-impaired. For, only they can enjoy the joys of dancing fountains amidst noisy vehicular traffic, congestion, stench of human perspiration, and singular liking for earsplitting music.
Parks in residential area earlier wore a sylvan look. Its wooded charm drew children to play hide ‘n’ seek. It welcomed the elders to a quiet chat in the evenings. It brought in home-borne women to easy chats under the umbrage of its trees. Then came in the enthusiasts; a new genre of public service people! Upgrading of parks became the mantra. Oxygenating trees were chopped down. Other plants and shrubs pulled out to make way for a walker’s path.
A parallel running natural stage to showcase plaster of Paris miniature replicas of animals; over coloured like Cinemascope in the old days. These you can view as you walk along. A bed of flowers would have been more soothing.
Then to precisely jar the nerves of the residents there are brassy dazzling lights of every hue and colour discordantly blinking making the rooms in the house facing the park insanely psychedelic.
Now a dancing fountain that jives to raucous musical numbers is the latest on noise pollution. Crowds gather to see it. They come on, two, three, and four wheelers; bringing the transportation fuel-pollution with them, congesting the area with the numbers and the odour of unwashed bodies, hooligans who throw plastic into the pretty natural pond. The residential area looks like an exhibition ground with vendors monopolising on the situation.
The fountain is switched on in the evenings, the music is frighteningly earsplitting. The crowd is too big. How will the birds roost? We've driven out the sparrows from most of the areas in Bangalore, are we now poised to drive out all the birds. How can the government be proud of such disasters and see them as achievements?
It is okay to enjoy the Balle Balle tunes in privacy but not at the cost of the peace of an entire neighbourhood, for the benefit of the floating crowd.
Why cannot the fountains be allowed to mesmerise the residents with its quiet squirts and sparkling crystals in its natural exquisiteness and aqueous splendour?
