LEANING TOWER OF JOJARI

LEANING TOWER OF JOJARI

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

18/IX/2024

All of us have heard of the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. As school kids, for our GK tests, we would cram about the ‘seven wonders’ of the world. The Leaning Tower used to be one of them. How and why, it leaned is well known.

They say that the soil was not stable. Due to the tower’s weight, it pressed hard on one side and thus the tilt. Well, it is a unique aberration of 1372. The engineering, technology and material used then and that of today is at stark contrast.

In India, we can only talk of the ‘crumbling bridges of Bihar’. They don’t lean but collapse. Lesser said the better.

I discovered the ‘Thirteenth’ wonder of the world today. I have christened it as the “Leaning Tower of Jojari”.

Let me tell you a small story. Way back in 2007, our colony was about to start its construction in absolute wilderness on a barren piece of land those days. Not a tree, not a spec of grass grew. We visited the site location and took a round.

At one corner of the colony, there was this huge pond of about two acres. There being no boundary wall, one could walk up till there. The first thing one noticed was the pond had fish in it. My eyes just lit up. After retirement, the best thing to do would be angling and that too so close, as Golf was never my cup of tea.

Things change and change fast in this ‘construction hungry’ world.

By the time we finally decided to move in, in 2021, that huge water pond had shrunk to one tenth of its size. All around, plots had come up. The sand dunes around were now flat and sand filled the pond, shattering my fishing dreams. Now, I go to Kailana Lake to pursue my angling hobby once in a while.

One government came up with a project to develop a ‘river front’ which flows adjacent to our colony on the Jojari River. It was a river in ancient times and now what flows in it is only known to a few. How do people and animals tolerate that quality of water? Maybe, they have adapted to the changing times.

The government also proposed to build many STPs along this river. All effluents from the urban areas would discharge tolerable quality water into the river to make it sustaining on the lines of the Sabarmati waterfront in Ahmedabad. A proposal to start boating was also mooted. This pond site was selected to be one of the STPs. Well, the government and politicians can be trusted with their words, “Na nau man tel hoga, na Jojari main saaf pani bahega”.

It is Sept of 2024; the pond has been filled completely. The promised STP is under construction. What will flow out of it? Time would tell.

While on the roof today, I spotted a very brightly coloured tower jutting over one of the roof tops somewhere where that pond was, never seen before. With the naked eyes, I couldn’t make out much. One had to climb the boundary wall to ascertain to see the tower fully. It was a little dangerous but what the heck. All these years in the army we climbed to vantage points to observe things.

There it was. The “Leaning Tower of Jojari”. A beautiful peacock stood at the top of it. It had numerous inlets too. As I balanced myself on that narrow wall, it reminded me of the ‘Commando Course’ where we walked on a 9-inch plank balancing ourselves. There at least, there was water underneath if one took a fall, here it was mother earth.

Those inlets were for birds to nest. One could see many pigeons which had already made it their home. That is when I found that the tower which looked like the leaning tower of Pisa was actually leaning to one side. I changed camera angles to check if I was standing straight. The tower didn’t appear straight.

On second thoughts, a doubt has crept in my mind. Is that tower leaning or is it our home which is tilted? I wonder!!!!!!