Of ‘Bada Talab’, the city’s signature

 

 

EVERY Bhopalite will agree with Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Mr. Vishwas Kailash Sarang that the Upper Lake -- Bada Talab -- is a Nature’s gift to the city. Its size is certainly a matter of pride for every Bhopalite. But more importantly, the Bada Talab has become an integral part of the city’s personality. In other words, Bada Talab is the city’s signature -- by which the city is known and talked about everywhere in the country. So important Bada Talab is to the city’s psyche that nobody can imagine the city of Bhopal without that wonder, ocean-like spread shining like a mirror day in and day out. The loosefooter never wants to pass by Bada Talab even as he moves around the city for whatever cause. No matter how much in hurry he is, the loosefooter pauses -- though for a couple of minutes -- and takes a deep breath and deep and longing look at the waters of Bada Talab, fills his head and heart with that sight, and then proceeds to complete the work at hand. It was certainly a good news, therefore, that Minister Mr. Vishwas Kailash Sarang initiated a cleansing drive -- Swachhata Ka Abhiyan -- near the Water Sports Academy. Such an initiative is most welcome since it advocates the importance of voluntarism by the people in the Government or administration and the common public. Bada Talab certainly deserves such attention, such time-to-time cleansing so that it retains its beauty and sanctity.

 

For, the city’s signature that Bada Talab is must be kept clean and beautiful so that not just the visitors but also the Bhopalites continue to feel attracted to that wonder gift of Nature, as Minister Mr. Vishwas Kailash Sarang described. The loosefooter remembers his young days when as a college student he went regularly to Bada Talab for hours of swimming with his friends and cousins. In those days, the Bharat Bhavan had yet to come up. One could descend to the lake’s edge near the Chief Minister’s Official Residence and enter the cool waters and have great time. True, there were weeds in the lake in ample measure, and would discourage swimmers from going far into the lake. Yet, being rather foolhardy of sorts, the loosefooter often tried to cover as much distance towards what looked like the centre of the lake. On a couple occasions, he and his friends and cousins together swam as far as the medical college about a couple of kilometers away. But those were the great days of adventure and also of clean environment not sullied by human interference. So, lakes and greens were clean and cool and inviting to those who had the itch of getting consumed by Nature’s beauty. In those days more than fifty years ago, the cops also were quite different in their approach and would not mind somebody sitting by the lake-side late into the evenings. Taking advantage of that, the loosefooter often spent good time looking water in sort of of meditation -- and also write poetry in a small blue diary that he often kept in his pocket.

 

Though the poems have been long gone, the poetry of those moments has remained with the loosefooter, surviving the vagaries of life. The loosefooter also took countless pictures of Bada Talab in different moods -- his own and those of the lake. Some of those picture won a few appreciations as well in different competitions. But the point is not about the loosefooter; it is about the emotional spot Bada Talab occupies in people’s minds -- in Bhopal and also elsewhere. So, when he knew that Minister Mr. Vishwas Kailash Sarang is taking lead in cleansing the Upper Lake, the loosefooter wants to express his deep sense of gratitude. n