People called it the "Royal bridge" but now a days only poors and beggers had occupied that place. I was wondering in the city of Jaunpur, in the morning aimlessly. Suddenly I reached near to that bridge. It was very old and famous bridge and still in use by the public in their day to day life.
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| Royal bridge (Shahi pul) over the river Gomati |
When I got closer to the bridge, I remained stand their for some time. It was very difficult for the roads to be empty as people got busy early in the morning even in the city.
Two persons were talking while going by sitting on the rikshaw. "The ancient building were used to be solid like this Royal bridge, a very old infrastructure but used by public and stand even today." The other person nodded yes with him and said, "The building of modern days are no longer solid. No doubt the technology has facilitated every thing that any building can be realized from paper to reality, but there is no guarantee for their existence."
The rikshaw had crossed me and I again concentrated on the bridge. The bridge was build on the river Gomati, which divides the city in to two parts. I think it is wrong to say that Gomati divides the city, and it will be like humiliating the river. Because river never divides anybody, instead it nurture everybody. It is the human being which depend upon the river, not the river depending upon anybody. The bridge was made up of a number of small balcony like houses with the roof above its head at the edge of it road and all the balcony houses were made on each one of the pillers on either side of the bridge. I occupied a small balcony house and while standing there, I saw the river Gomati, the water of it have become blackish yellow. As it was suffering from the jaundice. I remained stand there for some time and wathcing the Ghats which was build on either side of the bridge.
I thought I should go there, and I crossed the bridge. The way towards Ghat was so much narrowed, and enchroached by the public. The smell of ammonia and methane was in the air and a man was pissing in the sewage lines not far from me. I crossed that man and followed the sewage line, which was carried away by a big sewage line and this ultimately got mixed in the river Gomati. It was as usual in India, all the sewage and waste water of the city was drained in to river. There were a number of temples on my way towards the river. I did'nt have any wish to know which of the Hindu God was risiding in that (As there are 36000000 Gods alone in the Hindu religion as quoted by Aravind Adiga in his debut novel "The white Tiger".)
There was a tea shop, which was selling paan masala, gutkha, beedi and cigerretts along with the paan (which is very popular in India), just beside the downstairs of the Ghat. Some people were smoking and chatting there and every now and then someone would emit a red jet of paan from his mouth on the downstairs towards Ghats. The spittle of the paan had mixed with the dust on the stairs and made a earthy crust. The rotten smell of the sewage line were irritating me. When I crossed the stairs, all of the scene I witnessed was the piles of wastage and dump materials on the bank of the ghat. The air was full of methane. Just beside the pile of waste, there was a bitch lying on the husk with her puppies, some were playing and some were sucking the nipples of her mother.
After the heap of dump materials, the area of the ghat was started and a marble stone was fitted at the bank of river, and some letters were embossed on them.
"AADI GANGA GOMATI
AARATI STHAL"
(Worship place for ancient river Gomati)
Even the people had not left that place also, and someone had spitted on the marble stone after chewing the paan. I was standing at such a place from where I might view the Royal bridge and its grandness clearly and just beside me, on the left side, there was the heaps of garbage materials which contain used garlands of rotten flower, pieces of plastic bags of various colours, dirtyful and torn clothings, used condoms, pieces of thermacoal and pieces of glass etc. And there was a bitch laying down on the stairs of ghat with her puppies.
Just right to me, a person was going towards the river. After some distance, he began to open his pant and lowered it, then his underwear and squatted down on ground. His hips might viewed clearly. There was a number of persons squatted on the ground at the banks of river and defecating in a nearly perfect straight line. the wind wafted the stench of fresh shit towards me. Some of the persons were shitting behind the bushes, they were still human beings. Some were shitting in the open space far from the bushes, as if shame no longer mattered to him. Suddenly a feeling of hatred filled in me. I turned my eyes away towards the bridge.
Over the bridge, a person came and trew a plastic bag full of faded and rotten flowers in the river. He bowed down prayed to the river and went away.
A number of worlds was going hand in hand. Everybody was using the river with one's own convenience. It seemed to me as if the river was ill and suffering from jaundice because it's stagnent water had turned in to yellowish black and bubbles were sprouting from its surface.Even in this water, some persons were bathing after bowing and praying to river.
Those peoples, shitting behind the bushes and in open spaces, had now come at the bank of river and started to wash their arses. While it was going on, an old lady had come along with their grandchildrens, one of them were holding a mouse trap in his hand. The lady directed his childrens to drop the mouse, trapped in mouse trap, in to river.
I was completely fade up seeing all this disgusting things. On the one hand they respect river Gomati as like their mother, and on the other hand they were killing it. All of them were raping the river Gomati irrespective of whether they were praying it or washing their arsehole in it. The result of all these human activity on the river was clearly visible as the river was dead like hell. It was shrinking from its banks as it was saying, "Shame on you; my child, shame on you."
My morning walk was now over, and I started towards the path going towards my home.....
