Shahnoor Wahid's factual lament (August:19) on the brutal defilement of Dhaka city's scenic greenery is a sad document on where Dhaka has gone today. A nostalgic garden city, has been transformed into an overcrowded and polluted concrete jungle; all in the name of mindless development! Stately old trees have been murdered in cold blood; replaced by ugly high rises; coming up practically shoulder to shoulder. Even pristine areas like Ramna Green, and the model town; that was Gulshan (meaning flower garden in Persian) in the mid 1960's has now become a claustrophobic hotchpotch of trading, commercial and industrial (garments) high-rises, overshadowing and outnumbering the few residences that still linger on!
Today in Gulshan, I live amidst traffic noises and crowds of rickshaws and passers-by, one can only wonder at the status of Purana Paltan, Segun Bagicha and Motijheel today. Half a century back, these were models of peace and tranquillity, where one could walk with comfort which we used to do in our university days!
Gulshan Model Town today is a muddy, dirty and crowded Bazar! It is only a model of all things that any town should not have!