Friday, January 28, 2011

Gilbert Hill


"Gilbert Hill is a 60 m (197 ft) monolith column of black basalt rock in Andheri, Mumbai, India. The rock has a sheer vertical face and was formed when molten lava was squeezed out of the Earth's clefts during the Mesozoic Era about 65 million years ago."-Wikipedia. Gilbert Hill was declared a National Park in 1952 by the Central Government under the Forest Act. Everything is forgotten now. As an Andheri resident, I am lucky to see this Monolith straight out of my window. Unfortunately it is being mercilessly defaced by the powerful builders.
Compare this to a similar National Monument in USA:
" Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Lodge”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River  Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres (5.45 km2). In recent years about 1% of the Monument's 400,000 annual visitors climb Devils Tower, mostly through traditional climbing techniques.[1]"  Ref Wikipedia


As I come closer to the Hill
The climb up is not too difficult
                                                                                      Temple on the top
                                                                 Towers of Jogeshwari...
                                                            Thats Juhu in the horizon
There is a slumlord, somewhere down there
                                                       The setting sun

Some wild flowers on the hill
and a regular visitor
and the hill as it was, may be 50 yrs ago (this photo credit Wikipedia)



1 comment:

  1. Hi Dilip,
    Absolutely loved the pictures and your write up on Gilbert Hill. We MUST protect monuments such as this since it is apparent that the authorities do not understand the gravity of the situation. Thinking of starting an organization for such a movement, will keep you posted.

    Best regards,
    Vishvesh

    ReplyDelete