ROME, as we traditionally say, was not built in a day. In other words, every great city takes time to come up, to evolve with time, to accommodate new ideas. Nagpur can be no exception. Yet, looking at the sluggish pace at which Nagpur is growing, new definitions will have to be thought of. For, the leaders of the city of Nagpur -- political or administrative -- are in no hurry to get going at a reasonably rapid pace. So, roads, squares, pavements take interminable time to get fully ready. Some squares -- for example the Bajaj Nagar square and the Ramdaspeth square -- are forever in the process of designing and making and getting pulled down for some other structure or design. There is no hurry.

 

There is no worry. The city’s political and civic leadership is fortunate to have people who never rebel, who never raise voice, who never lean in and ask questions, who never get angry ... ! So, the Bajaj Nagar square is still in the process of making since January 2025 -- which means full seven months. This will beat easily the pace at which the Great Cathedral in the German city of Cologne was built.This architecturally great structure took as many as 623 years (from 1248 to 1880) for various reasons that included lack of funds and interest in Gothic architecture.

 

The Bajaj Nagar square is in slow-work contest with the great Cologne Cathedral -- if one may venture to say. Of course, Cologne is truly a well-designed city with history peeping through every structure and corner. In Nagpur, exactly the opposite is happening -- destruction of the city’s 300-plus years of history. The city does not seem to care for anything that has even a scant connection with history. The Futala Lake is a good example of how a historic waterbody is to be treated with utter contempt. But then, Nagpur is no less than Rome (or Cologne). The speed of its development must outmatch the speed of development of those great cities. Is this question not legitimate? n