the ghats, western ghats, that is is a lovely place.

stretching from maharastra all the way down to tamilnadu, few places in the world can match several hundred spots that form a necklace in western ghats.

big tourist spots such as ooty, kodaikanal, londovala and big cities such as pune are all part of the western ghats eco system.

80% of tamilnadu rivers originate from the ghats, giving politicians ample fry to fish, rather than to protect.

the same ghats, is under tremendous pressure to give more and more to development and get more and more destroyed and unsustainable because of that.

from many numerous dams in kerala, karantaka, to fancy projects like tourism resorts bang in middle of forests, to illegal forest felling, to encroachment, to put more more and more faster highways right through the forests, to have more and more mining (legal and illegal), to have more dangerous coal power plants in its rivers, the western ghats is slowly losing its core.

there is no move by the policy makers to push for protection for the ghats as a whole. rather piece meal approach is followed in ghats 'maintenance' that too after tremendous pressure from the beleaguered forest department and the ngo's.

in protecting the ghats, lies the protection of india. in its true nourishment lies india's true development.

below are sample of 2 pictures from ameen ahmed's awesome flickr collection of western ghats.
(Sharavathy River valley beyond Jog falls, Shimoga District, Western Ghats, south western India.)
(A stream flows through a rainforest near Abbi Falls in south-western India's Western Ghats. Abbi falls is located near Madikeri in Karnataka state's Kodagu District.)