The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Laurie Baker report on Sabarimala gathers dust

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Laurie Baker report on Sabarimala gathers dust

It suggests pilgrim facilities without harming nature

The 36-page report was submitted 15 years ago
It is full of Baker's own drawings and illustrations

Thiruvananthapuram: A pictorial report prepared by the late architect Laurie Baker on creating essential amenities for Sabarimala pilgrims without harming nature has been gathering dust for the past 15 years.

The British-born advocate of low-cost buildings, who spent much of his later life in Kerala and acquired Indian citizenship, took a trip to Sabarimala in 1995 on request from the State government to provide inputs for plans to improve facilities for pilgrims without causing stress to the environment.

Meeting basic needs

Baker was 79 when he undertook the arduous trek from Pampa to Sabarimala, enjoying the natural settings of the area but deeply concerned over the ecologically hostile constructions that had come up over the years.

The 36-page hand-written report, full of Baker's own drawings and illustrations, has proved prophetic now as it had sufficiently warned that unless the roads leading to the base camp in Pampa were developed into four-lanes, the pilgrimage could turn nightmarish any time.

Much of the emphasis of Baker, however, has been on meeting basic needs of millions of pilgrims coming to Sabarimala such as drinking water, sanitation and cool and shady trees along the lines to provide relief to devotees who undertake the steep trek to the temple.

“As a nature lover I have always been fascinated by forests and mountains. My pilgrimage to Sabarimala gave me the maximum enjoyment and pleasure as I first drove to Pampa and then walked to Sabarimala,” he wrote.

Beauty of nature

But in the same breath, Baker said, “I am sad to say the world famous temple and its immediate environment was a very great disappointment... I have always felt that the peace and simplicity of religious buildings are incomplete unless they are able to blend with the beauty and perfection of nature.

Common sense

“I am immediately convinced that people advocating the concrete invasion either have no soul or no imagination,” Baker recorded his impression on seeing the temple complex atop the Sabari hills.

On the need for creating facilities in and around the shrine, visited by millions during the November-January pilgrimage season, he said, “I believe that it is not engineering specialist talent, or hi-tech systems that are the need of the hour — but simple common sense with a bit of common decency thrown in for good measure.”

Essential requirements

Baker identified the most essential requirements to be ensured during the high season as “water to drink, water to wash off the dust and sweat, sanitary facilities all the way along the pilgrim route.” As simple, unpretentious and environmentally feasible his proposals are, Baker titled his report as “A study to see what can be done about some of the problems that inevitably arise when lakhs of people all want to go to the same place at one brief season each year.”

— PTI

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