Saturday, October 24, 2015

Golf course or animal conservation? You choose...

Nimesh Ved writes in an article in Deccan Herald dated 20 October 2015, that a golf course is scheduled to come up in the Kaziranga National Park area.  

Seriously, a golf course?  Of all the things, a golf course?  Why?  Who sanctioned this ignominy?  Or perhaps we should be asking, how much did they get to sanction it?

Golf is a western concept wherein people who have nothing better to do go to these parks to while away time.  

Don't people realise that in a developing country such as ours, time is of the essence?  Land space is depleting at an alarming rate due to the never ending rise in population.  Lakes are being encroached upon, children's play areas are being occupied, and animals are being poached or confined to zoos.

And all they could think of is a blooming GOLF COURSE?????!!!!!

Of all the recreational activities that pass as sports, the poorest examples are probably boxing and golf.

As Ved himself lists in his article, golf courses are like blood sucking vermin that drain resources and manpower: an 18 hole course requires an annual water supply that can fill about 130 swimming pools, high concentration pesticides are used in maintaining them, large number of trees have to be cut down to create a golf course, they offer no source of income to the local population, and animals are totally fenced off.


Ved also quotes G K Chesterton, who said that golf is 'an expensive way of playing marbles'.  I couldn't agree more.

In fact, let's go further and say that golf is not a sport at all.  What kind of physical exertion is involved in playing it?  The players have servants to carry their sticks for them.  And when they hit the ball, they travel to the next hole in a vehicle! 

It is a ridiculous game that the elitist, classist nouveau riche who have time to kill and money to burn indulge in.  

At least in our country, instead of pandering to the whims of these rotten rich, can't the same land be utilized to protect endangered animals, to build children's playground, or to erect hospitals for the poor?

The golfers can have a virtual simulation of their precious game, and they can while away their time on it as much as they want.  

Or else, they can quite literally, stick it!  



Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Flag_at_Spur_Valley_Golf_Course_-_panoramio.jpg



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