An open letter

Preserving the Gem which is Kandy

From : Debra Efroymson (Adviser to NATA - Bloomberg Project)

To : Charitha Herath (Chairman, Central Environment Authority)

Over the last few years, I’ve taken two trips to Kandy. On the first, we left Colombo in the morning and returned that evening; in Kandy, we visited the Vice Chancellor’s official residence and the Botanical Gardens. Both were incredibly lovely spots, with lush foliage in an array of stunning colours, and fresh breezes. In between, we lunched at someone’s home up on a hill that afforded a stunning view of the valley, town and river

Noise pollution

Having had such a marvellous first visit, I was delighted to return, this time to spend the night. We checked into a beautiful old colonial hotel. Unfortunately it was right on a main road, and the noise of the engines and horns was such that I thought I would lose my mind.

Dalada Maligawa. File photo

I pillaged desperately through my toiletries bag, frantically searching for a pair of earplugs. Despite my sensitivity to noise and a life lived in Asia (my home is in the small city of Dhaka, with only 12 million inhabitants and drivers who believe the car won’t move if they don’t honk constantly), I had not had to use them in years. Fortunately I found them, wedged the plugs into my ears as tightly as I could, and felt a wave of calm wash over me. So for all of my travels across Asia in recent years, Kandy far exceeded all other places for noise.

Later we went to visit a famous temple (Dalada Maligawa), Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Although overflowing with visitors, the visit was very enjoyable: the temple was an oasis of peace, the statues were well worth viewing, and the rain only added to the charm of the scene. It was with deep regret that I left the temple grounds to return to our hotel.

After a late dinner, I pleaded with my companions to join me on a small walk around the lake. As by then it was nearly 10 p.m., the traffic had quieted, and the walk was thoroughly enjoyable: peace and beauty among shadows, light reflected on water, a glimpse of what Kandy could be like without the noise and fumes.

The room now quiet, I fell asleep, only to be jerked awake by traffic noises at around 5 a.m. I again inserted my earplugs, thinking not very pleasant thoughts about this beautiful but noisy and polluted World Heritage Site. Would I recommend a visit to friends? Only if they did it the way I did the first time, make it a day trip and stick to the pleasant spots.

Arresting decline of Kandy

The problems in the city may seem natural and unavoidable. People do not expect cities to be quiet and peaceful. Yet I am well aware that cities, even large ones, can be pleasant, enjoyable places to live in and visit.

There is no reason why urban authorities or residents must accept high levels of air and noise pollution.

The situation is even more preposterous in smaller cities. Honking can and has successfully been banned in many cities. Noisier vehicles can be replaced by quieter ones. Fuel emissions can be drastically reduced by banning the most polluting vehicles, promoting trains and trams, forcing buses and trucks to use bypasses, encouraging mass rather than individual transit, and making better conditions for walking and cycling. (As to the feasibility of cycling in such a hilly city, note that one of the most popular cities for cycling in the US also has the most and steepest hills: San Francisco.)

Other solutions can be tailored to the problems of the individual city. But one thing is clear: efforts can be successfully made to improve cities dramatically, or they can be allowed to continue to decline, until only those forced to live in them do. The choice is ours: to tolerate the intolerable or to work for changes that would dramatically improve quality of life (and make it a much pleasanter place to visit).

Noise wears away at the spirit. It causes aggravation, bad temper and aggression as well as hearing loss, heart disease and even early death. Air pollution is not only unpleasant but positively dangerous, especially to asthmatics, children and others with weak lungs. It kills.

There is absolutely no reason to allow a city, especially one with so much potential, so much beauty and heritage, with so many cultural and historical sites of significance, to deteriorate into a miserably polluted place where, in the words of a chest physician in Kandy, children under the age of six should not breathe.

Realizable dream

My trips to Sri Lanka have been in my capacity with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease to support the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) in their tobacco control work. It is thus that I have had the honour, privilege and pleasure of working with Professor Carlo Fonseka and the other NATA staff. But important as it is to combat indoor air pollution, our work will only be half done if we fail to tackle the issue of outdoor air pollution as well. Few countries can brag of such rich culture and great beauty as this blessed one. But beauty is not necessarily permanent, and cultural monuments can be seriously damaged by pollution (witness the discolouring of the Taj Mahal). I can only hope that the people of this country will awaken to the situation and act quickly to preserve the gem of a city that is Kandy: its temples and other sites, but also the city itself.

I look forward to the day when I visit Kandy again, stay in the exquisite Queen's Hotel, open my windows (monkeys permitting) onto a quiet boulevard, and see children laughing happily as they run in the streets, taking big gulps of fresh life restoring air. This is not a dream; it is the only reality that we should be willing to accept for ourselves and our children.