The potholed and dusty roads, now muddy and slushy, traffic jams, poor drainage system — we live in such cities, and given a chance to dream, our readers would love to live in a smart city where they can breathe clean air, walk/drive/ride on well managed roads and live a convenient and comfortable life

We all have dreams of visiting cities like Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Dubai and more. But I have never planned or ever thought of settling abroad. I love Nepal, and Kathmandu is the perfect city. The climate, diversity and geographic state are just mind blowing.

So, whoever this sarkar is, if they could only take care of the problems that we are witnessing like unmanaged roads and wires instead of just choosing netas.

— Chhitiz Thapa

Due to Melamchi project, roads have been dug, but due to the monsoon and incomplete work by the workers, the roads are unmanaged, muddy/dusty leading to hardships to commuters. Similarly due to the bad sewage and drainage system, the roads are flooded with monsoon rain blocking all the routes. These problems of the City makes the lives of people inconvenient. If I got a chance, I would want to live in a pollution-free city where the roads are black-topped, is full of greenery and is working on rapid and responsible developments.

— Tunisha Gyawali

Monsoon season gives us the joy of plantation and greenery everywhere. But in a City like ours, it becomes a nightmare. The rain floods our unmanaged roads making difficult to ride or drive through such roads. Moreover, it causes traffic jams.

Everyone might have a rough sketch of their dream city, mine is not different from others. It is made of eradication of problems that are affecting our lives consistently, be it political, geographical or any other.

— Shradha Neupane, Mahankal, Panitanki

Yes, rain comes as a respite from dusty road and atmosphere, but is often fatal also. The news of buffalo falling into the pit and dying is only the tip of the iceberg. It has compelled the public to frown on the dismal condition of the streets and sewage system. And improvements of these roads have been like the myth of Sisyphus — one department blacktops the road one day, while another comes the next day to dig and lay pipelines and so on. It is a never ending process. No one has seen hell but I suppose hell might be better than this. Your cab can fall into the potholes and there is no way of taking it out. You might have to airlift it because cranes may get stuck en route! Roads are the lifeline of economy, but our roads are more perilous than the booby traps and the irony is that the Capital expenditure every year goes unspent. Our only expertise lies in making paper into money. Such things stimulate brain drain. But I see a silver lining. With our representatives in local governance, we hope to wish that the rain would just be a respite.

— Shyam Uprety, Nijgadh-8, Bara

My dream city to live in is a ‘better version’ of Kathmandu. Daily traffic jams, hazardous roads, pollution and many more are the known problems of this City. But if these problems are to be tackled with, don’t you think Kathmandu would be the coolest city?

— Monica, Kathmandu

Dream is not the thing you see in your sleep, but is that thing that doesn’t let you sleep. Similarly Kathmandu never lets me sleep, sometimes with the noise of blowing horns, floods, road problems, drainage problems, busy roads, contaminated food, and so on. So Kathmandu can be considered my dream city which never lets me sleep.

— Safal Subedi, Pokhara

From my personal point of view, such a condition of cities is a result of dangerous diseases called ‘Paralysis by Analysis’. And truly speaking, we are both the virus and victims of this disease. It feels like the present situation is the result of our stupidity in the past. Living in such bad condition of the City makes lose appetite. And the question is: ‘Is there any place similar to my dreamland, where I can enjoy my dream?’

— Soniya Gautam, Pokhara

The monsoon, like always, has badly affected roads along with many problems. Being a student, going to school and returning has become the most difficult job because of such bad roads. Just a few days ago, I fell into a big puddle as it was raining so heavily that I got completely wet. So, the place I want to live in is Sikkim, where the roads are fine and smooth that I would love to walk every day.

— Sashikala Tamang

It is not my interest to live in this City, but my situation has made me. The damaged roads, impure drinking water and smoke from vehicles have taken away the beauty of this City like sugarless tea. Water, food and air are known to be the basic needs of humans, but these are the things that are guiding us to death due to the pollution. Rivers are polluted. The vegetables and fruits that we consume are grown using harmful fertilisers. Due to the increasing number of vehicles, the fresh air is converted into harmful air. In this way this City is not a perfect choice for human settlement.

— Diya Bhari

Everybody wants a better place to live in and to avoid any dangerous environmental conditions. Living in such an unhealthy place is a challenge for me every day. Now talking about my dream city, I have always been wondering about good roads and well managed architectural city along with clean river flowing. The dream city is where people are confident enough to take a long deep breath in the open air instead of covering their mouth with masks. And it would be a place which seeks sustainability in every developmental project.

— Rheecha Bhattarai, Pokhara

Despite the spectacular beauty, a city having roads worse than that of rural areas is a matter of shame to politicians who have been residing in the Capital and staying quiet. To our dismay, such problems exist in our life and we have to bear with it on a daily basis! Talking about a dream city, one and only dream city in the country is Pokhara, for sure. The captivating beauty, calmness in a city and chummy environment, it mesmerises the heart and compels to dream of having an abode here. It is the only city which teaches to love ourself!

— Liza Shrestha

It is no doubt that any modern city must have modern infrastructure in terms of quality highways, motorable metal roads, bridges, connectors, metros as well as secured pathways for pedestrians, hikers, bikers and children. Monsoon in South Asia is a difficult time and most governments in the locality are ill-prepared to handle the challenges of maintaining communication due to poor quality roads and infrastructure. Unless people stand up and protest against such poor and faulty infrastructure, the situation is never going to change. A dream city for me is where the infrastructural development and ecological modelling goes hand-in-hand integrating economy and environment on the same platform. The global rise of real estate business has been transforming cities into concrete jungles with no space for green nature to be accommodated harming the quality of life and environment. A balanced and sustainable development model is the call of the hour. A modern city should have open space, green areas, water bodies in addition to roads, bridges and high rises.

— Saikat Kumar Basu

Monsoon season creates a lot of challenges in transportation, communication and other sectors which makes our life difficult. The average rain of Kathmandu is between 200-375 mm, but nowadays it goes beyond, and I don’t want to spend my life here! My dream city is wonderful where basic requirements are easily available including people who value people instead of earthly possessions.

— Binit Baral, Pokhara

Kathmandu is the most polluted and populated city of the country. Monsoon adds to it. The various problems of this City creates a horrible situation for labourers and poorest to breathe. It’s suffocating living in such a place where there is smoke and dust.

Instead a city should be a place of learners, developers and technicians where there is peace and clean environment. The city should have sustainable infrastructure of development like electricity, health, communication, et cetera and should be reliable. It should have proper law and order. The resources should be protected in such a way that the locals can also benefit from them. Schools should provide technical as well as practical knowledge to learners. Unfortunately, if any kind of disaster occurs, then there should be some projects aimed to help the lives of inhabitants of cities. Employment opportunities should be provided to people according to their proficiency. The city should be smart, with availability of advanced technologies. Citizens should have easy access to report their problems directly to the government. Security system must be available in every part of the city.

— Kirti  Shrestha, Pokhara

I feel blessed every day not to have my bones fractured stumbling over the potholes or get respiratory tract infections. Well, many people in the world might take fresh air for granted, but not me. Every day I feel like a criminal putting on mask, goggles and covering my head just to go to class or anywhere in Kathmandu. My eyes get teary due to the dust and breathing feels like torture while near the heaps of garbage. Nevertheless, this is my dream city. Being born here, I am attached to its beauty, the temples, Durbar Squares, and stupas among others. Thankfully, not every street is hell, and there are some beautiful places too. The river is getting cleaner and the temples are being renovated. Many policies are being implemented no matter how ineffective some of them have proven to be. Above all, Kathmandu will always be the city I want to live in because it is a piece of diamond, momentarily dulled by the unplanned urbanisation, bad governance, failed policies and many uncaring people.

— Sudesha Rimal, Koteswore, Kathmandu

My dream city would be called ‘City of Beauty’. It would be a city of nature, people, and soul where you can experience birds singing in the trees, colourful butterflies gently touching you, weather is warm and lovely. One side of it would have alpine mountains and deep forests, and the other side washed by the waters of lake, located maybe in Pokhara. In my dream city you cannot help admiring how the sun in the morning spreads its brightness and when the sun goes down into the lakes how the real magic happens.

— Prashank Poudel, Pokhara

The unmanaged and unplanned city really sketches horrible image in my mind as well as in heart. In the name of private cars, environmental pollution causes suffocation and brings fatal diseases. Again for treatment in hospitals, we can’t believe semi-skilled doctors to diagnose correctly. For the benefit of our health, we visit to the market for fruits and vegetables. But do they assure our good health? I don’t think so. The unwanted chemicals in them can deteriorate our health. We are forced to live a frightening life. On the streets, we can observe many poor and innocent children begging. This bitter truth has pressurised me to think of the City as hell.

I don’t dream  of an advanced city, but at least I would want a city to provide us best education, which aids the poorer people for employment. I do want a city where means and resources are utilised properly and talented people get platforms to showcase their skills.

— Aasha Pun, Pokhara

Every year during monsoons there are problems of puddles, flooding and muddy roads, which make our life difficult. Along with this, with the poor infrastructure, people have been hit hard in their daily life due to air pollution and water logged roads during the rainy season. The unplanned and unmanaged urbanisation sketches a bad picture in my mind and I feel insecure. The black topped roads have been turned into muddy pools. The snail-paced road expansion and poor drainage system creates chaos among pedestrians. Moving cars splash muddy water on people. And the government seems to be rather indifferent and is yet to roll out any concrete steps to improve infrastructure or the vehicles that ply these dusty, peripheral roads that pepper the Nepali landscape.

For me, a smart and green city is my dream city — fusion of beauty and greenery. The city should have an advanced education system, proper sanitation and drainage system, power supply 24x7, good living conditions, well planned urbanisation and well developed technology and transportation with eco-friendly development.

— Deepa Rajbhat, Pokhara

The onset of monsoon it has brought both relief and challenges. Though the monsoon itself is the very life blood of both urban and rural Nepal, it has brought various disasters along with it. The continuous heavy rain has flooded the streets hindering people from performing their daily activities smoothly. It has caused water logging, which has in turn led to traffic jams. Likewise increase in pollution and unmanaged urbanisation has brought terrifying impact on the City. My dream city would be like paradise with an advanced system of education, health facilities, transportation, communication and so on. It would be a pollution-free city where every people will be able to live healthily and every person’s right will be equally respected.

 — Pratima Gurung, Pokhara

The condition of city like Kathmandu is worsening every day. The City is so crowded, polluted and the main problem is traffic due to lack of proper planning for construction of roadways. People living here do not know whether the food they eat is safe or not, or the water they drink is clean or not, the air they breathe is pure or not, and the fruits and vegetables that are supposed to make one healthy and give life are instead taking their life away due to excessive use of chemicals. Living in such a city feels like death every second. There should be a smart city where all the infrastructure including education, transportation, communication, technology and especially the food and water supplies are safe and can be fully trusted. The environment should be clean and fresh. The roads should be wide and smooth. The problem of load shedding should be solved first. This is what my dream city should look like.

— Simran Karki, Pokhara

The dream city of may people is Kathmandu, including mine. Everyone has come here to fulfil their dreams, so it can be called the dream city which has made it crowded and unmanageable. Whatever people think about this City, this place can help me fulfil my dream of proper education and others facilities. I only wish there was good management and was cleaner.

— Prasannata Poudel, Pokhara

Due to excessive rainfall, the roads have become difficult enough even to be walked upon. And risk of accidents is high due to such roads. Nothing needful has been done either by the government nor the agencies concerned. Besides the public also do not take this matter with seriousness. Hence, the time has finally arrived for these roads to be upgraded, modified and rebuilt using modern as well as advanced technology. For this to happen, we don’t need to wait for an opportunity but just create it. Only then something positive will occur in the overall road system of the country.

— Pratik Shrestha, Buddhanagar, Baneshwore

I feel quite disappointed to live in such a city, Pokhara. Like other cities of Nepal, people throw garbage here and there though dustbins have been kept. In the morning, I sometimes see that people come in vehicles and throw huge amounts of waste near the bushes. So, how can one feel fresh and joyful in such a city? Since childhood I used to dream of a city which I wanted to live in. My sweet, little dream city is where each and every aspect is well managed. There are trees (greenery) in every place and separate dustbins to throw varieties of waste separately. People living in that city will be civilised and they will be living a simple life but of high thinking.

— Deepshikha Gurung, Pokhara

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

The memories in our life are made up of both happy and sad moments. And some funny moments in life must have made you split your sides with laughter. But such humorous moments sometimes can be more than amusing — they can teach you some serious life lessons. Share one such funny memory that has taught you some important life lesson.

­Send your replies in not more than 200 words by Friday, August 4, 2:00 pm to Features Department, The Himalayan Times, e-mail: features@thehimalayantimes.com