By 2028, Singapore will welcome a near 1000 feet skyscraper known as 8 Shenton Way

This height of this skyscraper will be 984 feet and offer offices, a hotel and 34 floors of luxury residences. It will be known as 8 Shenton Way and occupy 1.6 million square feet of floor space. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the US architects behind Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, have designed the new tower in Singapore. The project envisages more than 107,000 square feet of elevated green space. These will have plants chosen specifically to attract birds and butterflies. More than half of the site's landscaped areas will be accessible to the public. SOM design principal Nic Medrano said at a press conference - "We want to create places that are comfortable, where people want to be and are healthy." He added that all occupants would be able to "access nature" within "three or four floors." Moreover, this will be among Asia's "most sustainable" skyscrapers. Once in operation, the consumption of electricity would be 55 percent less than is required to achieve the local government's highest sustainability rating. Plans for Singapore's first 'supertall' skyscraper unveiled.

Incidentally, the skyscraper will come up on a site currently occupied by another tower that opened in 1986. Demolition work has started and the new building will make use of portions of the existing foundation. Such a move would "save material... and lower the carbon footprint of the building from the get-go." Singapore is one of the world's most densely populated countries. However, its skyline is relatively low-rise compared to cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Singapore is less than half the size of London and has two civilian airports and multiple military air bases. There are reports of a restriction on the height of buildings in downtown areas. However, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of the country declined to comment on the subject.

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Kolkata has prospered over the last decade

The other day I was listening to the famous video song of Usha Uthup on Kolkata. It showed different scenes of the City of Joy and I longed to go back to the old days of the 1960s. I had left the city in the 1960s (it was known then as Calcutta) and subsequently visited it on special occasions. The last time was in 2019 to attend a marriage. I noticed that the city I grew up in had changed. There were flyovers, and skyscrapers alongside new attractions to woo tourists. Once there used to be the zoo garden, botanical garden, museum, Victoria Memorial, Birla planetarium etcetera. Now there are additions like the Eco Park, Nicco Park, Science City, floating restaurant on the Hoogly River and innumerable hotels and restaurant.

Most of these have come up during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as chief minister. She is not only the supremo of Trinamool Congress TMC but also gifted with artistic talents. How Mamata Banerjee unwinds herself with artistic pursuits. She can wield the brush as well as the pen and was instrumental in promoting the annual Durga Puja festival on a global scale. However, her efforts to bring industries to her state have not met with much success. On the whole, Kolkata has prospered over the last decade. It is evident in every walk of life. Bengalis love the ilish fish and, even though the price might go up to Rs 2000 per Kg, there are buyers. Uemployment is a major issue in Bengal but there is no dearth of buyers of ilish.

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Where have the sparrows, crows and pigeons vanished?

Has anyone noticed that we are gradually losing out on our feathered friends? It is a problem not unique to us but is a global problem and the reason is their loss of habitat. Trees are being felled to put up multistoried buildings to accommodate human beings and the birds are paying the price.
Common birds like sparrows, crows, and pigeons have more of less vanished from our surroundings and, while there is relief from their menace like droppings, we have lost their company. There is no sound of chirping of the sparrows or the cawing of crows or the homely sounds emitted by the pigeons as they liven up the dull afternoons.
World Sparrow Day is celebrated on March 20 and, ever since it was declared as the state bird in 2012, no action has been taken in Delhi to take care of the gradually sparrow population in the city.

The reason for the disappearance of these birds is that we have usurped their spaces, we have displaced them from the trees and the nooks, corners and cornices of our house. Gone are those magnificent houses of yore that had pillars and ventilators – these used to be the favorite nesting places of the sparrows.
We have embraced the skyscrapers where we have receded into our shells where fresh air from the windows will make us catch a cold. Where we want to shut out menaces like flies and mosquitoes. Hence, we have installed sliding windows – they guarantee safety.
And, when we need fresh air we install room fresheners, switch on the air conditioner and occupy the couch with the TV remote in our hand cutting ourselves off from the world around us. We retreat into a world of make believe and forget about the world where flowers bloom, where butterflies flit showing off their colors, where the silence around us is broken occasionally by the sweet melodies of our feathered friends. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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