Passion…unbridled

Fed on a steady visual diet
Of facebook, instagram and pinterest
Watching photographs of jaw-dropping scenery
Of amazing places in far-flung countries
I thought that everything worth exploring
Needed an air-ticket, places around me were boring
My city, after all, could not compete
With a volcano in Hawaii spewing heat
So every weekend I would in self-pity wallow
Looking at travel pictures of friends that I follow
On social media, thinking how most of them
Were in locales exotic, whereas I did not know when
I would get a chance to plan a vacation-
Time off, finances etc. would make that determination

One day I decided to venture out
In my city with my camera, without
Any expectations, there were no surprises, after all
But..I was wrong- I found on my leisurely stroll
Amazing vistas, the familiar riverfront showed a difference
When captured this time with my lens
And I was reminded of how beautiful it had appeared
When I had first moved here, now the magic had disappeared
Then I realized it was a matter of perspective
I could find something new if I wanted, or live
Each day wishing to be elsewhere
And, unable to do so, spend my weekends in despair

So the road well traveled showed me sights new
With pictures that were instagrammable too!

There was a place of beauty virginal
An island unmarred by activities industrial
Inhabited by people content with being
Contained in their world and seldom seeing
The outside world, they did not care
For interaction with people beyond their sphere
The bounty bestowed by nature they respected
Quite self-sufficient, there was not much they expected
**
Then came a day when a visitor arrived
Claiming he was enchanted, with an expression contrived
As a businessman he saw the enormous potential
Of this island as an exotic destination for travel
In collusion with the government he soon began
To build hotels, grow the tourist industry on the island
The authorities saw tremendous potential
To bolster their economy by following his proposal
For the first time they invited to their island
International collaboration to build a tourist haven
**
In a few years tourism developed there
Became the industry with the largest share
Of the economy, sophisticated travelers from everywhere
Flocked to the island to sample its unique flair
Since economic growth exacts a cost always
And nothing preserved in its natural state stays
The annual tourist volume was out of proportion
To the number of inhabitants, infact ten times its population
The island rapidly commercialized and unfortunately
The pristine environment degraded considerably
The virgin beauty was now marred
By excessive construction, permanently scarred
This sparked a huge debate over preservation
Of the original land as it was, experts in conservation
Suggested measures worth a fortune extraordinary
To restore the island to its former state of glory
While further degradation could be prevented somewhat
Irreversible were the changes that had been brought
About by the droves of travelers over the years
Thus were realized the islanders’ worst fears
Of seeing their revered land thus tainted
It looked so different from the picture that was painted
Years ago, when tourism was still nascent
And the carbon footprint of tourism non-existent
**
This is the story of many stunning destinations
That are the victims of commercial exploitation
The world is a smaller place with borders that are shrinking
And travelers can spoil a place without thinking
Therefore ecotourism is now the buzzword
To preserve the natural treasures of the world
This story in a larger perspective illustrates
How human involvement can change the natural state
This is the perpetual conundrum of civilization
The ongoing struggle for environmental conservation.