In competition with nature
It is only human beings who can keep the environment free from contaminating elements. They alone are responsible for its degradation, observe P.K. Vasudeva and D.S. Cheema

IF human beings are to endure, not for just another century, but for thousands of years, we need to imbibe a way of life that can be sustained. The growth of human, animal and plant life is possible in an environment that is conducive to growth and is as natural as possible. It is only human beings who can keep the environment free from contaminating elements. They alone are responsible for its degradation.

Colonel Om Prakash Verma, a retired Army officer from The Engineers, is doing a tremendous job in keeping the environment in the cities clean. He creates waterfalls, rockeries, springs and an aesthetic environment in the cities which are polluted and stink due to mushrooming haphazard of industries.

He has created waterfalls which have earned him a place in the Limca Book of Records in 1997. His first clients have been TATAs, Swedish Companies, Alfa Laval, and Hogan, Poonawal Group, Somton Motels, Thapar Group, Leela Kempinski and P. Dayanand Pai. In the Field Marshal Cariappa Park in Bangalore, Verma designed the biggest ever man-made fall in Asia.

Verma’s Whispering Cascade at Pune and Bangalore has started a crusade against pollution and the stress-torn urban environment. Market leaders in hydrotech aesthetics, aqua dynamics and landscaping, whispering cascades, literally, let you bring a piece of nature home.

Verma, a veteran of the Bangladesh war, is a retired engineer from the Army, who has mastered the art of hydro-tech aesthetics. He was inspired to take on this art initially as a hobby and subsequently, as a profitable business venture, when he noticed a leaking jaccuzi surrounded by a tree in the background. He has experimented and travelled extensively to refine the concept during the next three years.

Now he has acquired the expertise in designing and building natural rock water-falls. Stones, pebbles, massive virgin rocks and plants are hand-picked to reflect the pristine glory of nature.

Verma’s waterfalls are constructed as permanent structures and depending upon the size and the site, they can come up in 40 to 120 days. The water-falls are a technical wonder. His engineering background has helped him to use that knowledge to his advantage. A waterfall must have a sound load-bearing structure onto which massive natural rocks are mounted and placed both vertically and horizontally supported by a sound system of hydraulics.

The splendid 27 feet high, 130 feet of frontage waterfall at Cariappa Park in Bangalore was constructed in a record time of 20 months. It is Verma’s masterpiece and for it he was awarded Scroll of Honour by the then Prime Minister Deve Gowda. The fall is a state-of-art hydraulic design with composite multiple water flow at the rate of 2.1 million litres per hour. This makes it the largest man-made waterfall in Asia. It is indeed a rare monument to the memory of our first Field Marshal.

Verma is proud of his eco-friendly venture which he is spreading all over the world. One of his early works includes a waterfall in the drawing room of a fifth floor apartment. His normal waterfalls have a flow of 12,000 litres of water per hour, with farms and greenery to give a natural look. "Small works take more time and are more difficult because they are hand-made", points out Verma. He extols the virtues of his ‘natural’ waterfalls because the fountains require regular maintenance, whereas his waterfalls are lifelong investments and are practically maintenance-free. The same water lasts for months since the only loss is by evaporation.

Verma’s creations are designed to blend with nature and the waterfalls have a minimum height of 6 feet with three to four cascades and a frontage of 8-10 feet. With an emphasis on the natural look, Verma can create just about any kind of waterfall. For instance, a Niagara type of water fall is a simple massive vertical flow without any cascades whereas mountainbrook is one designed to have a gentle flow for a tranquil effect.