India, Sept. 5 -- The piece reflects on how Guwahati's rapid urban growth is erasing its hills, wetlands and beels that once absorbed monsoon rains.

As glass towers and housing blocks rise, natural drainage is choked, causing so-called "artificial floods."

Citing Silsako and Deepor Beel, the author urges a 2045 vision that treats nature as infrastructure essential to the city's survival.

The other day I was driving down G.S. Road and realised I couldn't see the hills of Guwahati.

That sounds ridiculous because, obviously, the hills haven't disappeared. But there are stretches now where the horizon is just gone, hidden behind glass showrooms, apartment blocks, and the skeletal frames of half-finished construction sites. They're still t...