Till we meet again

“It is only now that I have started to understand what this is all about and now its time to say good bye,” said an enthusiastic Chhotu Khan, one of the team members of Yamuna Katha.

The group of Yamuna Katha yatris had been together since the evening of October 11, 2011 (Tuesday). It was a motley group of people from diverse background, with no connect with each other, but necessarily, all concerned about the Yamuna.

The day’s event was at a place little downstream of the Okhla barrage (this barrage is the border between Delhi and Noida in Uttar Pradesh) on the Delhi side. This is the riverfront of the Madanpur Khadar village, more famous because it is here Durga idols are brought for immersion. The site offered a pathetic scenario with the wooden skeletal remains of the recent Durga idol immersions. Foaming shallow waters were hemmed in on the bank side by the remains of the Durga Puja rituals. There was some repair works going on at the barrage adding to the noise levels.

Bhola and Babita, the other two core members of the team, were the most happy as, how Bhola put it: “This is my ghat (stepped embankment), this is my area.” Bhola’s family has been living at the Madanpur Khadar village for generations. While his father and rest of his clan went on to do fishing for their life, Bhola shifted to becoming a fishing contractor and employees several people under him.

A pandal on the very ghats was the august venue for the discussion “Imagine there was a river”. Arif Ali, professor at the Jamia Milia Islamia and Rakhshanda Jalil from the Council for Social Development joined the Yamuna Katha members. GIZ’s Regina Dube too joined in on the last day.

Prof Ali recalled the time when the Britishers developed the Okhla riverfront as a picnic spot way back in 1870. Okhla village was then just a small hamlet of 20-odd families: some of them were potters while most of them had buffaloes for livelihood. The river bank saw cultivation of a variety of fruits and vegetables.  

He also lamented the fact that Delhi has just 2 % of the length of Yamuna but contributes to 90 % of the pollution.

Rakhshanda Jalil, who has been working for preservation and spreading awareness about heritage monuments, drew parallel between the monuments and the river. “People either are not aware there is a monument and do not at all visit it; or abuse it. Similarly, we have turned blind towards the river, we have stopped coming here.”

Another Madanpur Khadar resident Ratan Singh, who now is employed by city’s water utility Delhi Jal Board (DJB) informed there was a time up to some 40 years ago, when Yamuna waters would be used directly for cooking purposes even for functions such as marriage. “But see the irony. Today if my hand dips in the water, I have to wash it with soap at least twice otherwise, my hand will itch and have infections.”

The debate ranged from what causes pollution and how can one prevent it to how flow rate of the river can be increased and how to deal with the increasing pressure of the population. Bhola pointed out how the local police, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other government departments work in tandem to provide all kinds of facilities and maintain cleanliness at the time of festivals. His simple query: “If they can do this on three occasions in the year, why not for the rest of the year.”   

Reflections

Back at the hotel after lunch was ‘reflections’, time to go over the last four days of journey together. There were confessions about personal discoveries and in general the mood was ‘we need to meet again.’ Environmentalist and Gandhian Anupam Mishra joined in the Yamuna Katha yatris at the time of reflections.

Bhola, who also works as a life guard, proudly promised: “I have been saving humans for so long. Now I will work to save the Yamuna.” Chhotu Khan said it took him quite some time to realize that he too was a member of the team and he felt proud being associated with it. The two teachers, Vidhu Narayanan and Urmi Chakraborty said they would take back the experience to their school and bring their students to the river bank.

Gayatri Chatterjee said Yamuna gave her a realization that she has yet to learn much and suggested the proceedings be in Hindi to take it to larger audience. The Yamuna Katha in-house river expert Dwijender Kalia suggested a Yamuna Parikrama (circumambulation) till Prayag, where the Yamuna meets Ganga. Rashid Khan, the haathi-wala, resolved to join the larger fight.

Anumpam Mishra said in our limited life span, we cannot even think of cleaning the Yamuna. “Instead, we should concentrate on not polluting it,” he said.

With a resolve to meet again and again, everyone dispersed with a promise to self – as Ashish said – to make the Yamuna Katha (a tale of Yamuna) into a Yamuna Mahakavya (an epic for Yamuna). 

Experiences along the Yamuna

The Yamuna Katha members were in for three different experiences on day three: wrestling, boat ride and a traditional story telling session.

Destination one was Sanjay Pehelwan Akhara (akhara is the place where traditional wrestling is taught to youngsters). Stepping into the akhada premises was like stepping into an altogether different world. Surrounded by trees, the Spartan semi-kuchcha structures which housed the trainees and the main wrestling square, all pointed to the same thing.

The akhara is a residential training centre for twelve plus youngsters mostly from Haryana and a few from Bihar. The barely 20-feet X 20-feet ground is specially prepared with soft yellow soil mixed with turmeric, henna and sarso oil (mustard oil) is the ground zero for the budding wrestlers. The routine starts early morning and follows a strict regiment. The youngsters cover themselves profusely with mustard oil before starting their work outs.  

“After a rigourous training session, we take bath. Now-a-days, because the Yamuna is so polluted, we use tap water. But earlier, it used to be: jump into river directly.

Not just the Sanjay Pehelwan Akhada, almost all the akharas prefer the sylvan surroundings and locations slightly away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. So was this place long time ago, when it was started. Slowly, although the surroundings underwent drastic change, the just-insides of the akhara remain the same, well almost. “Inside the akhara, you do not feel like it is Delhi,” said Vidhu Narayanan, a core team member.       

The Yamuna Experience

Exploration of the Yamuna turned to the “experience” of Yamuna when team Yamuna Katha went for a boat ride. The starting point for the boat ride at the dusty Qudasia ghat, opposite the ISBT Kashmere Gate, was an eye-opener. The team members came face to face with the wide deep black stinking drain that we call as Yamuna.     

At the bank, with the ghat towering above the water level, it was hard to imagine that what we were looking at was indeed Yamuna. But to far north-east as the Yamuna curved its way downstream towards Qudasia ghat, it offered a beautiful vista.

Yamuna Katha yatri Dwijender Kalia led the tour with doling out relevant information about almost each point of the ghat and the surroundings and most important, about the sewage drains that empty into the Yamuna. For most of the team members, passing right in front of the Nigambodh Ghat, the traditional place where Hindus burn their deceased, was the first of its kind experience. Bodies burning, half lit pyres and the horde of relatives and friends of the persons whose bodies were being given the last rites ...

“After Varanasi, this Nigambodh Ghat is the most important in whole of north India. It is believed that once when Vedas had gone missing, the scripts were found floating at this ghat. So the place is associated with knowledge (bodh is knowledge) and hence the name,” chipped in Kaliaji.   

A constant throughout the journey was the garbage, plastic bags, flower and other pooja waste thrown recklessly and several other things, the very things that just went on to add to the pollution of Yamuna. The stretch between Qudasia ghat till the Park also has a number of bridges that connect the two banks, starting from the road bridge that takes traffic to and from ISBT Kashmere Gate to east Delhi, the Metro rail bridge and the Old Loha Pur (the old iron bridge).

Dumping puja material into the Yamuna is also a source of
pollution (photo: Alex Koecher)

Surprisingly, when in the boat right in the middle of the Yamuna, although we were surrounded by filthy dark black toxic water, there was no stink in the air.    

But somewhere in the cacophony of the various sounds, the railway train passing over the old Loha Pul, the metro rain chugging past on the recent concrete bridge, the honking of horns of the vehicles zooming past the newly built by-pass ... somewhere in all this, the sound of Yamuna a river was lost.

Dastangoi: Tales from Tilism-e-Hoshruba

The ramparts of the Purana Qila, a mid-16^th century Mughal era structure protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), were aglow with different lights focused on the small stage at the entrance of the gate towards Yamuna. The mesmerizing moon rose slowly above the eastern wall. Dastangoi – the traditional art of storytelling – is being revived as an art form by Dastak theatre group. The session at the Purana Quila saw performances by Yojit Singh & Ankit Chadha followed by Mahmood Farooqui & Danish Husain.

The two main characters of the presentation are Amir Hamza and Amar Aiyyar, whose adventures are documented as oral anecdotes over the years. For further information on Dastangoi please see yesterdays post.

The team returned to the hotel, still talking about the different experiences.   

The grandmasters at stage: Danish Hussain and Mahmood Farooqui
are performing an age-old story at the ramparts of
Purana Quila (photo: Alex Koecher)

Dastangoi: Tales from Tilism-e-Hoshruba

We are happy to invite you to an extraordinary cultural event, which is part of the Yamuna Katha Program:  Dastangoi, a lost and old art form of storytelling, on the ramparts of Purana Qila (or Qila-e-Kuhna in Mughal rulers' parlance) at 7 pm today Friday, October 14, 2011.

The venue for the performance is the spot where the new light and sound show takes place. Please enter Purana Qila from the Zoo entrance, climb the acclivity, go past the main gate till you reach a T-point, and then turn right to the other gate. Keep walking till you reach the other gate. That's the venue for the performance. 

Synopsis of Stories: 

The Bachpan Tale: Amir Hamza and Amar Aiyyaar are young and get admission into a Madrasa (school) where a pot-bellied, foul-tempered, food loving Mullah is their teacher. Amar Aiyyar is a menace in the school from day one. Mullah fed up with Amar's behaviour complaints to Amir Hamza's father, Khwaja Abdul Muttalib, the Chief of Mecca and the Keeper of Kaaba. Khwaja gets Amar thrown out of the school but Hamza is heartbroken and he forces his father to get Amar readmitted into the school. Amar then plots a revenge on the Mullah.

Tha Aazar Jadoo Tale: Amar Aiyyar and four of his disciples Mehtar Qiran, Barq Firangi, Jaansoz, and Zargham Sherdil have entered the Tilism-e-Hoshruba (a magical realm that enchants your senses) to rescue Amir Hamza's grandson. Afrasiyab, the emperor of Hoshruba, is livid with this infiltration and he sends sorcerers (Saahirs) to capture the Aiyyaars (Tricksters) but each time Amar and his disciples slay the Saahir sent for them. Finally, frustrated Afrasiyab dispatches a fearful Saahir named Aazar Jadoo with a magical portrait, which reveals the real face of any trickster in disguise. Amar and few of his disciples are captured as they are unable to fool Aazar with their disguises. He recognizes them with the help of the magical portrait. Now, the rest of the story is how the Aiyyars trick this Saahir too and rescue themselves from his spell. 

Dastak: Dastak is a theatre group which was formed by Mahmood Farooqui with few of his friends in 1990's when he had just returned from Oxford. Currently, Mahmood Farooqui with his group Dastak is working at reviving the lost art form of Urdu storytelling, Dastangoi. The revival has been on for six years now and details could be found at the blog http://dastangoi.blogspot.com The other key members of the group are Anusha Rizvi, the writer-director of the feature Peepli Live, and Danish Husain, Mahmood's fellow Dastangoi and a poet, actor. 

Director: Mahmood Farooqui is a Rhodes Scholar, author of the book 'Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857,' Co-Director of the feature Peepli Live, and the Director of Dastangoi. He interpreted the art form in its modern form and reinvented it. 

Yamuna at its best state – in Jagatpur village near Delhi

That Yamuna looks like a river – unlike the filthy drain – upstream of Wazirabad was known to many of the Yamuna Katha yatris. But no one – except of course Chhotu Khan and Rashid Khan – was ready for the sight at Jagatpur, a small prosperous village in north Delhi on Thursday morning.

Vast swathe of fertile alluvial soil with taller-than-human weeds, a dusty winding road from the bund road leading to the water front and then … water sans garbage, sans plastic waste, literally free from all kinds of pollution. “I just can’t believe we are in Delhi on the Yamuna bank,” said an excited Arun Raj, who works with Force, an NGO working on water.  

Arun, a passenger with the core group who joined for the day, had read about the history of the river and its connection with the city. “Delhi has remained just as a fragment of the glorious history,” he said.

Jagatpur river front visit became an important fragment for the Yamuna Katha yatris. The group members thrilled to find the company of none other than a female elephant Rupa. Almost everybody spent time in observing the elephant, clicking photographs, asking the mahavat about Rupa’s habit.

Elephant Rupe carrying passengers Claudia and Ellen
(photo: Alex Köcher)

Apart from the major attraction of the beautiful unlike-in-Delhi Yamuna, the riverfront offered other attractions and photo opportunities too. A bunch of fishermen were readying for embarking on a fishing journey up stream of the Yamuna; a tractor and its trolley were brought for washing; minutes later, another tractor-trolley brought a newly painted boat to be deployed in waters and last but not the least – and what a sight it was – a herd of buffaloes gently entering the river and swiftly swimming across to the riverine island.

Local fishermen embarking to bring in fresh fish (photo: Alex: Koecher) 

That was a moment which everyone enjoyed what with the buffaloes actually posing for the shutterbugs and the buffalo owners with bright coloured turbans doling out sound bytes for the camera team. “I had always been disheartened with the state of Yamuna. Never had I imagined, Yamuna bank in Delhi would be so much fun,” said Urmi Chakraborty, a core team member and a geography teacher passionate about rivers.

Buffalos longing for a bath (photo: Alex Koecher)

After more than two hours of fun, the Yamuna Katha team mates moved on to the next stop: the Ramghat, just north of Wazirabad village. The ghat (stepped embankment), is actually a cluster of temples, old and new. A large area is semi-circles with temples on the river side with space for parking vehicles on one side and a number of small kuchcha structures/tea kiosks for selling pooja material and other items lining the other side.

The water front resembled a ghat in any of the rural riverfronts. The ghats, replete with temples, shiv lingas (Lord Shiva’s manifest symbol) jutting right in the middle of the ghat, idle row boats resting by the bank and the omnipresent garbage in the form of flower waste from pooja remains, wooden planks and even refuse by way of some plaster of Paris statues. No, it again did not seem like Delhi. But Delhi it was.

Ramghat (photo: Alex Koecher)

After a round of hot tea from one of the kiosks, team members dispersed to explore the bank on their own. In small huddles, the passengers and the core group members exchanged ideas and keenly debated various issues. But the common thread that was emerging – and was very evident as the time passed by – was that each one of the team was equally concerned about the Yamuna.

Core group members Gayatrie and Rasheed discussing over tea
(photo: Alex Koecher)

A delicious lunch followed by rest as the sun peaked right above in the blue October sky, and the team was ready for the next adventure. Golden Jubilee Park by the riverfront right in front of the historical Red Fort and the Salimgarh Fort was the next destination.

The sprawling park does offer a good site along the Yamuna bank with the Loha Pul (the old iron bridge) in the background completing the picture frame. However, the place had a gory history … in the immediate past. Dwijender Kalia, the in house river expert from the core members’ team reminded: “In 2006, almost a lakh people were thrown out from the slums that occupied this very place then known as Jamuna Pushta. The displaced were thrown away from the main stream yet again as they were offered rehabilitation at Bawana and such far flung places.”

Discussion in the open at Golden Jubilee Park (photo: Alex Koecher)

With this note, started the discussion about ‘Moving a Juggernaut called Delhi’. Manu Bhatnagar, water conservationist and an active academic expert associated with conservation NGO Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) initiated and moderated the discussion. The group was joined by GIZ guests and a German elected representative Marie Luise von Halem, member of one of the state parliaments in Germany. The discussion ranged from water pollution, reasons for it, the reduced flow of water in the Yamuna, what does Yamuna offer to a city, what do people identify and understand with the city, the very definition of city, the approach of the planners and policy makers etc.

But one remark from Sadhuram, a rustic farmer tilling land near the Park, garnered the most appreciation. “They have shrunk the river. Upar wale ko nahi, apane aap ko bada maanate hai woh. (They think they are bigger than the Lord Almighty),” the simpleton said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Towards the end, the Yamuna Katha team was joined by an activist working for another river. Atul Jain, a passenger who had joined the team on day one, came calling in on day two too and brought along Anil Madhav Dave, a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and an activist who runs an NGO called Narmada Samagra, which works in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat along the Narmada river.  

Dave, also a member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, said a human being thinks about the river as if his or her efforts are going to “save” the river. “We think the river as water body and not a living eco-system. The moment we think it as a body, we think of reviving it, saving it et al. But tell me, what can a human with a life span of hardly 70-80 years do for a river which is flowing since ages? The idea is to ‘serve’ the river and not brag about saving it.”

The discussion ended on a note of optimism that each one in his or her capacity should continue its efforts for the river and work towards increasing the tribe.

The last item on the agenda, before returning to the hotel, was looked forward and enjoyed the most by every single member of the team. Kite flying opened up each other and brought in moments of sheer joy for all.         

Yamuna in Delhi: The discovery begins

The location could not have been better. A beautiful full-to-the brim Yamuna flowed right besides where the Yamuna Katha journey started at Wazirabad.

After what seemed to be ages, the wait was over. Yamuna Katha, the project envisaged to bridge the gap between the river and the people and to understand the river-city dyad got off to a fantastic start.

Babita and Bhola Kashyap, from the fishermen’s community, from Madanpur Khadar; Chhotu Khan, a farmer tilling land on the Yamuna banks at Jagatpur; Dwijendra Kalia, a river specialist residing in Mayur Vihar; Gayatri Chatterjee, a social scientist from Pune; Rashid Khan, a haathi wala; Urmi Chakraborty (CR Park) and Vidhu Narayanan (Mayur Vihar), both teachers at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya – these contributed to the diversity of the core group.

At the Wazirabad water works of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the city’s water utility, the core group and other members of the GIZ, were joined in by few students from the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.

At the outset, DJB’s RK Garg, member (Water Supply/Drainage) gave an elaborate talk on Yamuna’s importance for Delhi and the urban sanitation scenario.  As much as 40 % of Delhi’s water needs are met by Yamuna, he said adding, “The unauthorized colonies add the maximum of the untreated sewage to the river”. A sewage master plan 2031 is in the pipeline, he informed.       

Arne Panesar of GIZ pointed out that experts alone are not enough to deal with the problem of river pollution. “We need people from diverse background,” he said.

Dr Ritu Priya, professor School of Social Sciences, JNU, gave the historical perspective of water distribution concepts. “There was never a place for people from class four in the British design for New Delhi. This led to inhabitation of the fringes and these unauthorized colonies increases untreated sewage,” she said.

Abhilasha Bakre, Anshula Mehta, Ananjay Sharma, Adarsh Kumar Singh, Shrishti Banzal, Khushboo Chattree and Anoushka Kopila – all class IX students of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya from plush Lodi Estate area of New Delhi too keenly took part in the activity.

Some activity by way of a project was already being done by them at their school level. Now, specially for the Yamuna Katha, these students came up with a project comprising various components, right from the stage of conception to implementation. Anshula Mehta said, “Social isolation can be mirrored by physical isolation. Access to sanitation can bring about the desired change.”

GIZ’s Regina Dube said it is for sure that there can’t be a simple and single solution. “The need is for the people from diverse background sit together and develop solutions for a clean, pollution free river,” she added.   

Then there was a round of the Wazirabad water works, first such experience for almost the entire group.

Next stop was the Tibetan resettlement colony at Majnu Ka Tilla. The colony was set up in 1961 with just 18 families that had escaped from Tibet then and came down to Delhi. Today, it has the same area but as many as 361 families. The colony, with narrow yet clean congested lanes, is awaiting regularization.

Dorjee Dhomdup, the Pradhan (head) of the resident welfare association and Rinzin Wangmo from the Women’s association, took great care of the group. On the cards was another first for most of the group. A visit to the actual sandy, alluvial Yamuna bank!!!

Just across the compound wall of the Tibetan colony, started the neat geometric designed farms wherein were grown variety of vegetables. Families tilling the flood plains lived on the Yamuna plains in make shift huts. The Yamuna flow – barely half a kilometer from the Wazirabad barrage – was reduced to just a black drain, flowing far away from the bank.

After a sumptuous Tibetan lunch, was time for a small yet wonderful cultural programme by students of the Tibetan school. It was followed by a panel discussion ‘Strong ties or loose connections?’ Everyone agreed that it was high time government agencies – specially the DJB – should be blamed for the pollution and it is time for each member of the society to do something.

The final session was held when the team Yamuna returned to the hotel. After a quick round of tea and snack, the team deliberated over the events during the day and also discussed the following day’s programmes.

Living on the Yamuna Bank

Yamuna hardly finds a mention in day-to-day conversations of Delhiites. So for Shubham Mishra, another member of the core team of Yamuna Katha, it was a realization, brought in by the Yamuna itself.

Shubham’s home is near Rajghat, on the Ring road, metres away from Yamuna. Rajghat, more famous for Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial today, was once a prosperous ghat (stepped embankment) of the Yamuna. It was exclusive for the royalty and hence the name Raj ghat.

But like most of the Delhiites of his age, Shubham, a trained urban planner, only knew, yes, Delhi has river. But once in while there is heavy flooding and the banks are submerged. “Then we realize we have a river,” Shubham says as he recalls the days of frenzy that come with the floods.

But slowly, the flood plains were reclaimed and exploited for commercial purpose. And the places are many. Qudasia ghat, the Yamuna Bazar, the Rajghat, power plants near ITO and now, sanitized, landscaped gardens, not to mention the number of bridges and flyways… the metro stations, Akshardham temple … and the list goes on endless.

“If we build on the floodplains, the water will always find its way back,” Shubham points out.

Shubham, who has been constantly visiting the Yamuna banks for the last two months, has discovered a new passion. Toponomy – the branch of lexicology that studies the place names of a region or a language – of the various ghats has intrigued him no end. “Come to think of it, there were different names for each of these ghats. Now, all we have is ghat number 1 to 32 at Yamuna Bazar.”

Losing the names is akin to losing an identity, says Shubham, who loves Yamuna and Delhi equally. “The very fact that the each of the places had a different name, means these places were different. Today, everything looks the same. Each of these ghats had a different purpose to fulfill. It gives us a glimpse of what kind of river front existed then? Qudasia ghat was different and so was the ghat in front of Kotla.”

Today, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is planning a sanitized and concretized riverfront, something, which is likely to be built in clichéd sarkari style. But even when such a riverfront comes up, would the Delhiites sit in front of a stinking filthy river that is almost a drain today?

Shubham’s no nonsense reply: “First there has to be a river, there has to be water in it.”

Yamuna: A Paradise Lost

There goes this famous anecdote about Hazrat Nizamuddin, the Sufi saint residing in Delhi in the early 14^th century. When he saw an old lady drawing water from a well even when she lived near Yamuna, he asked her why.

“My husband is very old. We have nothing to eat. Yamuna’s water is very tasty, so tasty that it induces hunger. I don’t want this to happen to us,” the lady replied.

Can anyone say this about Yamuna waters today? Till about 50 years ago, the Yamuna was very much clean, even in Delhi. As the demographic change took place over the years, the late 1980s saw the population explosion and the new millennium saw widespread migration from hinterlands to the national capital, the stress on the Yamuna only increased.

That exactly is what ails the Yamuna today. Shubham does the math: “Earlier, the population was much lesser and scattered. The resources were de-centralized. Delhi had hundreds of lakes, ponds, wells and baolis (step wells). On the one hand, people were dependent on the water bodies in their areas and on the other hand, there was hardly any human waste flowing into the river.”

Today, the situation is exactly reversed. Delhi is entirely dependent on the Yamuna to cater to its drinking water needs. And at the same time, the river is used as a channel for disposal of sewage, creating two-way pressure on the Yamuna.

The Yamuna was never seen in isolation all these centuries. People were always aware of the connection … through surface channels or through underground aquifers. He asks how can anyone forget Neher-i-Bahisht?

There was this all wonderful canal system. In 14^th century, the Tughlaq dynasty built the Neher-i-Bahisht (literally, stream of paradise) parallel to the river. It was later restored during the Mughal rule in the early 17^th century by Ali Mardan Khan, an engineer in the Mughal court. The canal started from Benawas, near the place where Yamuna enters the plains and after running through almost the entire cluster of ancient villages, reached the medieval city of Shahjahanabad only after which it drained into the Yamuna.

The Neher-i-Bahisht was in reality, the stream of paradise. It was an apt description of the phenomenon – of providing the elixir of life to people on its banks, making Delhi the very heaven people crave to get to, turning it into a paradise that brought calm into the Delhi walas life.

But where has this paradise gone? It seems we have lost this paradise and how?

Sums up Shubham: “Do we have any other option but to decentralize and take the pressure off the Yamuna?”

Yamuna Katha has started

Today evening the Yamuna Katha event was formally inaugurated at the Red Fox Hotel in East Delhi. Here are some impressions:

First gathering and interaction of the core group (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mr Bernd Dunnzlaff, representative of the German Embassy
giving an inaugural address together with Mrs Aparna Das
of the Yamuna Katha Team (photo: Alex Koecher) 

Mr Bernd Dunnzlaff together with Mr Arne Panesar, Country Manager
for India of GIZ (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mrs Regina Dube, Head of Sustainable Urban Habitat Unit of GIZ
together with Aparna Das (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mrs Aparna Das introducing Mr Rasheed, Hathi Wallah and
core group member of Yamuna Katha (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mrs Aparna Das introducing Mr Chotu Khan, farmer and
core group member of Yamuna Katha (photo: Alex Koecher) 

Mrs Aparna Das introducing Mrs Babita, fisher women and
core group member of Yamuna Katha (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mrs Aparna Das introducing Mrs Gayatri Chatterjee, Social Scientist and
core group member of Yamuna Katha (photo: Alex Koecher)

Mr Bola, fisher man, life saving guard and core group member of
Yamuna Katha (photo: Alex Koecher)

Is there a river in Delhi?

Yes, that was the first question that popped up in the mind of Alexander Koecher, a team member of Yamuna Katha project, when he first heard of Yamuna here.
Alexander a.k.a. Alex has been travelling to the city for various reasons since 2004. But never had he heard of it before July 2011, his latest visit. There is no attraction for tourists vis-à-vis Yamuna. Even the tourist information brochures about Delhi by both India Tourism and Delhi Tourism speak about a lot of places of interest in Delhi but are completely silent about Yamuna.

Foreigners will never know there is a river in the city, he says. He did ‘discover’ Yamuna. Around three months ago, when he was told about the Yamuna Katha project, Alex started digging in more and more about the river purported to be the city’s lifeline.
His first encounter with the river was at Majnu Ka Tilla (tilla meaning a hillock). The place is famous for the Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tila and the Tibetan settlement.

A Muslim hermit named Majnu (the crazy one) – called so as he was crazy to get a glimpse of the Divine – used to stay here. In the 15th century, Guru Nanak, the Sikh guru, helped him attain self realization and hence, the place was named Majnu Ka Tilla after his death.
Metres away, the Tibetan settlement sees another kind of craziness. It is considered by Tibetans in exile as the commercial centre for the community as, over the years, the place has emerged as a hub of hotels, restaurants, cyber cafes, handicrafts shops, Tibetan curios, CD/DVD shops and last but not the least, books on Tibet and all things Tibetan. 

Accessing the river from a landscaped park facing the riverfront and looking down at the Yamuna, the first thing that hit Alex was: ‘It stinks’. Soon a visit to the northen-most part of Yamuna in Delhi, at Jagatpur village helped … the flood plains, the clean air and the farmland. “There I had a totally different view of Yamuna. The river was beautiful,” Alex says.
But more than this, Yamuna Bazar brought in better connect for the trained political scientist who has also studied history and communication. The greenery and the boat ride to the temple in the middle of the river gave him the feel of the history of the place. “You enter another kind of world, different from rest of Delhi.”

Yamuna Bazar is an old settlement of Delhi comprising residential havelis, smlll shops, government offices and religious places. One look from the river towards the Bazar and as Alex said, it is totally different from the rest of Delhi. 

A thorough optimist, he thinks there is a huge chance for development and cleaning of Yamuna. The need is to give back the river its natural condition. But who will do it?
“The people of Delhi, who wish to change,” pat comes the reply.

The river can look very romantic... (photo: Alexander Koecher)

...but fishing in the middle of soapy water does not look inviting (photo: Alexander Koecher)

An encounter with Hathis, as suprising as beautiful (photo: Alexander Koecher)

Yamuna Bazar, beautiful scenery but is swimming advisable here? (photo: alexander Koecher)

Yamuna: Public places private encounters

Thousands of commuters cross the Nizamuddin bridge on Yamuna daily, but how many bother to pause for a while to look at Yamuna? A young student always posed a question during her travels across the bridge, “Why are these tall barricades here?”
The answers varied each time but it left a feeling in her - of the river being ‘cut off’ from the people. Not just Nizamuddin bridge, all other bridges across the Yamuna connecting the two banks have failed to bridge the gap between the river and its people. 

Several years later, for that young student Aparna Das, living in south Delhi’s Munirka, the journey from believing that a river has no importance for a city to what wonders a river can do to a city, has been exciting. Over last decade as architect Aparna, a senior member of the Yamuna Katha Team, dealt with homing to housing to habitations to settlements, it was only her recent encounter with Yamuna that opened a Pandora’s Box.

“The visit was fascinating. The image of Yamuna as a drain was nowhere to be seen. I was overwhelmed,” Aparna recalls. But the romanticism fell flat on face a few weeks on when she saw soon after the monsoon, an empty stinking Yamuna. “And I wonder how at all I missed those despicable drug addicts the first time round?” 

With face-to-face encounters of a different kind, Aparna questions her idea about Yamuna and its development every day. The questioned that troubles her often for cities and habitations: ‘How much is too much?’ has also found an echo in the river front’s development schemes. But the riverfront development may offer a revival.

Environmentalist Manu Bhatnagar had told a reporter some time ago: Yamuna is neglected as it is no more a part of city’s social fabric. It is no more a part of city’s community events such as swimming or boating or for that matter, trekking along the river bank.

One community event that comes to Aparna’s mind is the time when Durga idols are immersed into the river. “If I believe in the Durga idol, I believe in other things too. For me, the river is then not a mere water channel. It is my past and if I want to have my future, I need my past.” 

Durga Puja in Okhla, Delhi – 2011, Photo: Alexander Koecher

The Yamuna Katha is looking forward to understanding this ‘man-river’ connection through various dialogues. The discourse is imperative as the river seems to have lost its relevance to Delhiites.

The state of affairs can be gauged from the fact that when in May 2009, Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies carried out a survey, many of the respondents did not even know the name of the river flowing through Delhi. 

Yamuna Katha: An interface

“The entire river is infested with crocodiles both the gharial (fish eating variety) and the magar (a blunt nosed variety): the former are the more common. The crocodiles are responsible for occasional fatalities, but they, do not often attack human beings, as the river supplies ample food often of a very gruesome nature. Turtles abound in both the river and lakes.”

Today, it is impossible to relate to this description of Yamuna. But this was how the Yamuna was as described in the Delhi District Gazetteer published in 1912. Barely 100 years and we have already lost so much. In fact, so much so, that the river today resembles a huge open drain devoid of any aquatic life.

As part of the Yamuna Katha project, we would be discussing the reasons for this change, the factors that affected it, the people responsible for it and last but not the least, what do the stakeholders feel about it?

Yamuna has had an integral relation with Delhi’s residents, those at the Siri Fort or the Hauz Khas village or in the ancient city of Dinpanah on the Yamuna banks or the modern day’s South Extension. It would be interesting to look back at the Yamuna connection for areas far away from the river.

The document submitted by Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for making the bid for Delhi’s nomination to UNESCO’s list of ‘World Heritage Cities’ talks about the Yamuna’s spread to other parts of Delhi since the stone-age.

It mentions that the city has been inhabited by humans probably as far back as 100,000 years ago. “It is also clear that the Yamuna at the time flowed through these hills (hilly area of south Delhi). The river, in fact, has changed course several times and at least six old beds have been identified. Interestingly, the location of Stone Age sites and their sequence suggests that pre-historic people moved with the river.”    

In the run up to the actual event of Yamuna Katha, this blog will attempt to take stock of geographical features across Delhi, such as the ridge, the Najafgarh jheel, the various rivers-turned-into-drains in the city and the overall natural drainage system of the city spread between the ridge and the river. And it will also look at the modern ailments vis-à-vis commercial exploitation of the river and its banks.

While doing so, we would talk about the various places along the river bank and simultaneously bring in the perceptions of our core group members.

Encounters with the Yamuna way of life

Imagine walking the same path on the Yamuna banks, where eons ago possibly Lord Krishna came to meet the Pandavas* at their Indraprastha city!

It may sound outlandish but for a perennial river Yamuna flowing since time immemorial, this is not much of a time gap: between Lord Krishna’s time and today. Perhaps a walk along the river bank in contemporary Delhi might reveal much more.

Then again, how about visiting an agriculture farm that has been irrigated with Yamuna waters ever since? How about a boat ride across the river which is believed to be not much deep yet unfathomable?

All this and much more is on cards during the Yamuna Katha project, an effort to understand the connection between the ancient river and the modern man. A group of Yamuna travelers will embark on the journey of discovery from the morning of October 12 for the Yamuna experience.

The ‘experience’ comprises variety ranging from a visit to water works unit of city’s water utility, interaction with a community which recently made Yamuna bank its home, discussion about the Delhi-Yamuna paradigm on its very bank at the Golden Jubilee Park (near Salimgarh fort) and watching the age old tradition of wrestling at one of the famous akharas (learning centres for wrestlers). (See itinerary).

With a diverse group, we hope to capture as-yet-undocumented exchange of views. For instance, while discussing the Yamuna riverfront development plan, the modern planner’s view envisaging all ‘poor’ things to vanish for providing entertainment to ‘rich’ may vary from a fisherman’s who can trace his ancestors living on the river bank for centuries together.

The use – rather the abuse – of Yamuna river, and the Yamuna banks too, would be the common thread throughout the foray. The haathi wala (elephant owner) camping his herd on the banks will tell upfront how the Indian government ambitious Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) has failed despite pumping crores of rupees. Aware that most interventions focus on the apathy of Yamuna, always on the receiving end of city’s careless denizens resulting in a drain-like status, the core group along with the passengers joining them daily will endeavor to understand Yamuna’s predicament vis-à-vis efforts by the NGOs, academicians, concerned individuals, activists and above all by those who live with the river.    

In short, the Yamuna Katha is a collective imagination of all Delhi wallas, obviously and not so obviously connected with the river.

(*Pandavas were five siblings, sons of King Pandu from the epic Mahabharata)