Majnu Ka Tila: Historic to modern via filth and sewage

A filthy trickle of a channel that is called Yamuna flowed away from the bank. Watching over her students at the Yamuna floodplains at Majnu Ka Tila, Urmi Chakraborty went back in time.
Her first memory of the Yamuna was when she traveled from Dehradun to Delhi long time ago. Crossing the Yamuna bridge to enter Delhi, she came face to face with the black and filthy water, actually a big drain. “I was disheartened. This was not the river we taught in schools,” Urmi, now a teacher at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV), Lodi Colony recalled.


Majnu Ka Tila’s Tibetan Colony was the stop two on day one of the Yamuna Katha. Dorjee Khandup, resident welfare association’s Pradhan gave a brief history of the colony. The colony was set up with 361 families on 10.2 acre area in 1961. The Government of India gave them the place after several people fled Tibet following the Dalai Lama. 

Dorje Donghup giving insights in Majnu Ka Tila's history

A short tour of the colony and then, the Yamuna Katha members were at the riverfront. The access to the river was between two homesteads through a broken high brick wall. Rinzin Wangmo, president of the women’s association from the Tibetan colony explained, “This wall is to stop people from throwing garbage into the river. (But) it also has a negative fallout. Youngsters are hardly aware there is a river beyond.” 

Rinzin Wangmo giving insights on Majnu Ka Tila's resident's attitude towards Yamuna

For most present, this was possibly the first actual encounter with Yamuna riverfront. Vast expanse of soil-cum-sand neatly cut into rectangular or square plots for growing vegetables. Traces of garbage, filth marked the human imprint. A narrow raised dirt track through the farms led to the trickle of a river, stark black. Migrant labours had built kuchcha houses  (wooden shacks) on the floodplain and with minimal essential things carry out their lives for at least six months on the riverbank. 


Urmi’s fascination – nay passion – for rivers started with her days in West Bengal. Visit to the Ganges at Kolkata was a regular feature. Then with her husband’s transferable job, she moved to places and enjoyed rivers far and wide – Narmada at Ankaleshwar in Gujarat; “filthy” Brahmaputra at Guwahaty; Bindal at Dehradun, Ganges again at Haridwar. “I stayed at Dehradun for so long, went to Haridwar but never once for a dubki (holy dip in a sacred river),” she added.     


Although staying in Delhi since last three years, it was only recently that she came into direct contact with the Yamuna when students of class X eco-club were carrying out an ‘Urban Sanitation Project’. “Students are enthusiastic enough and have strong values too. But, we never brought any students to the riverfront. Now I think, I will ... specially to show them the visible difference ‘before’ and ‘after’ Wazirabad,” she promised.


Vidhu Narayanan, 39, Urmi’s colleague can identify with the “distance” between a citizen and the river. A typical Delhi girl, she spent her childhood in RK Puram government colony. In all her growing years, she remembered crossing the Yamuna only once to reach a place called Yamunapaar (trans-Yamuna). 

Vidhu Narayanan during a discussion with residents of the Tibetan colony

However, things changed when in 2003 she shifted into a flat at Mayur Vihar in east Delhi. “The first thing my husband and I noticed was the Yamuna from our back window,” she exclaimed.


Now, at the Majnu Ka Tila riverfront with hardly any water in the river, Vidhu was shocked. “During monsoon when the juggis (shanties) come to the road side, we know there is flood happening. I remember last year’s flood distinctly. The river was full of water. Where has the water gone now?”


“It is not a natural river anymore. There is a drain emptying sewage right downstream the Wazirabad barrage,” informed Dwijender Kalia, core group member and river specialist. 
Soaking in the experience, the students and the Yamuna Katha members explored every possible aspect of the riverfront. Nobody kept track of time and was reminded that food was waiting for them. Wonderful lunch at a Tibetan eatery followed.


Panel discussion: “Majnu ka Tila and Yamuna – Strong or loose connection?”


Post lunch session saw a panel discussion at the Tibetan school compound. GIZ’s Regina Dube introduced the topic. Dorje briefly talked how the colony has changed over the years and the problems they are facing currently owing to the narrow congested lanes and their equation with Yamuna.  


Rinzin said, “In order not to pollute Yamuna, we pick up the garbage and burn it. But it is the polluted water that comes from upstream is what disturbs me.

Burning garbage to avoid river pollution - reality in Majnu Ka Tila

Delhi Jal Board’s Ajay Gupta said, “Unplanned growth has led to the pollution. However, we are hopeful and confident that with the interceptor sewer programme under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), Yamuna will be clean in three-four years.”

Members of Delhi Jal Board engaging into the discussion

When it was suggested to Rinzin to go for composting at the farm plots at the riverfront, she immediately said those farms are not ours. This prompted GIZ’s Aparna Das to put a question: “Whose river is this?” 

Farm plots at the riverbank

Migration has prompted unplanned growth and led to heavy urbanisation. But this has happened so rapidly and therefore unplanned. Dwijender Kalia pointed out “The plan is always made for long a term. The DJB plan – YAP – is only for four years … any plan should be made for at least 40 years.”


Atul Jain, who works for promotion of organic farming explained, “ The river should not be looked as mere resource for drinking water … river’s have their own eco-system. Each stakeholder has a distinct role for ensuring a pollution free river.”


The message that everybody took home was: “It is possible.” 

To a question, can Yamuna be pollution free? Urmi affirmed, “Yes, one day for sure. But it is not for a single person to do this job. Everybody has to pitch in” even as Vidhu showed the way, “I have already started working on a module for my students”

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)