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1. A Dialogue of Rivers

Author:
Kishalay Bhattacharjee and Shiv Visvanathan
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
Welcome to a series of talks and dialogues that hopes to challenge the imagination of the ‘mainstream’. The river conversation is critical in re-evaluating histories, reconnecting civilisations, cultures and peoples, ideas and regions and opening streams of thought for a future with exciting possibilities. However, why do we need to talk about rivers? Titash Ekti Nadir Naam is a very well-known film by Ritwik Ghatak, but it is also a book written by Adwaita Mallabarman, where he writes, ‘the bosom of Bengal is draped with rivers and their tributaries, twisted and intertwined, like tangled locks streaked with white foamy waves’, and he describes the river like a human being. There are an estimated 71 riverine novels written in Bengal. Yet, very few pieces of this literature have come from fishermen, boatmen or even floodplains farmers themselves. Padma Nadir Majhi published in 1934, is top-quality riverine writing written by Manik Bandopadhyay. However, as Adwaita Mallabarman said that for all the great artistry, the author of Padma Nadir Majhi came from an educated Brahmin family, and knew of the life of the fisherfolk only from the margins. It reflected the Brahmin son’s romantic view. Titash… is probably the only example of a riverine novel written by a fisherman’s son. Today’s discussion is an attempt to develop a river imagination and let the river speak!
Topic:
History, Culture, Civilization, and Rivers
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. A Dialogue of Rivers: The River & I

Author:
Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Parineeta Dandekar, and Parineeta Roy
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
How many of us have read river stories? Or river poems? How many of us have known a river? Most of us have crossed a river on a bridge, or may have taken a boat or a ferry, but I’m not sure how many of us have actually touched the river or felt the river. The river is not just cusecs of water that ecologists love to define. The river has its own rhythm. To be able to bring back rivers, to be able to bring back rivers to life, perhaps we need to understand its rhythm. We need to understand rivers as a body interconnected with ourselves. River Dialogues is an attempt to have a free flowing conversation, as free flowing as a river should be and can be without dams coming in between, and try and re-imagine or possibly imagine for most of us who have not felt the river, seen the river, or imagined the river in a very long time. Joining me today are Sumana Roy, and Parineeta Dandekar. Parineeta is a river researcher based in the US. She’s an ecologist who finds herself moving towards understanding rivers and its ‘Bhav-taal’. Sumana Roy is a poet, writer and a teacher who has given us some of the most lyrical insights into our forgotten lives. Her first book, How I Became a Tree is a ‘love song on plants and trees’ and introduces the idea of ‘plant humanities’ and how to live with ‘tree time’. She is now working on water/rivers. The idea of having these two persons talk about the river is about gaining perspectives on the river. In earlier episodes we travelled down Sahibi, the dead river of Delhi, Narmada, Adyar, Teesta, Tsangpo, Siang, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Meghna, Padma, Ganga and the Yamuna.
Topic:
Climate Change, Water, Culture, Ecology, and Rivers
Political Geography:
South Asia and India