Pollution of the River Ganges in Kanpur

River Ganges is a holy river that originates in the Himalayas and flows through several states before finally meeting the Bay of Bengal. The water of this holy river is required in practically all religious ceremonies and every family stores and preserves some of this water in their house. This is especially true for those who live away from the river.
This mighty river flows through the city of Kanpur and, one day, I wanted to go and sit on the banks of the River Ganges – it was during my stay in J K colony and, after reaching the place, I was shocked to see the nature and extent of pollution.
Kanpur is famous for its leather tanneries and, automatically, footwear made in Kanpur come dirt cheap. But, this is not about footwear – it is about pollution of the Ganges. Believe it or not, the wastes from the leather processing plants flowed directly into the waters in trickles from different directions. The stench was unbearable and the condition of the water near the banks looked anything but holy.
That was the situation in the 1960s and, in spite of Ganga Action Plans of the government, not much progress has been made. Of course, funds had been earmarked but, true to Indian tradition, the money must have been spent on activities that did not help the cause.
In spite of past failures, the newly elected government of Narendra Modi has now assigned a full time Minister to look after cleaning of the Ganga. There are plans to not just clan the waters of unwanted foreign materials but also to dredge it and convert the river into a regular waterway between the cities on its banks.
It would be a pleasant sight to see launches and motor boats plying on the Ganga. Once that finally happens, it would be a boon to the Nation. (to be continued …)

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School days – Bijoya Dasami and sweets

Bijoya Dasami is the last day of the Durga Puja festival. On this day, Goddess Durga, along with her children, goes back to her husband Lord Shiva in the Himalayas.
The day is a sad one because it would bring to an end the festivities but, there always remained the silver lining because, on this occasion, the younger ones would touch the feet of elders to get their blessings. And – blessings minus sweets is meaningless and certainly not in order. Therefore, there are sweets and sweets.

In our days, most of these sweets would be homemade – the elder women of the family would stay up at nights and toil with ingredients like flour, coconut and chhana to create mouthwatering delicacies that would vanish in no time.
Then there would be salty stuff like the nimkis or chanachur to add to the tastes.
And – since this Bijoya had to be attended to meticulously, we would go from one house to another, carry out the ritual of touching the feet of elders in the house and then wait for the plate of goodies. The process would not be restricted to only relatives but would also encompass neighbors as well.

Since schools would be closed, our visits would go on till lunch time and by the time we came home, we would have lost all appetite for normal lunch. (to be continued …)