It is that time of the year when the place in north east Bihar where I grew up is in the news for the right reason. But even the right reason is not very right and certainly not bright. At this time of the year, that region is in the news not because some MLA killing his rival, or one caste killing a dozen of another in an evening of macho sports not even that of a minister caught with his pants down, no train accidents either. It is that time of the year when my favourite part of the world for the last half a century [I have lived through 40 of those years] has a divine and devastating visitation in the form of floods surrounded or enclosed as it is by three riviers which are either very large or very wily or both: the Ganga, Kosi and the Mananda. the last two rushing to merge in the Ganga to the south.
For those who are usually upset at what is no more than waterlogging in our cities like Mumbai and now increasingly Delhi would note that this area is visited by floods [not water logging] every year for half a century.
Imagine a situation where there is almost clear sky but water rising inside your house or fields in dealthly silence. The scariest part is that you will not know how high the water will rise. Every year it is high enough for a quater of the population of this area [what used to to be the old Purnea district now divided into many others] seeking shelter along with their worldly possessions on sundry embankments or railway line[if these are spared] and surviving anywhere between 10 to 15 days each year on dry chidwa and gur thrown at them from helicopters by a "sympathetic government". Before they went back to their villages to salvage whatever they could. In some areas the rains, flood and the water logging seamlessly merges with the bitter winter [but that is another story]
This is the environment which gives rise to heartwarming stories like the one in which a poisonsous snake and a man spents three nights in perfect harmony on a tree-top just above the water level each too respectful of the other's situation.
This year though, the situation is slightly different: No do not worry I am not going to make you feel happy by saying that the situation is better [situations never get better in my part of the world]. In point of fact, the situation is far far worse than one can imagine. The most wily river of all, Kosi has this year decided to change its course. It has made a breach of 3 miles which is growing at the rate of 200 metres a day and carving out a new course towards the Ganga 100 kms downsrtream. There is a fair possibility that some of the districts in the upper reaches on the boarder with Nepal will cease to exist after the new route of intercourse between Kosi and Ganga is completed and some of the districts further south will be irreparably damaged.
The best part of the story is that very few will ever know of this and yet fewer will act on it. After all who cares about Bihar anyways!
For those who are usually upset at what is no more than waterlogging in our cities like Mumbai and now increasingly Delhi would note that this area is visited by floods [not water logging] every year for half a century.
Imagine a situation where there is almost clear sky but water rising inside your house or fields in dealthly silence. The scariest part is that you will not know how high the water will rise. Every year it is high enough for a quater of the population of this area [what used to to be the old Purnea district now divided into many others] seeking shelter along with their worldly possessions on sundry embankments or railway line[if these are spared] and surviving anywhere between 10 to 15 days each year on dry chidwa and gur thrown at them from helicopters by a "sympathetic government". Before they went back to their villages to salvage whatever they could. In some areas the rains, flood and the water logging seamlessly merges with the bitter winter [but that is another story]
This is the environment which gives rise to heartwarming stories like the one in which a poisonsous snake and a man spents three nights in perfect harmony on a tree-top just above the water level each too respectful of the other's situation.
This year though, the situation is slightly different: No do not worry I am not going to make you feel happy by saying that the situation is better [situations never get better in my part of the world]. In point of fact, the situation is far far worse than one can imagine. The most wily river of all, Kosi has this year decided to change its course. It has made a breach of 3 miles which is growing at the rate of 200 metres a day and carving out a new course towards the Ganga 100 kms downsrtream. There is a fair possibility that some of the districts in the upper reaches on the boarder with Nepal will cease to exist after the new route of intercourse between Kosi and Ganga is completed and some of the districts further south will be irreparably damaged.
The best part of the story is that very few will ever know of this and yet fewer will act on it. After all who cares about Bihar anyways!
[The accompanying picture taken by an overseas visitor and used without permission]
