I am in Allahabad today. Without doubt Triveni Sangam (popular as Sangam among locals) was the first place I wanted to visit in the city. Having lived in the holy city of Ujjain for 18 years of my life and after visiting several others in Rajasthan, Gujrat, UP and the Southern states, I should have expected what I saw. I didn't probably because in Mirzapur, my current city of residence, the Ganga is considerably clean and still flowing.
At the Sangam however, the mingling of three rivers was nowhere to be seen. Triveni Sangam is the confluence of three great rivers of India, the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. It is said that you can actually see the waters of three different rivers meet here, even though the origin and route of Saraswati (believed to flow underground) as a river does not geographically exist. All I saw though was a small patch of Ganga which dried up even before reaching the point of Sangam. It was a vast stretch of dried sandy river bed under my feet. We took the car quite far into what was supposed to be fresh flowing waters of the most sacred rivers in India. Well, that wasn't all. Some 500 boats thronged the couple of square kilometres of the visible water and over 1500 little canopies of pandits and vendors covered the dried river bed. Every few metres there were heaps of hair sacrificed at the river. Heavily dotting the rest of the space were cups, wrappers and rags.
The irony, all through the approach road, there were huge signs saying how it is important to keep the river clean. Yet I am not hopeless. Our new prime minister is swearing in tomorrow. One of his main agendas is to give back this mighty river the life it has given to so many. I totally intend to visit Sangam again to see it in its health and beauty, for even an almost dried Ganga has risen in me what it has given countless people - hope.
At the Sangam however, the mingling of three rivers was nowhere to be seen. Triveni Sangam is the confluence of three great rivers of India, the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. It is said that you can actually see the waters of three different rivers meet here, even though the origin and route of Saraswati (believed to flow underground) as a river does not geographically exist. All I saw though was a small patch of Ganga which dried up even before reaching the point of Sangam. It was a vast stretch of dried sandy river bed under my feet. We took the car quite far into what was supposed to be fresh flowing waters of the most sacred rivers in India. Well, that wasn't all. Some 500 boats thronged the couple of square kilometres of the visible water and over 1500 little canopies of pandits and vendors covered the dried river bed. Every few metres there were heaps of hair sacrificed at the river. Heavily dotting the rest of the space were cups, wrappers and rags.
The irony, all through the approach road, there were huge signs saying how it is important to keep the river clean. Yet I am not hopeless. Our new prime minister is swearing in tomorrow. One of his main agendas is to give back this mighty river the life it has given to so many. I totally intend to visit Sangam again to see it in its health and beauty, for even an almost dried Ganga has risen in me what it has given countless people - hope.
