Opinion: The Narmada dies a lonely death

When you step into the Sardar Sarovar Dam Area, the immensity of the project does not dawn upon you. Only signs are visible. Like, an oil discharge from a steel workshop. The first sign is an emaciated stream masquerading as the mighty Narmada. Later one realises that it is the Narmada.

The river looks like someone who has been relieved from a long stay at the concentration camp. The Narmada appears thin, ugly, weak, without vigour and beauty. She looks bereft of royal pomp and grandeur as if both left her ages ago. The Narmada looks like this in a country where she and many other rivers are venerated as divine and associated with rich civilizational heritage. For instance, Ganga and Yamuna- both the rivers recently been accorded the title of living entities.

The Narmada river is drained now and it is dying of thirst itself. (Others)

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As you approach the project from far, the walls of the dam look straight out from the film Lords of the Ring. My intention is not to make fun of the dam as it provides water to millions of farmers. The dam provides potable water. It solves the daily problem of living.

To be fair, Pandit Nehru bestowed sacredness to dams which he referred to as the temples of modern India, an idea rooted in the philosophy of harnessing nature for mankind, stealing its autonomy as well as the lifestyle that developed naturally around the river.

In Pictures:The mighty Narmada in dire straits in Gujarat

To stand in midst of the solid relief of concrete surrounded by forests is a surreal experience. You can see the Narmada through the two small holes of the dam but you cannot hear her gush nor the breeze associated with free moving water. What you hear is continuous trr trr of massive electricity wires hanging over your heads.

View of Narmada river from a vantage point (Others)

You don’t see the turbines nor you hear them, but the enormous electricity, created in the bowels of the mighty structure, is felt through the trr of the wires hanging above your head. The rhythm is occasionally broken by the honking of the cars or visitors who are allowed access to the vantage point.

The enormity of the occasion only dawns on you when you stand on top of the dam. It’s like standing on the shoulder of Hercules, holding millions of cusecs of water in his embrace. You see many green submerged tops of erstwhile hills jutting out of the water and making their presence felt.

Green submerged tops of erstwhile hills, making their presence felt. (Others)

The water looks blue and clean. Only on the deep side, one realises that dam was built by labour and not Gods. You realise this when you come across swirling ponds of leather chappals at the holding gate of the dam. It belongs to the very labourers who lost their chappals in the water during repair work. These chappals fell inside the deep pits of the Sarovar to gradually accumulate and quietly emerge at the gates of the massive reservoir as a reminder of thousands of nimble and unknown foots who made this quiet giant a reality.

Sardar Sarovar Project has helped many as mentioned. It irrigates land and provided water to millions where rainwater is scarce.

The Narmada also restores politically contested Gujarati asmita. It also reminds me of much famed Narmada Bachao Aandolan but I cannot recall the debate as politics of the dam has moved away from environmentalism towards disruptive NGOs.

It is remembered with great sorrow that a lot of water was wasted when the Narmada gushed into the ocean freely. I’m being told that today a trickle reaches the sea and the remaining 75 kilometres remain dry with a thread of white running through it. Same is the case with hundreds of rivers. Rivers have become resources to be exploited to the hilt. You have to be there to see the ugly dark, rocky and dry innards of Narmada.

On the far end, you see a massive figure jutting into the sky which will become the highest statue in the world. The Sardar’s frame has been built and it's deck for visitors stands higher than the dam. I don’t know as to how Sardar would have reacted to this but his statue is a testimony to the fact that Indian freedom struggle remains an unresolved project.

The imagination of the leaders is marked with 'ifs' and 'buts' which erupts in different forms in different states. In Gujarat, it is about asmita and their leaders not been given the due honour after they passed away.

Indian political economy has succeeded in enslaving multiple cradles of the Indian civilization. The Narmada, like Ganga, is one amongst many. Whether you tag them as living entities or Goddess, it will not make any difference as people have already decided to have the best of them. A river runs its full course when it meets the sea and we live in the time when the very philosophy and river and sea have been turned upside down.

(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

Image Credit: Kartikeya Sharma