Dancing and Stumbling Rivers

​A healthy river, in modern understanding, is a “dangerous” river, which floods and moves with no respect to cartographic boundaries defined by men. Yet it is the river’s dance that has made civilisation possible.

Rivers are complex fluvial systems that are often misunderstood simply as channels of water. But anyone who has observed free flowing rivers, will inherently know that it is so much more. The river contains water, yes, but also energy, sediments, microscopic to mega animals, plant life, and beyond. It is this interplay of elements that makes rivers move, and in turn our rivers shape landscapes / riverscapes. We have however created pits and paths and walls that are making our rivers stumble. While some parts of the world have realised this folly and are preparing for course correction, we in India are committed to repeat the same follies.

Siddharth Agarwal, founder of Veditum India Foundation, will be speaking on the challenges faced by our rivers, based on his experience of walking 1000s of kilometres along India’s rivers, and from leading projects like India Sand Watch that are working to protect India’s rivers from destructive sand mining. He will also emphasise on the relationship between people and rivers, and how larger community building inclined towards the environment is crucial. This community building is a crucial component of Veditum’s work.

The conversation will engage with these ideas through a mix of activities, learning through slides and stories, followed by an open discussion. The its respondent is Anuradha Pathak, an art artist and co-director at CASP.

VENUE: Anuradha Terrace Studio (2nd Floor), CK – 134, Sector 2, Behind Tank No. 9 (Near Karunamoyee), Salt Lake, Kolkata.
For wider outreach, the program will be in hybrid mode via ZOOM. The link will be shared shortly.