INDIA’S HOLY CITY TRULY UNHOLY?

Recently I have been on a pilgrimage tour to Haridwar, Neelkand and Banaras.  The city where lot of pilgrims visit every year. For me, it was for an all a different tour. Start of a new beginning for me after clearing my CA finals. It was my second visit and not everybody is lucky enough to go more than once to these places. But thanks to god I was there. I had a good darshan in the various temples I had been there.

Ganga aarti @ Haridwar

My first stop was Haridwar- Famous for the Ganges and the Ganga aarti.  Any person who comes to Haridwar takes a dip in the holy Ganga. It is believed that if one takes a dip in the river, all sins are washed away. So did me. I took a dip in the mighty Ganges and it was a great feeling. At a time when the temperature is 15C, and the water is as cold as ice, it was simply amazing.  At the same time I have seen many people who come on the banks of the river and have bath, do their pooja, rituals and so on. I have noticed people have blind faith. They have a belief that Ganga will take care of everything. They put the pooja waste, plastics and other items in to the river. Will the river still be clean even after all that waste put in to the river?  No, it won’t. People have got to realize that though river is a very holy river and goes back to over 1000 of years and is deeply attached with the belief of Indian people, it cannot just be polluted and made dirty by blind belief.  The river has to be kept clean.

The same river provides water in their houses, water for agriculture, maintains the ground water level, fertile soil which is essential for a good harvest, water for animals and for hundreds of other reasons. By polluting the river, it is affecting bio diversity, humans, animals and the very flow of nature.

Tourist smoking in Banaras

It was astonishing for me to see the same river in Banaras- over 800 kms from Haridwar. The colour of water- you can’t see anything below your feet. It was that dark. The river is only flowing at its 50% capacity in Banaras. 50 % of the actual flow is dry. Also the water level in the river has reduced. A portion of Ganga river has gone completely dry. It’s a sad state of affairs. I have not taken more photos, because I could not see the sorry state of affair of the mighty river.

Banaras City view from the river banks

While walking on the streets of Banaras, there was cow dung, food waste, plastics, cows and so on all over the road. The roads were in a mess. The traffic is chaotic. You have cycle rickshaws blocking the road. When I was walking along the banks of the river that is in the ghats, I could see people drinking, smoking, prostitution taking drugs and so on. The pundits there too are also involved in this. I was completely devastated to see and hear all this. People from across the country come to this holy city and we find such kind of activities going on over there. But this is the truth.  People in the pilgrimage centre take the tourist and pilgrims for a ride. Government – both at centre and state is turning a blind eye to this.

Similarly on our way to Neelkand, we had to go through the forest as a shorter route. We had been walking holding the kawad. Though the climate was fantastic, but at the same time we could see lot of plastic waste lying around mainly thrown away by the pilgrims, tourist and the local people residing in the forest.  As we know plastic is a non degradable item and it is only hurting the forest and animals out there.

Haridwar

Dry part of the actual river flow

When I was in Delhi and was crossing an over bridge where Yamuna was flowing below, it was stinking very badly.  Windows had to be pulled up because the smell was unbearable. The same river joins Ganga in Allahabad. The river is polluted because of toxic waste put in to the river. Something has to be done about all of this not only by the government but also at our level.

 To conclude I only hope when we are there next time, authorities take steps to inform people, educate them about such blind folded beliefs. People should realize it’s for their own good, for the good of crores of humans, agriculture and all different kind of life forms dependent on it. A good clean river is the need for the hour not only environmentally but also economically. How do we change? Its Simple. Throwing the waste into the dustbin instead into the river. All of us can be part of the change. It is not a complex issue. The problem can be solved in simple terms by better education, awareness, advertisement and so on. Local authorities, government and most importantly we can play a crucial role in this. Incredible India- an Incredible nation for Incredible people.  Let us all change the tag from India’s holy city truly unholy to India’s holy city truly Holy.

It is difficult process but not an impossible one. Time is running and there is an urgent need to save India’s holy city.