A July afternoon..

 It is the month of July. The year is 2023.

It just turned 12 noon a few minutes ago. After a spell of summer rains, the weather is a bit cool, some respite from the hot June. 

Pondy is buzzing with the coming of some political figures from Delhi. Though we dont have decent roads, the TAC ground is being beautified for the VIP's visit. That's politics. While we have money for such functions, we don't have enough for creating basic facilities.. 

A few kilometers - in Krishna Nagar, adjacent to the East Coast Road a new police station is being built in a water body. Absolutely no problems with that for Pondy govt. In fact, the govt thinks that it has the "right" to encroach on water bodies. Because they have already done it many times.  Same Krishna Nagar, crores of rupees are being spent to "pump" out rainwater to the Bay of Bengal because the water spaces have all been encroached upon. We have plenty of money for pumping out rainwater, but not to harvest them in Ponds or Eris (lakes).  Interestingly a whole racket of public servants including former Directors/Registrar, politicians/MLA - the list goes on and on - all are involved in a huge land-grab - to the tune of some 60,000 sq.ft of common lands. This is Pondy. The same Pondy which is known for spirit-ual tourism.  

Where time takes a break. 

Yes, it is somewhat a cool afternoon. We Pondicherrians are used to all these. Be cool. Give all your concerns a break. 

A village in Cuddalore and the Malattar River

 As part of the ongoing WaterFest 23, we have been  visiting various initiatives by communities in the PVAC (Puducherry, Villupuram, Auroville, Cuddalore) bioregion of South India and on 18th Feb we visited a small village called Udalapattu in the revenue village of Keezh Kumaramangalam in Cuddalore District of Tamilnadu (more about that later). 

On the way, we stopped at the Mel Azhinjipattu village on the banks of the Malattar river and the images are from the river - which is more of a small channel now - obviously since we are in Feb and the summer has already kicked in. This particular bird was pausing for my camera and I could not resist. 

Mattupatti Dam, near Munnar, Kerala

Mattupatti dam is near Munnar hills in Kerala state. The dam was almost devoid of water when I visited it in the last week of May 2019. With rains predicted to come in about 10 days time, I could sense that the vast space of the dam was patently for the waters to flow in, to be full till its brim. There were occasional visitors and I could even see some tourists going on in boats. The beautiful contours left by the receding waters have created wonderful graphical patterns.  The sun was its peak and the heat was too much. Still, the area had a beautiful ambience. 

The water near the dam had these green algae growing giving its beautiful hues. 

The boatmen were waiting for the tourists too - may be the last set of tourists since it will all come to an end once the monssons start I suppose.

Faces of the River

Faces of the River..

Oh Dear River

How many faces do you have?

The pleasant calm face

With the undulating waves

The happy face

with the life thriving inside you?

The playful face with the Kids

Swimming in the river?

The vibrant face

During the downpour?

The kind face 

Blessing the dark thin fishermen?

Or 

The sad face 

With the dark effluents let in to you

By the greedy industries?

Or the pale face

With your inflows being reduced 

due to the catchments 

being encroached 

by the real estate mafia?

Or the angry face

With the dirty politicians and thieves

Who plunder your sand 

And destroy not only you

But the livelihoods

of the poor farmers and 

the water resources of the people?

Oh Dear River

How many faces do you have? 

Don't be angry with us humans

because we don't care for anybody

We live only today

and we don't care for tomorrow

nor do we care about

our children of tomorrow.

We are the only inhuman species 

On this earth and we wrongly

Call ourselves 

As Humane beings..

Overflowing Irrigation Tank: Manapet, Bahour, Puducherry, INDIA

This is part of a system of Irrigation tanks  in the Bahour Commune of Puducherry, INDIA. This is the Manapet Tank..With a just a couple of days's of rainfall, the tank is full and overflowing... Most of the tanks in Bahour are full now. These tanks are of great value to the ground water  recharging as well as to the local agriculture.  Many of the tank systems are under threat from encroachments, pollution, neglect from the people as well as the state..but thanks to the active Tank Associations in Bahour, they are exist today...

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