Water water everywhere. But not a drop to drink. My interaction with water warriors has taken me on a journey across the country and across time. From barren fields of Gujarats Amrelia district to the dry Kshipra river at the Kumbh 2028 to the Mandakini river in Chitrakoot to the Faglu river in Bihar to the source of the Narmada in Amarkantak. It has been a 20,000 km journey over the last twenty months to figure out three things – how bad is the water situation ? how can it be remedied, if at all ? what is the financial model to implement the remediation ?
My journey on water started in 2013 when Prof GD Agarwal nominated me to negotiate breaking his fast with the then Prime Minister and Environment Minister. He wanted normal flow to be restored by removing all the dams and eliminating all the tunnels and pipes through which rivers were being diverted. The Congress government gave in and construction of dams was stopped – only to be overtaken by commercial considerations later on. Prof GD Agarwal who had by then become Swami Sadanand went on a fast unto death.
He died. Because his life was not as precious as the businesses he sought to disrupt. That was years ago. Since then, I have been a spectator to many shows – from Namo Ganga to the C-IIT report on the Ganges. The shows are nice. Sadguru wanted to interlink the rivers. So did Sri Sri Ravishankar. It is a high TRP subject since the days of Medha Patkar.
At the same time technology is showing potential with next gen hyper spectral imagers allowing tracking of water bodies deep below the surface. 90% of all potable water is not on the surface but underground. And this water is drying up and getting contaminated. We are less than 10 years away from a water disaster.
And we are still looking for a quick fix.
Just like air pollution – flick and switch and it should go.
But does such a quick fix exist. Maybe it does. There was little to be lost in looking for a miracle and a miracle doer. My journey took me to Nalanda Mahvihara and VikramShila in Bihar. Centuries ago, Varahamir, a disciple of Aryabhatta at Nalanda wrote a book called Jal Strotam. Kalidasa wrote the Meghdoot and Meghmala. Adi Shankaracharya wrote the Narmada Ashtak. Maharaja Bhoj wrote the Jal Mangal.
But this is all too much of hard work. There was another. The School of tantra at VikramShila University. Sing some mantras, do some yagyas and it will rain. Do some tantric rituals and rivers would revive. Kind of too good to be true. But seemed worth exploring. My pursuit led me to a trance singer in Europe who is of Indian origin – Tritha.
Check out her videos on YouTube:
https://lnkd.in/gFyW6F_u
She basically fuses mantras of the Hindu gods with Buddhist shlokas for two key results – healing and dancing. I got to hear her in person on Friday. And her rendition of shlokas is mind numbing.
And she can manifest rain in her concerts.
Now this is something a lot of politicians will want.