random update

This is a little something that I wrote almost a year ago .This was back when i was working with a bunch of immensely talented people, in an attempt to bring out an English midday newspaper exclusive to the city.Even though the unnamed project died in its infancy, i got a wonderful opportunity to learn the art of writing prose from seasoned professionals-to learn the tricks of the trade.This is one such piece that I'm particularly proud of.Sadly it never saw the light of the day. I came across it in my documents folder last night and I felt that it deserved a place in my blog .....so here goes...It is titled.....

An Ode to a dying river.

Nothing thrives in these waters. Amidst a dense overgrowth of weeds, patches of dark water gleam venomously. As the afternoon rays shine off the surface, the river looks treacherously beautiful, while directly beneath, several drainage pipes empty tones of raw sewage, rendering the water more poisonous than before.

It was into these troubled waters, that a school van carrying six children and a maid fell, on the 17th of February, a couple of years ago. The van on its regular morning trip to pick up children, hit a tree stump on the edge of the Karikkakom Road, which runs parallel to the Parvathy Puthanar .It lost its balance and plunged into the murky depths of the canal.

Constable Selvius Raj, will never forget that fateful day. Selvius, who had been on patrol duty at Chakkai learnt about the accident over the wireless. He immediately hurried to the spot. By then a crowd had gathered on the banks. The van had all but submerged. A handful of locals jumped into the canal in an attempt to pull the victims out of the fast sinking vehicle, as the water danced menacingly on all sides.

For a moment Selvius hesitated. He thought about his four year old daughter. The iota of doubt vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Stripping off his uniform, Selvius jumped into the water.

Once upon a time, the Parvathy Puthanar used to be a major artery that connected our city with other commercial centers of Kerala. Boats and rafts carrying grains and vegetables, all the way from Alappuzha used to ply along this route. It used to take weeks to reach Trivandrum. The ferrymen, made several stops along the way to have meals or spend the night. “Back then Chakkai and Vallakadavu used to be booming commercial centers,” says a local, who has lived on the riverside all his life. His family has owned the tile shop at Chakkai for close to a century. “To the families that lived on the bank, the canal was an integral part of their daily life.Teeming with marine life the canal sustained the livelihood of thousands.”

A huge expanse of darkness spanned out in front of Selvius; he could barely see the fallen van.“It didn’t feel like water at all. The grimy thick liquid hung heavily around my chest slowly pulling me down,” he remembers. He felt his leg disappear into the bed as he tried to gain a foothold. After several anxious moments he surfaced gulping in lungfuls of fresh air.

Among those who gathered on the banks that day, was Krishnankutty,who has been living there for close to 50 years. He relates how one of the most beautiful, man-made navigation routes of yesteryear, has been reduced to a waste dumping ground.The water, which once used to beas clear as teardrops, is now a hideous black. “We used to bathe, wash clothes and swim in the canal until 35 years ago,” says Krishnankutty. “Back then roads weren’t as developed and people relied on waterways for transport most of the time,” he adds.

As the city developed, its waste became a burden. Since its establishment the Sewage Plant at Valiyathura has been dumping sewage indiscriminately into the canal, corrupting the waters. Over time, the garbage chucked into the canal accumulated clogging the flow of water at several points. Heavy pollution has killed most of the plant life in close proximity to the water. Several huge stumps can be seen on both shores.These came in handy to pull the van out.

 Thick ropes were fastened to tree trunks on either shores of the canal,  to help the divers in their search. A proficient swimmer, Selvius Raj was finding it difficult to keep afloat.  Nauseated by the overpowering smell, wounded by something sharp at the bottom of the canal, Selvius was in bad shape. He was doing all he could not to give up and climb ashore. It was a good twenty minutes before the divers with the help of the onlookers were able to pull the van out.

The extent of damage that has been inflicted on the river can be seen if you walk along the stretch of road from Vallakadavu to Chakkai. Illegal sand mining and dredging have rendered the bed so uneven that, at some places there the canal is barren and at others the water is over five meters deep. The bed is littered with leaves, old tires, bottles,plastic, and other filth. Near Thiruvallam, where the tainted waters of Puthanar run into the Karamana River, the water turns an ominous shade.

When it rains the air is permeated with a stench like none other. It seeps right through your skin and settles somewhere deep within, making you sick to the bone. During periods of heavy rainfall the canal overflows its banks .The polluted water accumulates on the road, making it impossible for people to walk without stepping in it. The water enters compounds through the drains and lays waste to all the plants and vegetation in that area. Nothing survives the deathly touch of these black waters. “When people walk through these waters they develop infections. Plants wither and die,” says Suresh a local. “During the monsoon, the when the water in the canal rose, they used to open the ‘‘pozhy’ at Poonthura, emptying the excess water and waste into the sea. However that has not been done for quite some time now,” he adds.

With garbage clogging the flow of the river at many places, the stagnant water is a favourite breeding ground of a particularly large variety of mosquito. These mosquitoes leave huge boils when they bite and cause great discomfort and irritation. “Although vector control measures like fogging and spraying used to be done, none of them were too effective,” says Baby, branch president of the area. “The children are sick most of the time and there is little we can do,” she complains.

A few years ago barge mounted excavators, had tried to remove most of the filth along the canal. Not too long after, the stubborn weeds returned with a vengeance, and the canal returned to its previous state. Although the government has been announcing projects at regular intervals for the restoration of this waterway, none have taken off.

The irrigation department of Kerala has initiated yet another project, to clean Puthanar. “We have proposed a project to clean a 12 kilometer stretch up to Akulam. This will include desilting and weed removal” says R Unnikrishnan, Chief Engineer. The project is currently being retendered.

Unwillingness on the part of contractors to take up work relating to the canal is a major issue.They feel that anyone fool hardy enough to take up this task is sure to open a can of worms.“Working in close proximity to these waters is quite difficult. Besides they are often bullied by local thugs,” says Baiju, Asst Executive engineer at the Inland Navigation Department, Chakkai. The locals are not too co operative either.“They still continue to throw their waste into the canal. The last time cleaning activities were done, the locals deposited all the scooped waste back into the canal in a matter of days.”

Public Awareness is the only effective solution. Blighted by encroachments, the banks of the canal are packed with houses that do not have proper sanitation facilities. The wastes from these houses are emptied directly into the water. “The government has to develop a plan to scientifically rehabilitate these people. However, the after waste management the most serious issue faced by the state is land availability. So that might not be practical,” says the chief engineer at the Inland Navigation Department. “Every 20 houses must be attached to a separate septic tank along with a cesspool to disinfect the wastes before it is dumped into the canal,” says the Chief Engineer.

“As long the private establishments like hospitals and hotels along the banks deposit their waste into the canal the situation is not going to change,” he adds.

Nine children were fished out of the river that day. Six of them lost their lives. Most of them had developed lung infections by the time they reached hospital. Doctors say that, had the water been clean, their chances of survival would have been much greater.

Search and rescue operations continued for three hours after the van had been pulled out, due to an uncertainty about the number of children that were in the van that day. It was one o clock when Selvius finally got out of the water. It would take another week before he could get the filth of the canal completely out of his body and mind “Thousands of people, including fire force, marine enforcement, and policemen, had gathered on the banks, but only a small handful had the courage to jump,” says Selvius. “You can’t blame them. If you ask me to jump into that water again today, I probably would not,” he says.

Old wounds are all but forgotten. Silent as ever the canal seeks deliverance from its sorry plight, even today.

This article is not aimed at anyone. It is but a lament to the one of the greatest waterways of olden Travancore.