It is water everywhere again. S. T. Coleridge’s Rime rings so true in these times…..
People call it flood!
Allahabadis, however, are cursing every other reason except the Ganges for its travails. What is there in this city which makes it accept adversities thrown at it in such a phlegmatic manner?
The otherwise serene Ganges is brimming with water disturbing the lives of those who venerate it. Yet, people have no complaint against her. All they ask from her is to return to her normal best. Like a child who sits silently till the wrath of her mother subsides, Allahabadis are offering all entreaties to this holy river to relegate herself to her bearing size.
Courts have conferred legal personality to River Ganga, so that her right to cleanliness and survival may be protected. Can any court ever gauge the bond that this river has with the people residing on her banks and floodplains? No, it cannot!
Ganges is a geographical and natural reality. However, at transcendental levels, it is the conduit that connects the consciousness within us to the all encompassing super-consciousness. Ganges, in her motherly form, reflects the non-duality that pervades the existence of all life forms. The water I touch here in Allahabad has memory of the gentle kiss of the child who touched it up in Himalayas.
That child shall keep on cajoling us to like our mother in all her manifestations!! Despite our external differences Ganga, Sangam, Prayag and Allahabad makes us what we are…. it flows within us along with our blood to give us a cultural identity we cannot ever shed….. Allahabad is an eternal child that never wants to grow for it fears the separation from her revered mother.
– Prashant
Small City Thinker 