River and Human Being: Survival of the Fittest or the Fiercest? - Dhwani Vaishnav

Rivers have been the cradles of civilization and ideal place for settlement. However, it is astounding to see respect versus rape of the rivers. Rivers are important scapes which are not exceptional from human induced hazards. Humans have now realized that their material predicaments have led to catastrophes and exploitation of resources - primarily environmental. In the 21st century, humans would have to understand the fact that climate related calamities caused by humans are threats against the survival of the ecology. Universal yearning for progress is driven by consumerist demands for resource extraction and profit which ignores the earth. Thus, there is a pressing need for rethinking about subsistence of human beings against the calamities they keep inviting. With this backdrop, this paper attempts to study span of the river Ganga and the frail ecology around it. For India, a river is a mini cosmos and also an emotion. The Ganga has been one of the oldest among all. Unlike the perspective in the West, rivers are traditionally revered in Indian culture. But it is observed that people are in race of making the Ganga feebler with their more of functional use of the river. Thus, a study is must to assess the current scenario around this river. Lived lives around the river Ganga is portrayed realistically in travel writings and through selected travelogues, this paper will try to evaluate issues that imbalance nature-culture dichotomy and offer a few working solutions.