THE IMAGE SERVICES of wire agencies like AP, AFP and Reuters give journalists a window into unseen worlds. Only a minuscule sampling of their daily offering reaches you, dear reader. While some images are stunning or unexpected, an equal number are predictable and pedestrian. For example, think of natural water bodies in metros, and I can right away predict two series that will come up in June and in October-November.
June will bring the series on the Arabian Sea breaching the sea wall along Mumbai’s Marine Drive. There will be Mumbaikars in the foreground; some playful, some indifferent and some whispering sweet nothings. All frames would be peppered with sea spray, with a monsoon-kissed sky glowering in the background.
In the last quarter of the year comes the foaming Yamuna series from Delhi. Frames where the river looks like Antarctica at the Kalindi Kunj barrage. Then comes that image of the lone woman offering Chhath puja prayers, standing knee-deep in the white foam. Her orange or yellow sari makes her pop against a background of white and grey.
If Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s government has its way, the second series might become a memory. The BJP promises to change the “naala (drain)” into a nadi (river) in three years. Senior Correspondent Shubhangi Shah’s cover story explores the layers of the Yamuna—the political, the cultural, the holy and the historical.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal spoke to Shubhangi about the ministry’s plans for the river. Thank you for finding time for THE WEEK’s reader, dear minister. I liked the story, and I hope you will, too, dear reader. The river is quite complex and the story brings it out. In Delhi, she is dead. In Mathura, she is a goddess. And, in Yamunotri, she is a cherub in the lap of the majestic peaks.
This issue is more than the river and cover, as always. From Kashmir, Senior Special Correspondent Tariq Bhat writes about India’s costliest rail line—the line to Leh. From Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, the proposed line will run through Manali to the biggest town in the high-altitude desert. And, the larger dream does not end there, but at Partapur, aka Siachen Base Camp, in the stunning Nubra Valley.
Another interesting offering is Senior Layout Artist B. Manojkumar’s article on how tribal women in Kerala’s Devikulam taluk are being taught to ride two-wheelers by Kanavu, a joint initiative by the Marayoor Grama Panchayat and the state Motor Vehicle Department. These women are finding freedom and independence in a landscape that was otherwise limiting.
In politics, Senior Assistant Editor Pratul Sharma looks at Punjab and what prompted Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s U-turn in strategy. And, in @leisure, Senior Correspondent Nirmal Jovial brings you the taste of Thiruvananthapuram’s Azad biryani, which has links to Surat and freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Coming back to the cover and the river, in the 1970s, when awareness about wildlife conservation was low, I knew of friends who would rouse themselves on winter dawns and hide in bushes along the Yamuna, carrying shotguns loaded with birdshot. They were out to get waterfowl. Sometimes the targets would tumble into the water, and the shooter would have to take a dip in the frigid waters to fetch the bird.