SUPERHUMAN RIVER: STORIES OF THE GANGA

Worshipped as a living goddess
for centuries, the Ganga is one of the most important rivers in the world.
From its icy Himalayan origins, the river winds its way eastward for 2,525
kilometres through five major Indian states before spilling across the Bangladesh
border at the Bay of Bengal, creating the largest mangrove system on
earth?the many-mouthed Sundarbans delta. Five hundred million people are
sustained along its banks or eke out a living by tilling land that the river
fertilizes. Its waters have spawned hundreds of towns and cities, foremost
amongst them Varanasi, or Kashi, the city favoured by Lord Shiva himself?one
of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Ganga is the
living threshold between the human and the superhuman, mythically originating
in the Milky Way and extending to the underworld. Described in legend as the
sacred river that yields gold, it is one of the most polluted rivers in
today?s world. More than a billion litres of waste flow into the river every
day. The Ganga River dolphin, once present in abundance, is severely
endangered and nearly impossible to sight. In 2014, the Modi government
launched their flagship programme, Namami Gange, to rejuvenate the holy river
with a staggering budget of Rs. 20,000 crores. More than five years after
Modi promised an ?aviral, nirmal Ganga?, the river remains highly polluted
and the ground realities show little or no progress. Will the Ganga ever be
clean? For ten years, Bidisha Banerjee explored the Ganga from its source to
the sea. The result is Superhuman River, a compelling and fresh perspective
on every aspect of this extraordinary river.