- 7 months ago
Brahmaputra Journeys: Writer-activist Sanjoy Hazarika on his new book ‘River Traveller’ | SAM Podcast
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00:14Welcome to South Asia Monitor Sam Conversation. I'm Tarun Basu, and I'll be speaking today with
00:24Sanjay Hazarika, researcher, columnist, former reporter of the New York Times, recipient of the Rotary Priest Award for writing, who
00:36has been published extensively in Indian and international media, author of six books, and we'll be talking about his latest
00:44book, The River Traveler, and who's also known, best known, at least in the capital, as the authoritative voice of
00:54the
00:54Northeast. In fact, he's introduced mostly on television as an expert on Northeast, and I don't think there is another
01:01person so knowledgeable about the Northeast region as Sanjay.
01:05So, Sanjay, congratulations on this, your latest piece of literature, and it's a fascinating read. And of course, as we
01:17start, the first question is, what made you write in this book, and how long has this been in conception?
01:26I mean, the river spans three countries, travels for 3,000 kilometers from the Tibetan plateau to the forested valley
01:38of Arunachal, down to Bangladesh, Shunar, Bangla, down to the Bay of Bengal. It must have taken a long journey.
01:47And what made you write it, and when did you start thinking about it?
01:52Well, thanks, Tarun, old friend, for having me on this Sam Conversations.
02:00Well, I think the story of the river has always been within, because one of the first things I remember
02:08seeing as a child, of sharpest memories as a child, I couldn't have been more than five or six at
02:16the time,
02:16is that going down to the river by the banks in Bahati, and watching dolphins dance in the river, which
02:25is, you know, really magical. And that image has stayed with me for life.
02:32And so, and it's very special to everybody, anybody who lives in Assam, in Arunachal, across, and across the North
02:40East, perhaps less so across the North East.
02:42But it's been something that's been tugging at my heartstrings and my mind for a very long time.
02:51And I sort of reverse walked into it. You know, I made a film, I made a film on the
02:57river first, with Jahnu Barua, which went from Tibet to the Bay of Bengal,
03:03and followed up by a series for Dur Darshan, a six-episode series on Arunachal and Assam, because Dur Darshan,
03:13look only within the borders of the country. And that provoked me, because all the stories we get, obviously, you
03:25couldn't put in celluloid or in film.
03:27All the stories we are essentially writers. All the stories we get, we need to share with a larger audience.
03:37And the only thing, only way I can do it is by writing about it. So it took a long
03:43time, but it also interrupted.
03:46I slowed down because in between my wife passed away, as you know.
03:50So that induced a kind of writer's block. But apart from that, you know, I just decided to keep going
04:01and push it.
04:04So, yeah.
04:04It's been a long journey for the book, just like the river's journey. And, you know, as you said, it
04:11traverses three countries.
04:14And the rivers, as fascinated as I went through the book, on the changing face of the river.
04:20Would you like to talk a little bit about this changing face of the river from up in Tibetan Tableland
04:27to Bangladesh and when it enters the sea?
04:31How does it change? And why also the question that struck me? I mean, India, after all, has about 400
04:36rivers.
04:38What's so special about the Brahmaputra for those who are not so familiar with, not just the river, but that
04:44region?
04:46Well, let's start with the second question first. What's so special about the Brahmaputra?
04:51For one, it is, at least in Hindu mythology, a male river.
04:57You know, not that I'm gender prejudiced. That is, quote, spoken of as a male river.
05:04Secondly, the scale of the river is gigantic. It is huge, you know.
05:09I mean, I remember being both in Diprugal, where I've been many times, and at Meghnamukh, where the Meghna river
05:19joins.
05:19What is the Potta, which is actually a combination of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra?
05:25You cannot see the other side in monsoon, you know.
05:29So, one is the scale. It's like an epic, epic film, you know. It's an epic scale of a river.
05:37And...
05:38Sorry to interrupt. At its widest? How much is it? At its widest?
05:4322 kilometers.
05:45Oh, okay.
05:45So, you can't see the other side. And, of course, it is joined by 50 rivers, which become 5,000
05:54during the monsoon, because streams become rivers, brooks become streams.
05:59All these join this. And it is...produces the largest volume of...carries the greatest volume of water and silt in South
06:11Asia.
06:12You know, all the rivers of South Asia together do not carry this much water, as does the Brahmaputra, fueled
06:22by many tributaries.
06:24And, of course, you have to take the Indus out of that kind of tradition.
06:28How has the river changed?
06:32Communities are changing. Communities are adapting.
06:35There is this whole process of climate change, which is very visible.
06:39People are moving away.
06:42Not as dependent on the river as they were, because they don't know how the weather is going to be,
06:49whether the rains will come a month late or a month early.
06:52And so, this is leading to a lot of out-migration of many communities.
06:59But from Tibet to the Bay of Bengal, it is many communities.
07:04One river, I say, three countries, hundreds of communities.
07:08And every community has music, song, and stories of the river.
07:14So, in that way, the river connects people to each other, even if they don't know it.
07:20You know?
07:21Another way it's changing is the way engineers and politicians and bureaucrats are approaching it.
07:28For instance, there's this huge dam that the Chinese are building, the Bedok Dam, at the bend of the Sanko.
07:35They claim that it will not affect downstream rivers like India and Bangladesh, but it's bound to, because they're tunneling,
07:45making these huge tunnels, which will take water away from the river.
07:49So, even if our policymakers in Delhi say that, oh, the Chinese dam won't affect us, of course it will,
07:56because, you know, that particular stem of the river, the Sanko Sanko Sanko stem, is about 8 to 10%
08:06of the flow.
08:07Now, 8 to 10% is not a small amount of water.
08:11It is a huge amount of water.
08:14I mean, you realize the scale when you go to a place like Arunachal.
08:18I was rafting down, did some river rafting once.
08:21I was coming down, and I was looking up at the rocks.
08:25And you can see the water line is about 30 feet up.
08:29You know, where we were, the water goes to that scale, you know, 10 meters higher in monsoon than where
08:37we are.
08:37Now, you drop that water level, it impacts everything, people, housing, livelihoods, river, you know, river populations, fish, dolphins, everything,
08:49because dams do one thing, they clean the river of nutrients, you know, sand and everything else.
08:57So, what goes into the hydropower dam, the turbines, emerges as a cleaner, more clinical water, which does not really
09:07benefit lives and livelihoods downstream.
09:10Sanjay, before we come to what man is doing to the river, not just the Chinese, but it's happening all
09:16around, all around the course of the river.
09:18The river is known by different names in different places, starting with Sanko in Tibet.
09:23And then, I think, it becomes the Padma or the Ganga in Bangladesh.
09:29What are the different names of the river?
09:31That is something that I found fascinating.
09:33And also, the songs around the river.
09:36That also, if you talk and talk about, especially when you talk about Bhupi Nazarika, the inimitable Bhupi Nazarika, and
09:43how he is called the Bard of Brahmaputra.
09:45So, would you like to something, talk about the names, various names, and the songs around the river?
09:52Yeah, the names are Yardum Sangpo in Tibet.
09:57Then, it's the Siam in Orrachal.
10:00Although, the Lohit, which is a separate river, is also known as the Red River.
10:04It's also, sometimes people associate that with the Brahmaputra, although it's tributary.
10:09Then, comes the Brahmaputra.
10:13Then, it becomes the Jamuna in Bangladesh.
10:17But, there's also a smaller stream called the Old Brahmaputra.
10:23And then, when the Padta and the Brahmaputra meet, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, at Aricharghat, it becomes the Padta.
10:32So, flowing...
10:34So, the Jamuna becomes the Padma.
10:36Padda, what is called the Padda.
10:38The Ganga, the Brahmaputra, when they join, that is the main influence of the Padda.
10:45Okay.
10:45Okay.
10:46And now, let's talk something about the songs.
10:49Music and songs.
10:50I mean, you know, if you listen, anybody listens to Gubana Zaricharghat's music, it has a very folklorish tinge to
10:59it.
10:59You know, because he built his entire repertoire or large part of the repertoire on the music of local communities.
11:06Whether it was the Bhatiaali, whether it is the Gualapariya, whether it's the Mishin, whether it is other tribal communities,
11:14he would pick their music.
11:18He would take their stories and put it into song.
11:23And, of course, his greatest songs are about the river itself.
11:27And, you know, how it flows.
11:31There's one in Bangla about the Ganga, which is actually transliteration from the Brahmaputra.
11:39But there are many other singers and writers, poets, who have waxed eloquent about the Brahmaputra.
11:47Mine is just one more addition to that list.
11:51But the thing is that it is the music of the river which is heard in its entirety when you
12:01sit by the bank and listen to it.
12:04You know, because the flow is such, especially in the monsoon, it's like a roaring tiger.
12:10You know, so there are many moods to the river.
12:13In winter, it's like a grandfather, an elderly person in the autumn of their age.
12:20And then suddenly...
12:22Has somebody recorded us music or song just on the many moods and the many sounds that emanate from the
12:31river in different seasons?
12:32Has there been any such attempt?
12:34Just curious about that.
12:36Actually, people have recorded it.
12:38I mean, I've got recordings of various of the Sanko and the Brahmaputra and so on.
12:44But I don't think anybody is...
12:46I don't know of any combination or any effort to bring it all together as one piece.
12:52Okay.
12:52Okay.
12:54Okay.
12:54But, I mean, you have an entire chapter on Bhupen Azarika and that's a fascinating reading.
12:58Also, now come to what, you know, we have talked about and that for which you have known a lot
13:04about your boat clinics and how you started the boat clinic in Debrugge in 2004.
13:10And what made you start it?
13:12And I think from one boat in 2004, now there are about over 20 boats.
13:17Am I right?
13:18Or even more?
13:1916.
13:2016.
13:22Can you talk something about how this whole boat clinic dream came to you and what made you start them
13:29and what are the present state?
13:32And you talk something about these hospitals also that you are doing along the river.
13:35So, can you talk about that?
13:37The idea of the boat clinic started in a tragedy.
13:42We were filming the river and we were going in a ferry to Majuli, this great island in the heart
13:48of the river.
13:49And my director and I heard the story of a young woman who died in childbirth on that river, on
13:57that river, on that ferry.
14:01It was coming and we were going the reverse direction, same boat.
14:07And I tried to find her a bit more and it turned out it was a young woman with a
14:11difficult pregnancy and she didn't survive the journey from a village to the boat and the ferry journey.
14:20And I then decided to check about maternal mortality in Assam and I found at that time Assam is the
14:27worst maternal mortality ratio in India, which is that more women died in childbirth than in India, the state.
14:34Not Bihar, not UP, not Madhya Pradesh, not Rajasthan, not the Bimaru states, Assam.
14:39And I said it was unacceptable, you know, I'm the child of a doctor, the son of a doctor, my
14:46grandfather, uncles, brother, we are all, they're all doctors.
14:52So, I did want to want to do something to take a position to do something to intervene so that
15:00it would, you know, help people.
15:04Now, but that's an idea.
15:07How can you do anything to help people?
15:09Then I said it needs more research and I found that the most marginalized and most vulnerable were the communities
15:15who lived on islands.
15:18The chars, the chars, the charsaporis, right?
15:21The charsaporis, we call them saporis also, sandbanks, essentially sandbanks, deposits of sand, which have become islands with time, with
15:31vegetation, grows, people settle and so on.
15:34And they had something like...
15:36This is, sorry, this is from all the silt that you are talking about, you know, that you talked about
15:40earlier.
15:40It's sediment that comes down from, on the river.
15:43The river is a creator, always, of opportunities for people.
15:50So, we found that something like 8% or so of the population of the state lived on islands, which
16:00is very, very substantial.
16:02Now, after that, I said, we need to link these two and how do you get access to, access to
16:10information, access to these islands?
16:14How do you give them access to information?
16:15How do you give them access to service?
16:18Both.
16:19Then I realized that the only way you can do it is by boat.
16:22You can't build bridges everywhere.
16:23You can't take flights.
16:26You can't have flying doctors and all that.
16:27So, the simple country boat, revised, rejigged, redesigned with doctors on board and, you know, becomes a nurse.
16:40Nobody has thought of this before?
16:42No one had thought of this before?
16:44Well, I guess not.
16:47I think what they, what they did do was during emergencies like floods, they would take medicines or take health
16:54care to people.
16:55But that's not sustainable.
16:57You can't just do it once or twice in a year.
16:59So, this is a sustained effort.
17:02So, it's become part of the policy of the government of Assam, you know, and now they have taken it
17:08almost like a government project.
17:10To me, it doesn't matter which government is in power as long as the service is being provided.
17:16And so, that's how it started.
17:18Now, we have 15 or 16 boat clinics.
17:20We reach about two and a half to three lakhs.
17:21And serving approximately how many people?
17:25Two and a half to three lakh people every year.
17:28Wow.
17:28Wow.
17:29So, the focus is women and children, pregnant women, those who have delivered and so on.
17:36But I think the main thing is that it's important to reach the people who are most vulnerable at this
17:45time.
17:47And you are getting good support from the government from it?
17:50The government has supported us for a very long time, since 2008.
17:56Initially in five and then scaling up.
18:00So, without the government, you can't do this.
18:02So, it's been going for nearly 21 years now.
18:07Wow.
18:08That is really commendable.
18:09That's so good to hear.
18:10That's so good to hear.
18:11Recognized by governments across, in India, of course, but also across the world.
18:17And by international.
18:18I wonder why this model has not been replicated in other parts of the country.
18:23I don't think in other parts of the country, we have many island populations.
18:27Okay.
18:28This is not for people who live on the shore.
18:31Only for the people and the support.
18:34All right.
18:35Okay.
18:35These are for people who don't have access to any service.
18:38And I saw it as one way of dealing with several issues.
18:42The both clinics could bring health.
18:45But because if you have health, then people can study.
18:49People can go to work.
18:50They can have better lives.
18:52You know, women can have leisure.
18:53They can increase life periods.
18:55So, then we took, you know, Moringa, which is this plant, which is very good nutritious, especially for women and
19:05children.
19:05We took seeds of that and planted extensively.
19:09That data.
19:10What we call it, data.
19:13Data, yeah.
19:15So, all these, you know, these are some services, add-ons, as it were, which we have been doing.
19:23Okay.
19:24Coming back to what you were talking earlier about the dam that the Chinese are building on the Brahmaputra.
19:30And then you talk about what happened in the Tistas some years ago in 2023.
19:36And you're talking about this.
19:37Nature is retaliating against human blundering.
19:40And how the nexus of engineers, contractors, builders, businessmen, officers, and politicians doing to nature, not just to the river.
19:49And does anyone care?
19:50Was it interested in learning?
19:51And how we ignore repeated lessons?
19:55Who is to blame for all these mountain casualties?
19:58And are any lessons being learned at all?
20:00Right, you know, from the Tibet right to Bangladesh?
20:06I don't think anybody is learning any lessons.
20:09They're just intent on...
20:10Human greed is a great, you know, leaps across issues of common sense.
20:22And if you look at the entire range of disasters that has taken place from Kashmir all the way to
20:29Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh parts of SM and so on.
20:33Hill disasters, infrastructure, whether it's this Chardham Rasta.
20:38I mean, you know, there are constant collapses.
20:43But people will still keep building them because it has been so decreed and there is money to be made
20:50or whatever it is.
20:51And companies benefit from it.
20:53That's one.
20:54The second thing, it's not rocket science.
20:56Nature is telling you this is not on.
20:59You progress with this, you will face consequences.
21:02And we are seeing the consequences of that.
21:05Now, the consequences of this major dam on the Sanko in Tibet by the Chinese, we are trying to respond
21:14to it by building more dams on our side.
21:16I mean, how brilliant is that?
21:18You know, you already have a river that is being restricted.
21:23And I believe that rivers have a right to a free flow, at least a minimum flow should be assured.
21:30And you're doing the same thing on our side.
21:32How is that going to happen?
21:34Because it impacts, you know, subsequent communities downstream, all the way to Bangladesh.
21:42And Bangladesh has no control over the rivers that flow into it.
21:47As I say in the book, it's a land of rivers.
21:50And people live by the river.
21:52They don't find it on Ganesh or Chattu, like many engineers and others.
22:01Well, it's a book is not just about a river.
22:05It's a travelogue.
22:06You know, as you read the book, you feel you are actually going along the river right from the source
22:13right down to the sea.
22:14And it's a tapestry of not just the environment, but also the people and the communities.
22:20And it's a lovely reading.
22:23And I would say, I'm just great having this conversation with you.
22:27And I can't just help end this without reading from the last part of your book.
22:34I remember standing at the foot of the Tibetan Ravai as a sandpost searched by me and feeling a sense
22:40of the same wonder and the power of nature to sustain itself despite the worst efforts by humans to harm
22:47it.
22:47That more or less sums up the story of the river and what made you write it.
22:53And again, I mean, this is...
22:55Yeah, I must say one thing, Tarun.
22:57The river is older than the Himalaya.
23:00It will outlive everybody, outlive us all.
23:03Even those who are trying to quote, tame it and harness it.
23:08It will be there.
23:10That's what when Hazarika, whom you quote, the eternal balladeer, spoke about and sang,
23:17Oh, mighty Brahmaputra, Brahmaputra of many arms, the abode of many a confluence.
23:21For millennia, it has illumined to mankind the true import of assimilation.
23:26So, Sanjay, before we conclude this conversation, we have to talk about the pirates.
23:31The pirates on the river, your near experience with it.
23:35We know, one knows about the pirates of the Caribbean and one has read about the exploits of the Somali
23:41pirates
23:42in the Gulf of Eden and the Indian Ocean.
23:45But pirates on the river, on the Brahmaputra, that is something one has not heard.
23:49And so, I mean, pirates in South Asia, in our neighborhood.
23:54And this is what I remember from your book.
23:57It is at the confluence of the three rivers, the Meghna, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra,
24:02as they enter the Bay of Bengal and you are caught somewhere in the inland sea.
24:07So, tell us something about it.
24:10Well, actually, it wasn't on the river.
24:12It was in the Bay of Bengal.
24:15What happened was the pirates run a parallel economy, you know,
24:21in terms of they extrovert from the fisher people.
24:25Everybody pays the kind of tax to them and so on.
24:28Anyway, so that's the kind of parallel economy, which has gone on for a long time.
24:34And we didn't know anything about it.
24:37So, what happened was, we were going out to sea, out to the Bay of Bengal
24:43to basically shoot the last scene of the film, what was to be the last scene of the film.
24:48And we were, there was going to be a Bhatiali song with the Bangladeshi singers.
24:56And, you know, we'd catch the setting sun, beautiful sunset.
25:01All that worked out.
25:03But when I looked around and all I could see was water, there was no sign of land.
25:11And there had been land an hour or so earlier, you know, on one of the sites.
25:17So, I asked the captain what happened.
25:19He said, the director said I should cut the engine.
25:22So, I cut the engine because it was making sound.
25:24So, the current of the Brahmaputra and the Padda has taken us into the Bay of Bengal.
25:31So, I said, how long will it take us to get back near shore?
25:37Not even too sure.
25:38He said it will take two to three hours.
25:41And, you know, sunset is happening.
25:43It's getting dark.
25:44It's looking beautiful.
25:45But darkness at sea in a small vessel is not a very comfortable thought.
25:52And I don't swim.
25:54So, not that swimming would have done much good.
25:56You were mindful of some shore.
26:00And you were miles and miles away from shore.
26:03Yeah, it's a long, long way.
26:05And he could only give me the distance in terms of time.
26:11And suddenly, there was this commotion.
26:13And we were being told to hide our equipment and move the stuff down to the below deck and so
26:22on.
26:23So, I was very curious, wondering why people were so upset and so on.
26:27The crew members.
26:28So, I asked one of our team members from Bangladesh.
26:33And he said, we are being chased by pirates.
26:35So, I said, you've got to be kidding.
26:38You know, pirates in this day and age.
26:40You know, what sort of a thing is this?
26:41And so, then he's the captain of the ship, the vessel pointed out three, three large vessels that were coming
26:50towards us from three sides.
26:53And they were narrowing down on you.
26:56Yeah, coming down on me.
26:57They're not very far away.
26:59And they were flashing lights to each other, which was a kind of signaling us how to approach it.
27:04And our boat vessel was much smaller.
27:10So, I just asked, what do they do if they capture a vessel?
27:16He said, first they kill everybody on board.
27:18And then they loot everything.
27:21And then they scuttle the ship.
27:24I said, Prit, yeah?
27:26Not very comforting thoughts.
27:28I don't know exactly what I told Janu Bodo.
27:32I said, you know, we'll be a page one, one paragraph item in the Times of India to follow me.
27:41Anyway, then the captain of the ship said, you know, I have a strategy.
27:50The strategy was to, because the smaller boat, it could go towards the shallower area.
27:56Because by that time, land had come visible.
28:00So, he moved towards the bank, the shore.
28:02And the bigger boats could not come.
28:05Anyway, to read the rest of the story, people have to...
28:09Yeah, but a little bit, you know, what was interesting and a little intriguing also,
28:15they were really fish pirates in some ways.
28:18They were after, largely what they go for is the hilsa fish, which is during at least in the sea.
28:27No, they don't go for the hilsa.
28:28They control the rights to fishing.
28:32Oh, okay.
28:33So, you pay a tax to them.
28:36This was some years ago.
28:37If you pay a tax to them, then you're okay.
28:40Otherwise, they'll pick you up and hold you for ransom.
28:43Okay.
28:45The fishing people.
28:46So, that's a separate kind of economy there.
28:49Not just the fish, but other stuff, trading.
28:51Yeah, but yeah, that's an interesting chapter.
28:55Definitely, people should read that.
28:58Okay.
28:59Before we conclude, I'd definitely like you to read a few paragraphs from the book.
29:04But what I found very interesting almost in the last chapters was your tribute to the river.
29:10And you're talking about how you acknowledge the informity and I'm not showing arrogance in trying to overcome and conquer
29:17nature.
29:18And that's why, possibly, the river was kind to you.
29:23And because you also acknowledge the power and grace of the river.
29:27And then the process becoming a more sensitive, sentient being.
29:32So, there are nice lines in the end.
29:35Would you like to read a few lines or a few paragraphs?
29:40Well, I have my own favorite section.
29:43That is one of my favorite sections.
29:44But there's a separate part.
29:46I'll read two.
29:47If I can, then you take your choice what you want to run.
29:55This is towards the beginning, actually.
29:59One evening, I sat on the top deck of a boat at the edge of the large river island of
30:05Majuli in the heart of the Brahmaputra.
30:08Remembering times past, of life with my late wife, Minel, and her loss after wrenching and brutal illness, of our
30:18daughter Meghna and her future, of loves lost, past and present, of fear, anger, and the madness of city life
30:27in Delhi and Bohati, the pressure of work.
30:35I smiled at the boatman.
30:37The boatman had come up to me and said, would you like to, would you like some water?
30:43Would I like to, would you like to join the group on the sandpan?
30:45I smiled at him and declined the invitation.
30:50I needed time to myself.
30:53I wanted to see the stars.
30:55He nodded and went away, probably thinking I was not quite all right.
31:02I listened to him over the water.
31:06Birds chased each other over a vast river's cave, trilling as they went by sandbanks of forgotten floods.
31:14Why ponder so much, heavily and deeply, I thought.
31:19Just soak it in and enjoy the stillness of it all.
31:23I was home again, at my favorite place, the river.
31:28Here peace was at hand and the vileness of man had not, at least seemingly at that time, damaged that
31:38visible world towards the end.
32:22Every journey has a beginning.
32:25Every story has a pre-story.
32:27Every journey has a beginning.
32:28Every ending has a sequel.
32:31This braided and unquiet river, Asia's most magnificent in my view, though neither its longest nor greatest, flows a long
32:43way to the end of all our stories, to the sea.
32:49Bhuban Hazarika, eternal balladry of the Brahmaputra, sang,
32:53O mighty Brahmaputra, Brahmaputra of many arms, the abode of many a confluence.
32:59For millennia, it has illumined to mankind the true
33:10Traverse shared my secrets with it and laid my fears and troubles to rest there.
33:16It too has spoken to me and has been kind and generous in the midst of its vastness and power
33:23to someone who could not swim.
33:26It has taken me on many adventures, brought love into my life, taught me humility, the importance of valuing beauty
33:37and the interwoven tapestry of nature.
33:40That interconnectedness lies even in a grain of sand.
33:47Above all, the Brahmaputra has sheltered me and kept me safe.
33:53For me, that is enough.
33:58Those are beautiful lines and especially one about your late wife and your daughter, lovely daughter.
34:05It brings back a lot of memories in me also and my family because we go back decades.
34:13So nice to have you in the show and also brings back memories of what we read in school about
34:19those lines from Alfred Tennyson on the brook.
34:22Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.
34:25So that was about the brook, but this could well be said of the Brahmaputra.
34:29An allegory on the fleeting, transient nature of human life in comparison with the eternal, enduring flow of nature.
34:38That's a lovely tribute to the Brahmaputra Sanjay and I enjoyed reading it and I hope a lot of people
34:44read it and not just read it as a travelogue, but learn a lot of lessons on how to live
34:49in harmony with nature.
34:51Thank you for being in this conversation with South Asia Manita.