The Brahmaputra

Few months back in my post about my hometown, I had shared various characteristics of the city of Guwahati. One among them was the mighty Brahmaputra that cuts through the city flowing from east to west. The Brahmaputra, however, doesn't just bless the city dwellers with its continuous flow throughout the year, but rather a major section of the state.

The river originates in Tibet around the Mansarovar Lake region and travels eastwards. It enters India via Arunachal Pradesh and flows southwards before turning few degrees west. It covers major portions of northern, central and western Assam before flowing into Bangladesh where it meets the Ganga and empties itself in the Bay of Bengal. In its upper reaches in Assam, the river splits into two and rejoins about 100 kilometres downstream, thereby forming the world's largest riverine island - Majuli.

The river's course in Assam is a braided one - thus splitting the opposite banks by huge distances. At places, the river is as wide as 20 kilometres in breadth. When the river enters the Guwahati region, it cuts across the Shillong plateau and it is here that the river's width is the least - traversed by the famous 1.5 kilometre long rail-road Saraighat Bridge. It is here that the naval Battle of Saraighat was fought in 1671 between the Mughals and the Ahom Kingdom.

Given the above background, it is important to understand that the average volume of water that the river carries is enormous - about 19000 cubic metres per second - making it the ninth largest river in the world by discharged volume. Since the primary source of the river's water are the snowy glaciers atop the Himalayan ranges, the volume of the river is much more during the summer months - thereby threatening the low lying areas along the course of the river.

The state of Assam also receives ample rainfall throughout the year. However, the southwest monsoon hits the state towards the end of June and continues for almost the entire July. Hence the timing of the monsoon coincides with the melting of the snow - leading to an overflowing Brahmaputra - carrying as much as 100000 cubic metres of water per second - about 5 times more than the annual average. This coincidence coupled with the braided nature of the river causes havoc in the lowlands and the underdeveloped regions - which is unfortunately huge.

The trajectory of the river around central Assam - when it crosses the Kaziranga National Park - is a beautiful yet disastrous juxtaposition. The region is home to various forms of flora and fauna - including the one horned Rhinoceros. The river waters the park through the year, helping its wildlife survive the dry winter months as well - but washes away huge parts when it floods - killing animals who get stuck and aren't able to move to highlands within the forest.

The flooding of the Brahmaputra is an annual event. It is so catastrophic that its presence and absence are both poetic in nature. The devastation that the overflowing river causes is monstrous - killing thousands and displacing millions every year - and yet it goes unnoticed on the national media - mostly because they are terrified by water logging in Delhi due to few hours of rain. Year after year, the only emerging pattern is the political lyric - where either the centre just stands in solidarity with their friends in the state or bashes the opposition in the state for their under preparedness. The pain and misery of the affected people continue to increase monotonously - for their mental toll of being neglected through decades leads them to the worse. The disaster that the political institutions impart are equally damaging as the actual one - just like in every other scenario.