The Yamuna

Like many cities, Delhi grew up around a river. The Yamuna, which descends from the Yamunotri Glacier 6,387m up in the Himalayas travels 1,376 km before it joins the Ganges at the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad. Most importantly, its forms the Doab, the highly fertile plain between the Yamuna and the Ganges (doab meaning ‘two waters’). 57 million people depend on it.

Until it reaches Delhi, the river is reasonably unpolluted and even just outside Delhi the water is recognisably blue. However, this all changes when the river meets the city, as Delhi empties a staggering 58% of its waste directly into the river – a total of 3,290,000,000 litres of sewage a day. The fact that the river is nearly stagnant for nine months of the year (outside the monsoons) compounds the pollution and turns the water black.

The banks of the Yamuna form a microcosm of Delhi’s different cultures and traditions. Outside the city, agricultural villages continue to earn their money from the land (although their livelihood is threatened by sand extraction for construction purposes). In the city limits, its banks are home to the traditional religious sites of Kudsia Ghat and Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi’s oldest burning ghat where 50-60 funeral pyres burn every day.

The banks are home to many of Delhi’s more famous buildings: the Red Fort, Firoz Shah Kotla, the Purana Qila and Humayun’s Tomb, to name the largest. Further along, one can find evidence of more recent movers to Delhi. The Chandgi Ram Akhrara is noted for its acceptance of women students. A large colony of Tibetan refugees crowds one area of its banks and elephants, used both for construction work and children’s parties, are brought by their mahouts to the water to quench their huge thirsts.