It’s Not Any Snow

Once upon a time, during the holidays, I was travelling from Delhi to my village nearby. On the way, we guys came across the Yamuna River. Looking at the river, my younger brother instantly commented, “It doesn’t snow in Delhi even during winters. But here, on the river, it seems to have snowed in peak summers!”.

Then, I explained to him that the white foam on the river surface is not snow but the chemical effluents emitted by huge factories. He was shocked to know this. Then, he uttered very dishearteningly, “I so wished to play with the snow…” My Mom and Dad chuckled on listening to his crushing desire and so did I.

You all must have noticed that the rivers around us are very dirty. Our rivers give life to us. But because of their pollution, the fish and other organisms living in them, die. If all of you want our rivers to remain neat and clean then I have an earnest appeal to make. In fact, I appeal to  everyone! Please do not dump the toxic effluents of your factories into any rivers so that our environment does not face any threat. In order to clean the rivers, our government must do a lot of work.

Thank you!

(This was first published in the 1-28 February 2023 edition of the Gobar Times.)