A refreshingly sweet and innocent observation by a child of an otherwise very worrying issue of—river pollution—with a heartwarming appeal for water conservation. 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 …

The Han meets the Yamuna river and tells her how even she can flow and flourish in peace. Han smiled and hugged Yamuna. For a moment, Yamuna forgot the toxic filled surrounding she lived in. Yamuna lowered her eyes and began opening up to Han. “Look where I live Han. I cannot breathe; move my arms or even my feet. Every day, the drains add more filth into the river and the people of the city for whom I travel from so far, do not even throw a glance at me. For them, I am a stinky black drain.”

The coastal state of Maharashtra has three major rivers and several lakes, making it one of the few states in India having a vast water bank. However, most of its water bodies, including the Godavari, Krishna and Tapti rivers, are so polluted that they look like nullahs or drains. Heard about the Jayanthi and Gomati nullahs of Kolhapur? Well, according to water conservationist Rajendra Singh, they were once a water source but today we call them nullahs.

Froth belongs inside our washing machines. So, what is it doing there on the surface of our water bodies? Water molecules prefer their own company, so they tend to stick together in drops. We call it surface tension. To make water wash better, we have to reduce its surface tension. The surfactants, that is, the surface active agents in detergents do the job.

A few kids were tracking their paper boat in a river. Who was to say they would discover dirty truths. During heavy rains, they overflow and flood courtyards. These become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Open defecation near these drains causes the faecal matter to flow into households. The poorly designed toilet pits don't help either, he had explained. Pushpa was jolted when she heard the bell ringing and was swarmed into her class by the excited students.

They are known to have cradled civilisations, all over the world. They bathed, fed and helped carry humans. What are we talking about? Rivers, of course! With a twist to their modern profile, though, today they also serve as water suppliers for grand industries…