Kochi : There must be a holistic approach towards the attempts to rejuvenate rivers instead of looking at it as a mere environmental issue, engineer-turned-river conservationist Vinod Nambiar said here on Monday. Such conservation efforts should have a cultural focus with which the songs, stories and other cultural assets relating to a river could be regained, said Nambiar, who is the general secretary of ‘Friends of Bharathapuzha’, a collective chaired by Metroman E. Sreedharan. He is also the head of the Vayali Folklore Group.
He was speaking at the 25th edition of ‘Beyond Square Feet’ (BSF), a lecture series organised by Asset Homes on the occasion of the World Environment Day. The BSF talks are held in connection with the international days for the environment, water and housing.
Nambiar admitted that the older generation including himself was to be blamed for not teaching the younger generation the importance of nature’s wealth, including rivers.
"If you want to teach children what was and what is a river, then you should show them it. You also have to make them listen to songs and stories about a river. Then they will ask themselves, without any prompt, the third question that is what should be a river in the future,” Nambiar said.
Stressing on the need for a holistic approach and highlighting an ironic situation, Nambiar said: “There are at least 36 research articles made on Bharathapuzha so far. At the same time, the river was robbed off its sand, pebbles and mud. All that remains is some rocks and tall bushes have grown up all over the riverbed.”
Citing creative works that featured Bharathappuzha, Nambiar said it was important to learn and create awareness about rivers through different social and cultural contexts.
“Bharathapuzha was itself a character in Aravindan’s film ‘Thampu’. The river became the background for many of our films. We have been able to bring out a collection of around 75 poems on Bharathapuzha written by poets right from Vallathol Narayana Menon. It is crucial for the survival of rivers to know about and make others aware of them through such social contexts,” he said.
Asset Homes Managing Director Sunilkumar. V. spoke on the occasion.
*Photo caption*: Vinod Nambiar, general secretary of the Friends of Bharathapuzha, speaks at the Beyond Square feet’, a lecture series organised by Asset Homes in connection with the World Environment Day, in Kochi on Monday.
