Tragic song of Punjab’s rivers

CELEBRATED singer Diljit Dosanjh’s Punjabi song, “Ravi ton Chenab puchhda, kee haal hai Satluj da?”, sums up the romance of Punjab’s legendary rivers. Tragically, floods in these rivers have caused unprecedented destruction during the monsoon this year.

The fury of the floods, almost evenly distributed between western and eastern Punjab, brought intolerable misery. The river waters on both sides of the barbed wire fence seemed to have merged, as if by a providential will. The fence, which geographically divides the two Punjabs (or countries, to be more precise), virtually disappeared, as if rendered unnecessary in the face of a common tragedy. Water, which was the bone of contention when available in a limited quantity, became surplus, with neither side wanting to have more of it. God’s bounty went abegging.

Guru Nanak had said, “Pawan Guru, Pani pita, mata dhart mahat”. He equated water with the father in the natural order of things. In recent weeks, however, the elixir of life — so vital for the survival of living beings — became unfit for human or livestock consumption. It was part of the problem rather than the solution. Mixed toxically with dangerous pesticides, it left the thirsty multitudes waiting for bottled water.

Rescuers have been working under severe constraints, such as paucity of resources. Contingency plans, if any, were not adequately firmed up to handle a crisis of this magnitude. Environmentalists can only warn about the consequences of ecological devastation — it’s the plunderers of Mother Nature who have to find ways to cope up with such catastrophes.

Painfully, a man was seen drifting into the neighbouring country without a visa, with border patrols unable to stop him. He was heard shouting, “Perhaps I have left behind something on the other side, waiting to be retrieved.” The silent flow of water sucked in livestock as if they did not belong anywhere. In fact, they belonged where water took them in life or death. And amid the ordeal caused by the deluge, the dreaded drones — notorious for ferrying lethal drugs across the border — were used to provide food to the hungry ones.

There is no greater tragedy for Punjab’s fabled rivers, which have inspired romantic epics that are a part of folklore on both sides of the fence, than to sing this cross-border dirge.