Walking Along the Arkavathi

“During the walk, I felt connected to the river in many ways. I have always engaged with waterbodies in their various forms. I have learned this at my school and I found the atmosphere that this walk had with its intentions to be similar. It was hopeful and encouraged you to think about your connection with the water. I feel the best way for people to really learn about and understand the water, that is, not just a ‘resource’ that is dwindling and that we are not trying to raise awareness just because it is a scarce ‘resource’, but for the exact opposite reason – it is NOT a resource. It is not a sewer. I don’t think words are simply enough to convey this understanding. You need to see the river, feel it, as a river. This walk allows you to begin that process. You then start to understand the magnitude of the damage humans have caused. Imagine if Bangalore had a clean, playful river flowing through its areas. Think of Paris. Then, think of what we have done to our Seine. I think I got a bit carried away but this is a part of what this walk allowed me to think of.” 

 “Walking the river was an experience I am glad I didn’t miss! Starting from the bridge to the river bank, feeling her presence -was an emotional journey in itself. Her health through every community she passes by was a reality check. At the last point, seeing her resilience in self-remediation was very inspiring for me. Seeing the curiosity of locals with our non-confrontational engagement with the river is a very subtle way of creating local awareness of their role in stewarding the care of river. More power to you all to organize such walks.” – Janki 

“Today at the Arkavathi River Reflective Walk — a collaboration between Walking Rivers, Wetlands International, and Paani Earth Foundation — we walked not just along the river, but with her.

Through silence, sounds, conversations, and reflections, we experienced the many emotions the Arkavathi may carry within her: the joy of flowing free, the pain of neglect, the memory of abundance, and the quiet hope of being remembered again.

Walking towards the river and alongside her brought many reflections to all of us. Seeing people of all age groups come together to experience the Arkavathi in such an intimate and thoughtful way made today truly special.

Perhaps some invisible threads were tied to her today. We hope people will keep returning — to listen, to sit by her, to care, and to slowly rebuild a relationship with the river.

Some walks stay with you long after they end. Today felt like one of them. “
Madhuri & Nidhi,  Paani Earth Foundation

“Today’s walk by Arkavathi and in meeting her at different spots has made me realise and acknowledge her as a life form, wanting to live and keep to her original form. Here’s what the visit motivates me to say: Somewhere between the sacred and the science (read environment) lies our motivation and reasoning to provide for Arkavathi to find her original form; in her gentle meander or torrential rush, to find her purpose in nurturing life forms along her path.

The shifting baselines over generations of how we perceive her has come full circle; let’s shift it back to the beginning – see Arkavathi in her original form and features as the planet wanted for her.

She is LIFE, embodying the vibrancy of lifeforms that she nurtures; neither age shrinks and cripples her, nor the mundane of everyday tasks tire her. Arkavathi and her engaging sisters live each moment to the fullest, taking on their roles most responsibly.

While the sacred in us must enshrine her with piety and celebrate her as a divine entity, allow her to proudly showcase the nature’s bounty of the variety of biodiversity she harbours. Let her burgeoning belly full of fresh water, and the increasing length of her serpentine flow demonstrate her dominance and reach. In giving her the due respect and the restraint, allowing Arkavathi and her sisters to find their true and original forms, we acknowledge how special it is to be a lifeline river – one, that in her travels, gets to engage and befriend the many spaces, remote and heartland areas of planet earth! ” – Chitra

“Concept. It is in your head. It’s in what we read, a vision, a possibility, an idea of what can be, what was, or what may be. And then there is reality, visceral, factual, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, but here and now, and undeniable.

River, especially the Arkavathi and or the Vrishabhavathi were concepts to me. Read about it, seen a glimpse of it through the buffer zone in my complex. Read about the pollution, read about various things. But it really became a reality when we went for a walk by the river. Thanks to Madhuri and Nidhi from Paani Earth Foundation, we could experience that.

As we approached the river through the bridge, the first is the froth and the filth that is seen. But then, as we became still and started noticing things, that faded into the background. What I could see were the birds, the insects, and even the plants were not fighting, judging. They were just adapting and thriving. Probably, the river and the buffer area gave them that one, unobstructed place where they could do their daily business.

Then I heard stories about how villagers want this water, use this water for irrigation, but never, never eat what the water produces and that it is shipped to us. The group started talking about different things. We went to four points along the River, talked to the villagers, and at each point where we’re near the river, felt her. Felt her saying, you know, “I have been changed. I have been used and abused.” But then she kept flowing and, you know, that’s her purpose, right? Start, nourish, get polluted if there are mindless people, but then race towards the ocean, and then start the cycle again.

In all these, I also heard some young adults participating had great ideas. There was also an optimism saying that, as the water flows, you see more of life markers, forming and how birds and insects are not giving up, and how the river itself, she actually wants to see how the transformation can happen if we are all willing.
It was a little bit of an introspective moments too at times. With the revelation(beautifully explained by Janki) that, you know, maybe this is needed. This pollution, this destruction is needed, so that the whole life cycle comes to an end and something new, something bright, something different will be created post the destruction.

So with those thoughts, I had slept last night, and then this morning, I felt that this needed to be recorded. This needs to be felt in some way by people who didn’t come. These are our rivers it will be good if we just go, sit by her, feel her, and then, rather than getting dejected, think of something positive, and maybe do a couple of things ourselves. Or maybe, as I’d heard, it is inevitable, but we can think of a much, much better future” – Srinivas J

“Yesterday’s walk around the Arkavathi river banks brought home to me the awareness of its beauty and also the tragedy of it being ruined.

But even before reaching the banks, I was most aware of the acrid smell of burning plastic that hung in the air. In the past I have actually had positive associations with smoke emanating from wood fires, the burning of cow dung cakes in rural areas, or pine wood in our ancestral village in Kumaon, or even eucalyptus leaves in Ooty where I grew up. It wasn’t something surprising though, as I witnessed several fires during the few hours that we spent in the area.

Thank you all for making the morning so educative and yet focused on experiencing the river first hand.” – Kamaan

“Watching the river carry the burden of human development long after the city limits brought a feeling of pain. The stark difference at the confluence brought the reality into my awareness and heart from my brain.
Appreciate the Paani team for all they do “- Devi 

“I felt happy,disappointed,calm,angry and sad.Seeing a river was exciting and i was very curious but it was very hard to believe that a river that now looks so dirty and garbage filled was once a clean flowing water body . While walking i heard birds,peacock,dogs all making noise and the sound of the river flowing. Whenever we were close to the river you could smell the sewage and it wasn’t pleasant. We also saw how both the rivers meet and how polluted the rivers were.” – Shraddha

“We walked along the Arkavathi river. I smelt the dirty and smelly river. I heard the river gushing and birds chirping, animals, people talking, the wind. I saw the Arkavati river. It looked dirty but it was also so full of plants. It has some fish.  I felt sad to see the river like this. I always like being next to water and also in the water. Even though the river was not clean it was nice to be next to it.

How did it start getting dirty and how did get like this? If I lived next to a nice clean river. I wash and bathe and swim and play in it – why would I put bad things in it? How can others put bad things in it too?” –  Sammu

” I was very happy to join the walk, even though I missed the first spot. I was amazed by the Arakavathi and Vrishabhavathi confluence and how beautiful it was. It was a sight to behold. Not only that, I was troubled by the garbage dumped at the fourth spot; it was painful to see. Madhuri, you mentioned that the government is not cleaning the rivers. It occurred to me: is there a way for us all to come together and bring this issue to the government’s attention? I put this forward as a question. At the third spot, the small fish, the sounds of the birds, and the sound of the water were all very delightful, but it was painful to see all that trash. Thank you all for inviting us. I hope next time there will be more people who are able to see the state of the rivers in Bangalore” – Sthreeja 

“It has taken me a while to gather my thoughts on last Sunday’s walk.

Honestly, I had a romantic notion of walking alongside a gurgling river under an open sky, enjoying fresh air and nature at its best. The walk did provide this opportunity – of being alongside the Arkavathy under an open sky, listening to the birds and taking in the pleasant and the unpleasant sights and smells. It was like being a witness to an unfolding crime.

There is nothing romantic about today’s reality: we are destroying ecosystems with our material footprint to the point where it is impossible to ‘escape into nature’, once a refuge, now in need of rehab.
This is partly why it has taken me time to gather my thoughts – to reconcile memory and desire with reality and experience.

I am glad i came for the walk, and be a more mindful and responsive person.
Many thanks to you both for organising the walk with such thought and care. ” -Marisha