Water, apart from being a life-essential, facilitates individual journeys in search of peace. For some, the journey is short; for others, it could be long. Hence, the water disputes.
Goa has been in dispute with neighbouring Karnataka for quite a few years ever since water from the River Mhadei was diverted. As the two states fight it out in court, water continues to flow through its path.
Goa, a land marvelled for its beaches, has a beautiful hinterland through which the River Mhadei meanders. Seeing is believing that nature has its own love song, best understood by those in search of tranquility.
The notes of this love song from the River Mhadei are sporadically interrupted when neighbouring Karnataka tries to change the course of the tributaries of the river, and it is at this place that the chirp of birds, sound of insects and the cry of animals is now sounding hoarse.
The Kalsa nala that passes through Kunkumbi, a village in Karnataka, has stopped flowing towards Goa because its path has been changed through reverse engineering, adopted by Karnataka.
Water that was to flow into the River MhadeMhai has been diverted to the Malaprabha basin in Karnataka, and obviously, there are murmurs of discontent that are turning into roars of protest from the people of Goa and Belgaum — the latter a district of Karnataka, standing in unison against the change of the natural flow of water.
To get the maximum from the change in flow, Karnataka built a canal and whilst doing so, did not realise that it would block the path that enables rain water to seep into the ground, thus preventing the locals from availing potable water. In short, their wells are going dry.
With the flow of Kalsa nala diverted to the Malaprabha basin, the waterway that used to lead past two villages into the Mhadei River, now runs dry or just manages to gasp for breath through the water that emanates from the natural springs in its path.
The picture is sad because the path through which water used to flow to Goa — it ran into several kilometres — is now strewn with rocks, wild vegetation and in some places, patches of mud. Occasionally, a bird can be seen hovering around or monkeys jumping about.
For the people for whom the Kalsa nala was a waterway of happiness, the diversion of water is a wound that will not heal until the wrong is corrected and the natural flow begins again.
Water is essential for everyone, but how it is shared is what distinguishes the lines of happiness on individual faces, and those lines are missing on faces of people for whom the flow of the Kalsa nala was a tributary of peace.
Environmentalists from both sides of the border have taken the battle to the highest court of the land to find a way forward. The hearings are slow, or spaced out, and the time lost means water lost.
The picture is sad because the path through which water used to flow to Goa — it ran into several kilometres — is now strewn with rocks, wild vegetation and in some places, patches of mud.
The monsoon has commenced in Goa, and the beaches are not the best places to visit. But, a ride to Keri, where the Mhadei flows, is worth the time and energy for it is here that the song of the River Mhadei can be heard.
Lay your snacks and drinks on the river bank — don’t even think of swimming if you are not a very good swimmer — and put your ear to the flow of the water. It is here that the songs of Goa commence and will travel back home along with the sight of butterflies and birds never seen along the coast.