परती परिकथा .....

Now they are covering it. Now they are realizing the magnitude of the problem. Perhaps, even not yet.
How stupid it is to say that just 5people have died due to this tragedy. Analyze this, 2.5 million people surrounded by water from all around for last 7 days and only 55 fatalities? More than this would be the no. of people who would have been dying every day in this region due to natural causes. What happened to them? Perhaps they have stopped dying seeing realizing that it might be more painful to die in these conditions. Or, they would die sooner? These journalists! I wonder if the dumbest of the population join this profession or the most casual ones? Not to say that many great brains too are there in this industry.
I am trying to visualize the situation of these people. One morning, they wake to find surrounded by water or, might be they were woken up during the night itself by increasing water level. And, they assume they are facing another of regular annual flash flood from the nearby stream. They take normal precautions, go to usual high grounds. And, to their surprise, they realize water level is increasing and current is rather too fast than any of instances they remember or have ever heard from any of their elders. And, this is when there is no rain. They reach their tipping point. And, suddenly, they come to know that they are amidst the main course of a river. The river they have always dreaded. The river, which has become part of the regional folklores due to great devastations it had caused in the past. Now what do they do?
Just yesterday I finished reading a classic having this region as the background, Parti Parikatha by Phanishwar Nath Renu. A must read for anybody having genuine interest in literature. The novel ends with implementation of Multi-purpose project at Kosi River. Part of the project was to divert the main course of river to the river to a channel, which the river had abandoned many years, may be centuries ago. I have no idea if that actually was the case. Unfortunately, Renu did not write any follow-up otherwise it would have come out that the project did not get completed in the form it was envisaged. The actual dam, which was supposed to come upstream, somewhere in Nepal, was never built. Only a barrage was built to control the flow of river into the plains. And see, the barrage is still intact. Now the river has breached its banks and enforcements a few kilometers upstream. And, the river has changed its course from there. Notably, 85% of the water is flowing through this breach. I am not sure what corrective action can be taken now and how successful that would be. Perhaps, we’ll have to live with the changed course of this river. Geography and maps would change now. For a few decades or centuries, that is to be observed.
I have no idea whether the change of course actually happened then and it is reversal of that or it is the actual inaction of the story. But, then, the population was prepared for the change of course. Now, they are not.
By the Kosi is a very interesting river. It has the distinction of having Mt. Everest and Mt. Kanchenjuga in its catchment area. It carries the largest volume of debris during its course of flow, from the Himalayas to the Ganges. It creates the largest of alluvial cones by any river. And, much more.