The thread

E-36 Bangalore

I can't remember when I came up with the name "Nila Foundation" to coordinate the work that we wanted to do for the river. The idea was to have the common platform for those people with diverse interests to come together in the name of the river. We started imagining the foundation doing research about rivers, we "saw" us supporting various research projects financially, we wanted the world to know about our "Pulluvan", "Poothan" and "Thira" and understand the uniqueness of this wonderful river valley civilisation.

The foundation was in a nascent stage, it wasn't even registered as a non profit organisation. But there was something else that was taking shape in parallel lines though. Our sole focus was to bring in attention to the river, and for this, the main audience that I had in my mind was the travelling community. Obviously they travel a lot, and if they like an experience, I am sure they will talk about it. This I saw as the most wonderful way of sharing the river with people who haven't experienced the river.

For us, the river was not just water flowing meaninglessly. A river is often the thread that weaves lives and traditions in an ageless manner. A river sustains a civilisation.

But, the question was all about:

"How on the earth are we going to bring the attention of a traveller (anyone for that matter!) to a dying river?"

© GP 2006