Cleaning up History

The past runs deep in Guwahati’s ancient Dighali Pukhuri, the city’s largest manmade tank that was once a part of the Brahmaputra that flows in all it fury a few hundred metres away, making its way through its most celebrated narrow, that was once the site of the famous Battle of Xoraighat, in 1671. It was here that soldiers of Oxom, under the leadership of the famed Ahom general Lachit Barphukan crushed the Mughals in their 17th expansionist expedition, their last ever attempt to conquer Oxom, the strategic gateway to Southeast Asia. Back then, Dighali Pukhuri served as a dock for the war going boats. The tank is believed to have been originally been dug by King Bhagadatta of Kamrup a ruler of many celebrated exploits, so much so that he finds mention in the ancient Bharatiya epic of Mahabharata, believed to have been written sometime between 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. The pukhuri is a sprawling water body, over a hectare and a half in size. Surrounded by trees that have stood sentinel through a lot of the history of this land, Dighali Pukhuri is a marvel that attracts hundreds of visitors a day.

This is where Milin Dutta and his team of a few dozen meet every Sunday morning. Armed with their forks and spades and brooms and red buckets marked ‘hazardous waste’ they’re there early, before the crowds arrive. Their objective: to rid the ancient pukhuri of the garbage that lurks within its waters, tossed in by visitors who perhaps find the business of walking to the installed garbage bins a little too tedious.

Milin, a software engineer who was earlier based in the US took it upon himself to start the drive, one that gradually grows into a movement among people of all age. “We have collected well over 1100 kgs of plastic and dry non-organic waste from Dighali Pukhuri,” he says. The inspiration to launch a citizens’ movement here came from his experience outside of Assam. “I had seen such work being done in the US and in places such as Himachal Pradesh. That got me going here…”. The philosophy that backs his work is simple: “What are we leaving for the future? Why are people not taking responsiblity for the environment around them?”

That is how Reclaim Guwahati, the initiative to make Guwahatians more environment-conscious, came about. “Why should the government have to hire expertise from outside the region? Once they leave, environmental projects get abandoned. We individually and together must take responsibility for what we have.” Given the growing participation, the results at Dighali Pukhuri are striking.

Sunday mornings at Dighali Pukhuri have now come to mean a bunch of glove-clad, dedicated people gathering by its banks to clean up the waters of the ancient pond. Post operations, discussions include impromptu classes in waste disposal by volunteers who come there to clean and share their expertise and experience. All efforts are pro bono, Guwahatians’ shram daan to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. Breakfast involves bananas, boiled eggs and tea, again conjured up by someone or the other, simply because he or she wants to. Volunteers include people from outside the state as well, young professionals who have come to Guwahati to work but love the greens and blues, clean, untouched and undisturbed, the way they are meant to be. Social bonus for those who revel in getting their hands dirty, religiously every Sunday morning, comes by way of potlucks at Milin’s home. “I just throw my doors open to the crowd. The rest just happens.” Plans for the future include cleaning up the other water bodies in Guwahati and spreading the good word of Nature.

“I really hope to see our localities have their own groups of volunteers, people who will take responsibility for their neighbourhoods. No one knows their localities better than those who live there. Whenever the governments needs to do something in a neighbourhood, these local groups should interface…” The water at Dighali Pukhuri, meanwhile, is cleaner, while those watching the saviours of Dighali Pukhuri at work are perhaps a little more inspired to keep Guwahati clean. Besides the pukhuri, a bronze coloured statue of Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Assam’s famous singer-songwriter stands quiet but watchful. “Thor loga beel khoni, tomar xuwoni dapon,” he had once written of Autumn, that the still waters of a lake are her mirror. Thanks to the Sunday Saviours of Reclaim Guwahati, that mirror is now being cleaned and polished, with a whole lot of love, labour and laughter. Bhupenda must be proud…