Dying Dreams in the Tides of Misfortunes

By Gautam Sarkar

Once  known as the “Milk River”, Kosi has now been dubbed “The River of Sorrow” as it has caused widespread human suffering due to flooding and frequent changes in course. Even after long years of Independence, government literary failed to answer a permanent answer on the issue. This book depicts the ill-fated people of Kosi region whose plight and miseries have always been suppressed. Whenever there was a flood in the Kosi region, national international media played a big role in ignoring such people whose lives were in a mess. To know more about the people, their basic problems, and the way they have been treated for a long time, this book gives a vivid picture.  It was only the politicians who really enjoy and exploit the situation as the River Kosi and its devasting recurring floods generate much heat in national and international politics and diplomacy. This books unfolds many events that would help its readers to know the River Kosi totally. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Jan 22, 2024

Book preview

Part i

Urmila does not know how old she is, but fondly remembers her marriage to Arjun Rishidev in 1957, because that was the year the Kosi embankment was built.

And that was the turning point in her life; even since then her miseries began: the threat of devastating annual floods, waterlogging in the nearby fields, and losses of human lives, cattle, and properties because of breaches in the embankments of Kosi.

Urmila belongs to Mahisi village in Saharsha district in north Bihar. Her paternal village was famous for being the birthplace of Mundan Mishra, the Maithili scholar who debated with Shankaracharya. Her marriage with Arjun was an inter-caste marriage but before that, she heard the story from her grandfather several times about the vagaries of Nature, particularly in their surroundings. Arjun was a native of Kedli Panchyat under Saharsa district, located inside the Kosi embankments.

Urmila who already lost her husband, who died during 1996 floods, also has seen more than a dozen floods, big and small in her 64 years. Born and brought up in the laps of Kosi hinterlands, thought that the floods of 2008 would pass off as usual with some damage to their mud houses and to their meager paddy crop.

She had grossly underestimated the millennium’s last super disaster caused as Kosi embankment near the Indo-Nepal border broke and completely ruined other 2.3 million people like her in the northern part of Bihar. family infrastructure. Everything was fine until noon on August 18, 2008, In the evening Urmila was going to start the fire on the earthen stove in the courtyard by pouring water for making tea on the pot, suddenly there was a huge noise all around and her neighbors began to cry. Run away, run away, flood water came, and everyone was running leaving everything behind. Before she knew it, her second son, Hiru, somehow pulled her mother and almost jumped off the courtyard and started running with his mother towards the pucca road ahead. Before she knew anything, the floodwater broke through the wall of the eastern side of her house and rushed behind the mother and son.

A wave of water rushing at a strong speed completed the job by washing away the major parts of her house including the cowshed. Urmila, a gusty woman, who knew the hazards of living so close to the furious river Kosi, managed to arrest her fight by clinging to the branch of a tree projecting into the water. By that time, the water had started rushing over the main road with a height of about two people. The next five days Urmila spent on the tree as the water did not recede and finally, she was rescued by a boat from the neighboring village which was passing from there.

Babu, I didn’t die, my son took me to the tree. But I lost my son that evening. People of the village found the bodies of my daughter-in-law and my two small granddaughters along with other corpses on the outskirts of the village when the water receded, but the son is still traceless today…………… Urmila burst into tears.

Hey, what can I say about myself, look, this is my eldest son's wife, Phullu, she lost not only her only son but also her mental equilibrium, Urmila pointed towards a pretty-looking middle-aged woman sitting beside her. She was looking like a fool, but when her mother-in-law pointed at her, Phullu lowered her eyes and started scratching on the floor of the courtyard with her fingers.

Surprisingly, the homemaker who was claimed as ‘abnormal’ by her mother-in-law, suddenly interrupted: Babu I was returning from the field with the load of cattle fodder on my head suddenly I heard people shouting and before I knew anything, I fell in the face of the force of water, she recalled the black evening.

She was carried 8 kilometers from her village by the wave of floodwater, the wave tossed her like a rag doll for probably an hour. All along, she desperately tried to clutch whatever came her way. Darkness after Sunset had made visibility nil and she had no chance of knowing where she was going. All along she prayed to Kosi ‘Maiya’ (mother), as most of the women in the Kosi’s catchment areas considered Kosi as Goddesses. Her prayers were answered after what seemed an interminably long time when the waves dumped her inside the campus of an inundated pakka house. In her semi-unconscious state, Phullu managed to swing to the roof of that submerged building. People, men, and women who had already taken shelter on the roof noticed Phullu’s humming and rescued her. Her saree was in tatters and there were scratches all over her face, chest, abdomen, and legs. She was in a state of shock, informed Urmila.

She might have received some injury on her head that’s why she is abnormal now, Urmila added further. But when Urmila started talking about her grandson, tears apparently started rolling down from Phullu's eyes, She suddenly stood up and moved away to wipe her eyes with the anchal of her saree. Butan was only 10 years- old but a very charming boy and was always responsible. Swift floods water washed him away when he was busily untying the cows and buffalo in our cowshed. Later some eyewitness accounts claimed when Butan was busy in his mission to release the cattle, the canopy of the cowshed fell on the boy. When they entered inside the cowshed to rescue my Butan, they did not find him, he might be washed away with the tide of flood water, Urmila wiped her tears with the corner of the anchal of her saree.

Urmila was narrating her horrible experience before Chanchal, a renowned journalist-cum-author from New Delhi. Chanchal, the special correspondent of a reputed national English daily from the capital of the country had been assigned to cover the infamous Kusha tragedy of 2008. He almost traveled to the flood-locked Kosi region in 2008. But now Chanchal has been conducting special research work on Bihar focusing on Kosi hinterlands that are located inside the two embankments of the river Kosi and for that, he has to visit Kosi region frequently.

(1)

The Kosi embankment was breached near Kusaha village in Nepal on August 18, 2008 turning for Panchyats Nepal: Western Kusaha, Sripur, Haripur, and Laukahi with a population of nearly 40,000 into a watery graveyard. The mishap also created devastating floods in Bihar side also and the worst flood-affected districts in Bihar include Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Khagaria, parts of Bhagalpur, Araria, Purnea, Katihar. Following the breach, the water started flowing through three of the 15 old streams of Kosi River, namely Sursar, Mirchaiya and Belhi.

Experts’ reports pointed out approximately 85 percent of some 1.5 lakh cubic feet per second (cusecs) of Kosi water was flowing through the breach in the embankment. Initially, the breach was quite small, a few meters wide on the eastern side, 12.9 km upstream of the Bhimnagar barrage in the afternoon of August 18, 2008, and gradually it had widened to more than 2km, destroying standing crops and flattening houses coming on its way.

There was hue and cry, Chanchal remembered how the experts concerned raised questions; it was noteworthy that the embankment and the barrage were designed to resist 9.5 lakh cusecs of water flow but it could not resist the flow of water, which was about 1.44 lakh cusecs? However, common opinions were given that the river is embanked at least 135km downstream from the site of the breach, and the water flow was compelled to go into the old Kosi streams.

Chanchal also recalled how murmuring started in the political corridors at Patna, Bihar’s capital, and among the intellectuals owing to the question of taking responsibility for the disaster. The embankment repair work, which was the responsibility of India, should have been completed before June 2008 or at least by the first week of August 2008 on the basis of vulnerability assessment. Bihar government’s Water Resource Department (WRD) is responsible for looking after the work, and we have started examining whether there was any lapse in the work of WRD, Bihar, a top-ranking bureaucrat in the union Ministry of internal home affairs informed Chanchal over phone. The officer had a good friendship with Chanchal.

National and international media houses started giving regular coverage of the incident. Media, mainly international print media, had started raising the question of losses of public lives and public properties on the basis of the magnitude of deaths, destructions, and damages caused by the floods. Chanchal was regularly keeping in touch with his friends and his wife, Nupur who regularly provided all shots of related information. In these situations, when Chanchal is away at work, Nupur starts working as his PA, compiling all the information, sending it by mail, checking out the import-related matters, etc. besides taking care of her husband’s needs in the fieldwork.

One morning when Chanchal was scrolling the international news, he found that Nepal’s prime minister had called the Indo-Nepal 1954 Kosi treaty that led to the construction of embankments a historical blunder while terming the floods a "national calamity’. In national media, one reputed English daily raised a pertinent question in its editorial on the basis of the advocacy by the Indian prime minister and Bihar’s chief minister for desilting as effective flood control measures. The editorial pointed out that when one is yet to witness any credible agency present a rational and reasonable method of desilting Kosi River that brings 5 crore 50 lakh tones of silt every year after the experience of having desilted Eastern Kosi main canal, how do the leaders on responsible chairs urge like that? It further alleged that no political party both within Bihar and at the center can be absolved of acts of omission and commission that has brought perennial misery to North Bihar because their policy decisions have contributed to it.

Chachal had relevant points, he pulled his notebook and wrote down the points: Having invented lame excuses innumerable times, the political leaders and acolytes of all hues are now arguing that the river has changed its course and it now wants to move to the east. In the absence of even an iota of accountability towards criminal neglect, the million-dollar question posed by the flood experts that remains unanswered is: why were the embankments constructed along the river? Weren’t they supposed to prevent the river from moving either east or west? Did the state WRD know that the river wanted to change its course? Is the Central Water Commission relevant anymore? Why did it help the river accomplish its objectives?

Chanchal suddenly smiled while taking the points: All technocracies that were caught in a time warp have clearly failed in their misplaced attempt to tame the river by not acknowledging that Kosi is the most violent and unstable river of the world which over the last 250 years shifted its course over more than 160 kilometers from east to west. How funny they have still experimented while continued and sustained support for a totalitarian science of embankments has failed, not once or twice but eight times till today!

(2)

Chanchal almost forgot that all the stories he was hearing were old events. Chanchal became so engrossed in Urmila's story that he almost felt like he was in a flooded village. But as soon as tea arrived in the hands of a small girl, Chanchal became normal. Isn’t it tea or is it a little hard red-colored sweet water? Chanchal began to think in his mind. No, that's enough of them; I should enjoy it rather, thinking of this, he sipped the cup of tea. He had been wanting a cup of tea since then, he felt a strange pleasure in his body when he took a sip.

Curious villagers observed them as they were chatting outside the portico of Urmila’s thatched portico. Soon there was a little gathering around Chanchal, all of them were poor residents of the village, somehow sitting on the ground around Chanchal in old torn clothes. Those who had slippers on their feet, carefully opened them beside them. Knowing Chanchal's identity in the initial conversation, Kumar Yadav, a middle-aged villager, almost jumped up and sat on the ground in front of Chanchal, ignoring the other people who occupied the front position already.

Sir we have seen many media people till now and you are another one. Earlier I had seen you at a relief camp last year just after the Kusaha tragedy. It’s our privilege to have you with us again, Sir I would like to give you some more information, he said, almost gasping for breath.

Hey all right, I've come to listen to you. Before you calm down, then tell me everything, remember I came to listen to you only, Chanchal said briefly with a short smile. Other villagers present encouraged Kumar Yadav with a united voice. Yadav started looking around with fearful eyes: Sir we first welcome you in this Kedli village which Kosi River has displaced 9 times till today, while added he said Till 1981 our life was going on normally. But that year suddenly Kosi River started flowing near our village and gradually changed its tendency and started targeting our village. In 1983 our village was completely cut off due to the massive erosion caused by the river. After that, the government rehabilitated us outside the embankment. We became happy to find ourselves outside the embankments. But our happiness did not last long. In 1984, the embankment near Navahatta was breached and there was a massive flood. The government tried to make the embankment more secure by building a guide embankment. Once again our village came inside the guide dam and we were in front of the Kosi, he finished speaking at once and began to gasp.

Kumar Yadav remained silent for a while and started narrating again There was peace, but from 1996 Kosi Maiya again started hurting our village. 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013 and now 2014. In all those years Kosi kept cutting our village and washing it away. Every time after we were cut off, we used to settle on a higher place, and every time the river swelled again in two years' duration and hence our village repeatedly flowed into its stream. Now we have become used to settling down and being destroyed, he concluded.

Another villager, Kailash Panjiyar said that because of those attacks, people in the village are now hesitating to build pucca houses, because who can afford to build houses every two years. Even the richest people of the village make only thatched houses because they know that in two years the house will have to be cut and merged into the river, but still, everything is not easy, even the cheapest thatched house costs 35 thousand. It is not easy to bear such a huge expenditure in two years. Do you know most of the youth of the village go to Punjab for many months of the year to do hard labor and come back from there earning decently, he said. Chanchal suddenly interrupted, Is there no compensation from the government.

When Chanchal asked about the compensation, the small gathering dampened. Earlier Rs 500 was given, then Rs 1000, and now Rs 2000 as compensation for house collapse. This too was never received on time. Now tell us what could be done from such a type of irregular governmental compensation? someone from the crowd pointed out while adding that presently Rs 75 thousand have started being received for Indira Awas as well.

Chanchal remembered that he came across Panchayat head Janaki Kumari at the village who informed him that in such conditions in the Panchayat, the school also runs in a thatched house. How many times can the government build pucca houses for it? she asked. She said that after the school building was destroyed, school activities were initiated inside a thatched hut, and such an arrangement was made with the help of the school’s own fund besides donations from local denizens so that the education of the children could go on. She further informed that 200 houses of the village have merged with Kosi this time also.

"This time when there was an attack of flood, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) people managed our village as well. But now they have been told, the danger is over. But how can we believe that the danger is over?

That's right, Chanchal thought to himself, the danger would have been averted for others, but the danger of the residents of hamlets like Kedli is hovering over their heads.

***

Part ii

Chanchal recalled how he was greeted by gloomy, overcast skies as he entered inside flood-ravaged Saharsha township, the administrative headquarters of Kosi division in Eastern Bihar. Earlier he had the experiences as he toured many parts of Kosi region but it’s the time of Nature’s calamity. Before arriving in Patna, he managed some of his closed media persons to have imputed. Someone told him about a young energetic reporter of a national channel, Anuj Shivlochan from Bhagalpur who was assigned to cover the Kusaha disaster and asked to rush to the flood’s site. Accidentally the day Chanchal proceeded to Saharsa, Sivlochan also was proceeding from Bhagalpur to Saharsa. Chachal called him soon after he started from Patna but after reaching Maheshkuth, he again called Sivlochan. Sir I am just entering Maheshkuth, hardly within 10 to 15 minutes, please wait for me, pat the reply from Shivlochan.

Chanchal was losing patience, there was a lot of noise around. Everyone was moving forward. He got down from the car, a Maruti car almost touched him and moved forward at high speed. Suddenly, a young man ran towards a big truck parked on the side of the road while shouting Dumri bridge is broken, the road is closed. Chanchal, who had not noticed before, looked back and saw by then there was a long line of vehicles on both sides of NH-31. Everyone looked very impatient, wondering what would happen next.

Hi sir, I'm a little late, look what's the danger, it says the bridge is broken, Chanchal was startled, suddenly someone touched his shoulder from behind to address him. A little stunned and turned around, Chanchal was assured to find a young man in a black complex in front of him. Chanchal easily recognized him as the well-dressed youth who was standing with an ID logo (mike) with a sticker of the popular news channel in his hand. Chanchal found the young man was accompanied by another skinny young man who also was carrying a big camera on his shoulder.

If I'm not mistaken, you’re Shivlochan, hi I'm Chanchal, Chanchal stepped forward and shook his hand. After a brief discussion on the present context, Shivlochan went forward to see what happened, Chanchal and Shivlochan's cameraman started following him.

B P Mandal Setu commonly known as Dumri Bridge is located near the confluence of the Gandak and Ganga rivers, which can be called the gateway of Kosi region because without it one has to travel a lot through Purnia or Samastipur to go to Kosi region, covering more than 150 km extra. There was a huge crowd in front of the bridge, with the local police struggling to handle the crowd. Although the police cordoned off the bridge and completely stopped the traffic on the bridge, some unsuspecting motorists/owners kept pleading with the police to allow their vehicles to cross.

Shivlochan held the mic high in his hand and managed to reach in front of the bridge by somehow pushing the crowd behind Chanchal, and the cameraman, whose name was Vijay, had to struggle hard to push the crowd to make their way to the bridge. Shivlochan was talking to a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) ranking police officer and Chanchal saw Shivlochan repeatedly pointing his fingers at the officer. He could not understand anything, the river Gandak was flowing at a great speed in front of him. He saw the bridge from a little side in front and did not understand anything that the bridge had been damaged.

Chanachal has no previous experience of witnessing flood-locked upcountry sides of Bihar. Earlier he heard that Monsoon flooding is one of the most common natural disasters in northern and eastern parts of Bihar. Typically, the Kosi and Gandak river basins are well-known for lingering floods-affected basins in north Bihar every year. But Chanchal for the first time witnessed such a horrible situation standing near the Gandak river on that day.

Shivlochan came back after a while, looking very excited. Listen, sir, the local administration has stopped all traffic over the bridge fearing that this speedy river might swallow it at any moment. Since we have less time on our hands, we have to take extreme risks, we will cross that bridge immediately. Don’t fear, the almighty will certainly protect us. We have no other option immediately. I hope you will stay with me, nothing to fear, let's get the vehicle, Shivlochan said at the speed of the storm.

Vijay, the camera person of the news channel, tried to interrupt while projecting the possible danger of crossing the damaged Dumri bridge but Shivlochan literally scolded him and argued: If we don’t take this risk and travel extra kilometers through Purnia or Samsipur, is there a guarantee that all the roads are intact to help us to reach our destination?. There was a pin-drop silence as nobody had the appropriate answer to reject Shivlochan’s logic.

Chanchal, not having time to think about what to do or not to do, laughed like a fool and nodded, shaking his head in silent agreement with Shivlochan. When they walked to the SUV, Shivlochan called his driver and put Chanchal's belongings in his SUV. Chanchal saw that the OB van was there to cover a live telecast with Shivlochan and there were two other people including the driver inside that special vehicle. It was a small mobile production control room to allow filming of events and video production at a location outside a regular television studio. At that time, there was no facility of easy internet like today, as there are a number of facilities to send live videos directly even through small hand mobile phone sets. But at that time for live telecasting, the reporter had to keep the OB van with him at the spot from where the live telecast was being conducted. That is why the OB van was sent from Shivlochan's Patna head office to the flood-affected