Rivers like stories have a beginning, end and, of course, a middle where they attain full flow. Bharathapuzha, Kerala's storied river, however lacks a proper and full-fledged middle. Long and intermittent stretches have become desiccated like a desert, with rocks and invasive stands of sedge defacing a landscape where, just a few years ago, sediment-rich ochre-coloured water hurtled downstream east to west at an average of three to four metres depth.

Bharathapuzha still irrigates most parts of Palakkad district, known as the granary of Kerala, which produces 84,000 hectares of paddy annually, and all along its 208km stretch is living evidence of the centuries-old cultural efflorescence the river, known locally as Nila, has fostered................Read more

Source: The Times of India