SUNDARBANS

Forty odd miles south of the chaotic city of Kolkata (Calcutta) lies nearly five thousand miles of delta of Rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Padma flowing into the Bay of Bengal divided between from India and Bangladesh. The ever flowing rivers also carry with them millions of tons of silt to be deposited in the Delta bay, resulting in the formation of thousands of small and large islands. The tides rise and ebb twice a day, varying up to 20 feet, making all activities in the region at the mercy of the nature.

The mangroves are the guardians of the hinterland, protecting the people from vagaries of tsunami type upheavals and provide rich food to the fishes as well as hold the land from being swept away by the intense undercurrents of the torrent rivers and seas.

Inside these mangrove forests is the habitat of nearly 400 Royal Bengal Tigers, struggling to survive in the oppressive surroundings learning to live on salt laden waters and combating the poachers and the decease.

The women and children stalk the crocodile infested rivers in search of juvenile shrimps, which fetch meagre sums from the greedy merchants, often losing limbs or lives to the crocs.

The cacophony, hustle and bustle of Kolkata is not evident in the near riverine delta, where time lies still, and the tides rise and fall as if in a clock like precision. Global warming and climate changes are not known, but merely experienced by the people and animals living here. Few islands have already vanished under the sea and many more will cease to exist if we are tardy. Do we have a role in their lives ? Can their children go to the schools like our children? Can they get the basic minimum health care? Can the endangered tigers as well as thousands of other species like the Gangetic Dolphin live out side the zoos? YOU shall decide!