Death flows, hope floats, life flies by Sankar Sridhar

Infamous as one of the planet's most polluted rivers, the Yamuna starts as a Himalayan glacial stream, pure and full of promise. By the time it reaches Delhi, India's teeming capital city, it becomes a foul sewage drain
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

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Infamous as one of the planet’s most polluted rivers, the Yamuna starts as a Himalayan glacial stream, pure and full of promise.

By the time it reaches Delhi, India’s teeming capital city, it becomes a foul sewage drain, a toxic soup of human and household waste, agricultural fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, and the deadly chemical effluent from commercial and industrial activity.

Dissolved oxygen levels are zero. The water is biologically dead and pathologically lethal.Those are facts, but in the face of faith, they don’t matter. The Yamuna is also one of the holiest rivers in India, and so ingrained in the tradition of hope and worship, that people bathe, anoint and imbibe this deadly stew of effluents. 

Daily life around this river follows a circadian rhythm of prayer, ritual and cleansing even as effluents and noxious substances flow into it. But come winter, when even the air of Delhi turn poisonous, the metropolis chokes with smog, and wears a blanket of grey, religion, faith and tradition come together on the Yamuna, imparting to it a startling brightness and life. 

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Dead though it might be, every year, this river becomes a cradle of life for thousands upon thousands of migratory gulls. Drawn by the a fidelity to this location, the birds knowing full well that while the river won’t provide, the believers will. And so they fatten up on offerings from people meant the gods. For believers this is a means to stock up on good karma. 

Although the presence of these bird colonies does little to compensate for the huge ecosystem losses suffered by the Yamuna, this explosion of life, when viewed with a lazy shutter presents a metaphor as much of hope as the resilience of life amid hardships. The nub of what our existence as individuals boils down to. And even in its death, the river remains central to this performance. Helping hope float and life fly.

About Sankar Sridhar

Sankar Sridhar is a photographer specializing in documenting the lives of eternal movement and the environments they call home. He is best known for his sensitive and moving portrayals of the pastoral communities of India.

His images have won prestigious awards including at the Siena International Photo Awards, IPA (landscape and deeper perspectives), the Banff Mountain photography Award, International Mountain Summit (Italy). Humanity Photo Awards. His works have also been published in Magazines including CNN Travel, , Geographical, Daily Mail, Le Courrier France, Outlook Traveller, National Geographic Traveller India, Discover India, Mint.

He has also been featured on LensBlog (New York Times), on the calendars of Nikon Global and WWF India, and as Part of IPA Best of Show, displayed in the C40 Climate Change Summit in Mexico. [Official Website]

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar
Death flows, hope floats, life flies | Sankar Sridhar

 

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Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
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