River Picnic, Jagatpur, January 9th, 2006

Pic Credits: Khoj/Uma Ray

After days of preparation, the picnic took place on the banks of the river near Jagatpur village. Atul and I had spent many days and evening setting it up, talking to the village elders, organising the food, talking to the boatmen etc. We did not want 50 'sheris' and many westerners to suddenly appear on the river, without warning. The village is a small place, and people misconstrue if not informed properly.

Khoj did the needful inviting and arranging of the transport. While I reached the spot earlier, with a car full of durries, sheets to sit on, packets of food etc. Atul accompanied the bus load of press people and artists who wanted to see a 'clean' part of the river. It was worth it. The river here is quite clean, since it is before it really enters the dense parts of the city and before the first of the 17 drains hit it. Also here the river is very broad, and curves in, giving the impression of almost a sea front. Today the day was cold, and foggy, but there were many birds - waders, ducks, and even some turns.

We had playfully labelled the water bottles with markings of the water pumps on the river and the paper tumblers with a 'warning message!'

A few hours, where the only dissapointment was the non-appearance of the fishermen with their boats (evidently they had gone fishing!), and much conversation and food later, the party slowly packed off and returned in batches. I too, finally loaded my car, and drove back home, releived that the event had gone off without mishap!