The Hidden Hyacinths of the Yamuna - Delhi, India, 2007
The title refers to the legend that the wife of Lord Mountbatten the last viceroy of British-India, Lady Mountbatten presented to the first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru hyacinths for his birthday. These flowers have spread so prodigiously that they are covering now the surfaces of rivers and lakes. With the result that they consume light and oxigen of the water.
„The hidden hyacinths of the Yamuna“ is a site-specific temporary intervention, proposed and partially realised along the river Yamuna in Delhi (Kalindi Kunj / Okhla Barrage).
The surface looks beautiful white. Is it snow? Boats are leaving a dark spur behind, while children and men are moving through the white foamy mass on search after rupees and other things. The contradiction between the image of a picturesque landscape reminding of a romantic landscape painting; the wish that the view is not treacherous – and a reality which cannot be hidden away because the smell says everything.
Context:
The project has been developed during a six week residency at „Khojstudio“ in Delhi. The terms „Art“ and „Ecology“ have been brought together within the discourse of „public space(s)“/what is/are public space(s)“. The residency has been supported financially by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia / Delhi.
Elements of the intervention:
A bamboo platform that can accommodate about 5-7 people, a metal panel with an analysis of water samples from the river and a video essay that was shown at the Khoj (art center) open house.
The place/platform:
Kalindi Kunj/Okhla Barrage is located in the south of Delhi. A bridge, which also serves as a sluice, connects the banks of the Yamuna. Occasionally, cars stop and people throw rupees or brass vessels into the river as offerings.
The Yamuna River, like all rivers in India, is considered sacred, and this particular place is a place of worship. A wide staircase with large steps leads down to the river bank. The steps are covered with flower buds, small clay bowls, and figures of gods and goddesses. Between the stairs and a flat, levelled area, also used as a place of worship, is a small ledge. I then chose this spot to build the platform.
An existing path leads to the platform and even further down to the river. The place invites the visitor to look at the surroundings.
On the left, to the bridge and the sluice, the foaming water flows, on the right in branching paths, out of town. On the opposite bank, cows are let out to pasture and migratory birds make a stop there.
The board:
Next to the trail and platform, I put up an information board, modeled after official government boards in design and color. The board reads (in English and Hindi) the results of a test based on the analysis of two water samples taken in the north of the city at Wazirabad and in the south of the city, where the Yamuna leaves Delhi, at Kalindi Kunj.
The test examines the pollution of the water in five different ways. According to the test, the water is heavily polluted, unfit for use and harmful to humans and other creatures. Most of the sewers in Delhi discharge untreated sewage into the river.
Intention:
The platform can be seen as a simple vantage point or as a place to rest, contemplate and become aware of the current situation, namely as a collection of different problems that come together at one point and confront each other:
- On the one hand, there is the idyllic sight, reminiscent of romantic paintings of sunsets half-obscured by fog, and on the other hand, the shocking reality of people diving for valuables in the polluted water to earn a living. (The offerings made to the gods help the diving children and men finally to earn a living).
- The place seen and used as a place of worship. The intervention at this site indicates an ecological situation that is out of control. The platform, regardless of location, could be built on other banks of other rivers, in almost any other part of the world, since extensive ecological damage has occurred or is occurring everywhere.
Why this place:
The silence - even though it is not silent at all, because cars and bicycles are constantly crossing the bridge - it is more of a "visual silence", is in contrast to the dusty, busy city. This silence, and the children and men diving for rupees in the toxic white foam, lead me to decide to work at this place.
Proposed project idea (not realized):
In addition to the existing platform, build 2-3 more platforms along the river, probably also in different designs. The locations should be accessible by subway, car, rickshaw and on foot. The locations and routes are marked on a map (leaflet) available at the public library near Old Delhi station. The library is well connected to public transportation. A shelf with a selection of literature about the Yamuna (from prose to scientific literature) gives visitors an insight into the various topics concerning the river.
Many thanks to:
- Pooja Sood and the team of Khoj studio, Asim Waqif (who showed me the site),
- Pradip Saha and Kushal Yadav / Centre of Communications of Science and Environment CSE (who gave me the contact to the SPECTRO Lab / Umesh Gupta),
- Dilshad Ahmed and his team (responsible for the construction of the bamboo platform),
- Ashok (painter of the information board) and
- the Office of DY. Commissioner of Police: South District, New Delhi (who gave us the permission for building the platform at Kalindi Kunj / Okhla Barrage),
- MT Weiss for proof reading, and Pro Helvetia / Delhi (Chandrika Grover / Pooja Varma).
- Big thank you to Rahul Bajaj (without his advice and assistance the project could not have been realised) and to
- the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia / Delhi which supported the project financially.