Thursday, November 27, 2008

Bangladesh sundarbans: the waters that flow up and downstream

The Sundarbans is the greatest mangrove swamp in the world. It grows in the Bengal Gulf, between India and Bangladesh. The region of Khulna in Bangladesh holds the major part of this forest, about the 60% of the total surface. India keeps the rest in the West Bengal region.
The definition of water here is given by the equilibrium between the sea and river waters, therefore water is salted, and water is fresh, somewhere in between certainly. Vegetation is a good witness, just here there are immense numbers of plants that only could grow here. Some of them show that life here is extreme, letting their roots out in the air to be seen, seeking for the oxygen that the saturated ground appears not to provide.


This forest is located at the interface between sea and fluvial waters, and therefore, the water levels are directly determined by the tidal variations. The sea level acts as a downstream boundary condition that propagates upstream through the main and branch channels that cross the Sundarbans. The tidal variations have an influence on the way people live here in reation to the water by dealing with inundated areas, on navigation, and even on the movements of fauna. Anyone willing to cruise the waters is aware of the dynamics of this system, local people are aware of this from childhood, learning how and when to sail.

The vital equilibrium between fresh and salted water has been altered by man: the construction of dams and prown farms are interrupting this exange, causing the phenomenon of the "desert of water". In fact in some zones, because of the decrease in fresh water immission, the salinity of the water had reach a rate so high that vegetal and animal life is not able to adapt to the rapid change and is disappearing.


Among local people, a mystical way of thinking says that we are here to move not from the Creator to the sea, the end, but the other way, from here to the heights, to the Source. This is the doctrine of the reverse way (Based on "La Fabula de Shelabuna" by P. Marino Rigon, s.x.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

che paesaggi stupendi complimenti per le inquadrature e la scelta dei soggetti continuate così ciao

Anonymous said...

oi ragazzi ciao!!!
Come va..?Dalle foto capisco che non siete a Mumbai quindi tutto tranquillo!Miii ho un'angoscia (le mie solite manie!!)
Le foto sono veramente belle..wow..complimenti!Ma chi dei tre ha l'occhio fotografico?
A presto..continuerò a seguirvi!!
Baci
Pamela

Anonymous said...

Hello there folks. Good to hear from you. Thought you have been abduced by aliens.
Remember that the terrible struggle between reason and imagination has not been yet completed where you stand. There is no winner yet. I think it could be a good idea to represent this in your story. The fact that things are not just square as we see today in the West. That in daily life there is a little place to dream and to believe in whatever you want to. Not just this robotical-programmed society in which we live. Think about it.

Anonymous said...

y todo eso sin piedra filosofal? mu bonico, pero os habeis perdido a la esperanza aguirre corriendo por las calles de bombay con las bragas en la mano. otra de las grandes ausentes junto a maradona comiendo momos de pollo en calcuta.
bacci

Anonymous said...

Ciao !!!
Ho visto che hai messo delle nuove foto...complimenti sono proprio belle !
Buon proseguimento :-)

Dolores

Unknown said...

Chulismo nenes (como se diría en nuestro pueblo). Veo que estáis avanzando favorablemente en vuestro viaje y os agradezco con lo compartáis con todos nosotros. Tb me alegra que estéis sanos y salvos, con vuestras piernas, brazos, ojos, etc.
Cuidaos y muchos besos.

bharatdesi travel and tourisum said...

good info you provided. you r blog images r so nice

 

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