My rudimentary knowledge of geography tells me that river is a natural stream of water which flows in a channel towards the mouth of lake or another river or the seas. Rivers have two banks. They have a bed over which the water flows. Rivers start from a source. Rivers always flow downhill to merge into the ocean, the final destination -merging with divinity.

So much like anywoman, every woman, a woman like me –for instance?

River my ally my friend -we have so much in common. The likeness most striking is in the sad sad fact that you dear friend remain bound by the banks and I - contained in worldly peripheries. And yet when we rebel and break shackles – the world around us pays a heavy price!

But whereas you have a well charted life -emerging evolving and flowing the three well defined courses - I cruise the unanticipated unpredicted ever meandering walks of life. Sometimes cautiously and successfully striding them and at others I falter trip and fall. For it is the Lady Luck herself who sets the course of destiny for me! At times a smooth sail at times a rough road!                                       

You my friend born of the pillars of rocky strength with origins in the mountains – just like my mother - my father, our origins remain our life support system. When deprived of their love – the elixir of life -like you, I too would dry out to my death.

But as adolescent lasses we are equally youthful and defiant like the liberated young women of the present times!  It is the intoxicating youth and thoughtless adolescence that makes our world so very exciting, the horizon to eternity beckons us, charming us to go all out and explore!  

My life too like yours begins as an eager little girl all set to explore the world on my terms, with that little voice in the heart cheering me to conquer it! Energized like you river my friend – fresh sparkling and friendly, fast flowing, jungle to jungle hill to hill, never a care in mind - you just go on where ever your wanderlust takes you - whether there are stones or boulders for you to flow over, you couldn’t care less - there are precincts and restraints for me but I couldn’t care less either! There is nothing stopping us!

It is this course of life that I the woman loves the most, for I live with my dreams – dreams to find and meet my soul mate, eager and passionate about meeting him and finally to unite with him to be one –body and soul! Like you my friend I am also a river in hurry to cross all the barriers and find solace in -my ocean my friend my lover my Universe to unite with him!

However the first flush of beauty and youth invites the first frights to our vulnerability. You never know my dear friend when a sharp twist on this expedition would lead you to a chasm or a gorge. We are pleasantly unaware when a canyon would be waiting to gulp you down or a lecherous soul sets trap for me.

Or when a DAM is built to check your flow?  Does not everyone know that rivers survive only when they are allowed to flow freely? The natural free flowing water in a river is ‘living’ water; reservoirs turn it into dead water – a dead soul. A dead soul like mine when I am dictated upon and chained to outlived ethos in the name of tradition, religion and rituals.                                            We - you river and me the woman – can not survive when strapped to the dictates of a naïve social order.                                                                  

For you there are rapids and water falls on this journey to adulthood, and hurdles appear unexpectedly for me en route to maturity.  For exuberance of youth brings trials and tribulations of evolving into a woman from a juvenile.  

However the road to paradise through the walks of life is like bed of petals - if someone walks along, holding hands -then it’s a simple straight course. But, it does not happen like a fairy tale to every woman, to every princess - at times the hand is pulled away by destiny or pulled back by the fellow traveler –then the course I stride is like yours – a circuitous tortuous one.

Then there are times when rivers are so often treated like commodities -commercial commodities! Just like women my dear friend!

Because development to this consumerist world means converting nature into cash. The world forgets opportunely that a river is not just a stream of flowing water; it is revered like a mother – like a woman. It has close link with culture and civilization. There are going to be times of water crisis, and the world has to bear in mind to greet you with respect. Just as in times of crisis we the children turn to Mothers for support, the naïve people have to bear in mind that you river have to be approached harmoniously and not plundered for your bounty!

A free flowing Himalayan river like you, like The Ganga, brings along rich nutrients, rich soil down to the plains contributing to land formation and land fertility. This ceases to happen if dams trap your rich soil and the fields in the plains are deprived of it. Consequently the farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers in excess. All this leads to make   agriculture economically unviable and environmentally unsustainable. But star crossed as we are my friend – both of us have been exploited down the ages for others’ gains.

Your middle course is where you become wider and deeper. The land which the river flows over is becoming flatter. Like a matured woman there is much calmness and depth, for I too -just like a leader of a clan,  connect and bond with near and dear ones. Just as you the river, take along all the other rivers, your tributaries that join you. We give the world -all that we have -in the very wholeness of the word; we contribute to the world preserving nothing for ourselves. You contribute through your fertile land and me through my fruitful womb and fertile mind to ensure that all humanity flourishes and thrives which would not be possible with out us – you the river, me the woman.

The world has to understand that you the river do not just belong to the humans but all aquatic life and other life forms. Disrupting river flow in the name of development and displacing the river bank communities should be checked. Like wise me the woman does not just belong to home and hearth, I need to grow, advance and enrich one and all. You need to retain your beauty with plantations of fruit, medicine, fiber, nut yielding trees. I need to retain my identity and yet be a woman who loves and needs to be loved! 

As you grow old, you slow down like me, flowing ever so softly though ecstatic and content and blissful with the wisdom that you are finally going to be relieved of all your obligations and tasks, to enjoy the fruits of labour in the much awaited embrace of the ocean. Just as I endeavor to gain my nirvana. We are so similar –                                 You the River Me the Woman