A Bridge of Possibilities

Building bridges is not only an engineering feat, but also an art. Is it a wonder then that while some bridges, like the one over river Meles in Izmir, Turkey, have withstood the test of time for almost three millennia, some like the one in Kolkata, collapsed even before completion?

  

A couple of weeks ago, in our community, we too decided to build a bridge: a metaphysical bridge between us and them. 'Us', being the  so-called educated, affluent concerned citizens, living inside a clean, lush, walled complex, and 'them' being the presumed simple, superstitious fisherman community, displaced by the great tsunami of Dec. 2004.  'Us' was battling for cleaning up the neighborhood water-catchment area, driving around to chase authorities, 'them' was indifferent; 'them' was part of the problem, guilty  of dumping waste in the aforementioned water-catchment. Or so we thought. We blamed them,  their supposed ignorance, and their utter disregard for the environment, for our inability to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Finally, a few brave souls from our walled community decided to reach out to the fishermen folks and see if they were ready to co-operate in cleaning the water-harvesting area of  plastic and other pollutants. 

To our surprise, they were very much aware of the situation, and more than willing to co-operate. The realisation that despite our superficial differences, we were all on the same page, and therefore united in our mission to restore the water-catchment to its pristine state, brought us closer together... building the first link in the construction of that invisible bridge. 

Having relied on the  municipal authorities to do the job for too long, with the new bigger and stronger team, we felt more confident to undertake the cleaning task ourselves. The next day being a weekend, it was decided that 6a.m would be a good time to start the work. And, at 6a.m., it did. At least 20 volunteers turned up from the tsunami quarters, mainly children and women. In the five and a half hours that ensued, the team had extracted and bagged at least one ton of garbage. The enthusiasm of the kids, some just seven years old, as they dug out the buried waste, was contagious. A few residents, who could not partake in this labour-intensive exercise, brought tea and snacks for the crew. At the end of the day, medals were awarded to a few children for their outstanding performance.

The work had begun.We were a team now, of crusaders, battling for clean water, our basic right.  

The bridge was built: a bridge of possibilities.