A kaleidoscopic view of water and its fascinating role in shaping our history, lives and future.
THE BOOK
For millennia, our cities have prospered and grown in the cradles of civilization-fertile lands blessed with rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. From the origins of life on earth, right down to its downfall, biblical or otherwise, water has been integral to the human story.
In this passionate and extensively researched tribute to the elixir that sustains us all, authors Harini Nagendra and Seema Mundoli take us on a panoramic view of the water bodies of India and the urgent need to address their emergent ecological threats. From the Yamuna in Delhi to the Cauvery in Karnataka and the Pichola Lake in Udaipur to the Brahmaputra in Assam, this book is epic in its sweep and yet deeply moving in its intimate concerns.
Interspersed with anthropological, legal and scientific vignettes of the water are fascinating anecdotes, ditties, myths and monsters blue and green. This book also brings into dialogue a vast range of colourful characters-from medieval poets to colonial masters and modern scientists-to paint for us a tapestry of connected histories and ring a timely knell for saving the very ecological systems that have sustained us for ages.
THE AUTHORS
Harini Nagendra teaches sustainability at Azim Premji University, and has conducted research on the interaction between people and nature in forests and cities for over thirty years. She is internationally recognized for her scholarship on sustainability, by the 2009 Cozzarelli Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences, the 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar award, and the 2017 Clarivate Web of Science award. Her previous books include Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present, and Future and The Bangalore Detectives Club mystery series, set in 1920s colonial India.
Seema Mundoli teaches sustainability at Azim Premji University. She has worked with NGOs in conservation, mining, land and forest rights, and education in indigenous communities. Her current work examines the relationship between people and nature in cities that is critical to understand sustainability and climate change challenges. In addition to research papers and popular articles, she has co-edited State of the Environment 2005: Andaman and Nicobar Islands. She always listens to her cats who provide the best advice on all matters. The authors also co-wrote Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities and the illustrated children’s book So Many Leaves.
The official release for the book is in September 2023.
