Have you ever wondered what happens to all the things you throw into your garbage cans? I'm sure the thought has crossed your mind at some point or the other. It often does, for me too. 

The thought occurs to us, we ponder over it for a bit and then move on with our lives. It's only natural since we've all got a bunch of other things to do that we need to keep doing. More to consume. More to throw.

Here, I share from my journey with waste

Back in 2018, while in my Master's program, I decided that I wanted to try and understand more about Waste Management, or what I saw as Waste Mismanagement. 

At the time, I had cleared the exams for all my electives and was given the opportunity to conduct an independent research project picking any subject of my choice, to be conducted anywhere I choose to, as long as I can justify my selection.

As exciting as that sounds, it's also rather intimidating. I knew I wanted to look at some aspect of Waste but where and how do I manage that? 

My mentor at the time, suggested that I pick a location that I was either familiar with, or wanted to learn more about. 

My hometown is Delhi, where I have lived intermittently throughout my life. By this point in my life though, other than destinations with stints of less than 2 months at a time, I had also lived 2 years in Dehradun, 3 years in Mumbai, 10 months near Puducherry and close to 3 years in Bangalore, including the duration of my ongoing Master's. 

By this point in my life, I had made quite some discoveries. More like clarifications for things I had simply assumed at the time, or considered outside the realm of understanding. 

-The massive stink drain in Delhi that I am lucky to not have to drive past often, is the Yamuna River. 

-The hill I see from my apartment building terrace is none other than the Ghazipur Landfill. 

-Russell Peters's joke about disembarking from a flight when coming to India (Mumbai) was about that distinct smell - the smell of garbage wafting across the airport. 

-The images of smoke captured by NASA in early 2016, Mumbai was due to a 4-day long fire at the Deonar dumping ground. 

-The snow-like white froth that had been floating around in Bangalore lakes was a result of toxic chemicals being illegally dumped by neighboring factories. 

-Initiatives like 'Clean Ganga' direct eyes to the main river - the one called Ganga, implying that all its tributaries are pristine. The main body of the river magically and SUDDENLY gets trashed, somewhere along the way and hence is the only one that needs cleaning.

I listed these points back then, trying to find my research topic with its help. It made me think about how such misconceptions exist, for everybody. Inspiration struck as I remembered a sewage drain with houses lined up on either side - near my school in Dehradun. Our sports teacher used to make us run past it whenever we'd have 'cross country runs'. Having lived and studied at that school for 2 years, I had attachments and memories which made even that drain a part of my life.

Lo and behold, it wasn't really a sewage drain. It was the Rispana River, a river with historical significance for many different communities within the Doon Valley. It is also a tributary that eventually merges into the Ganga River.

Seeing as I mistook a river to be a sewage drain not once, but twice in my life already, it intrigued me to find out how people living around it perceived it. Simply put, I had found myself a research project!