non-reactivity application Chapter Three
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“initiatives,” which for one reason or another seem to end up falling apart. Sure, the water quality used to be better when he was a child, but presenting western solutions is an ineffective strategy. He suggests getting involved in some local events like cricket games, worship, yoga, or attending the produce market. If she can find a way to make a genuine connection with the people, they might forgive her faux pas at the meeting and open up. Blake thanks Mahant profusely, and says she would like to stay in touch.
Blake takes his words to heart and begins getting involved in the community. Yamini, happy to help Blake, takes her all around the city. The more places she visits, the more she understands the community. Blake finds a way to talk to people everywhere she goes, and discovers that she vastly underestimated the significance the Ganges has for every person. A few weeks later, Blake takes a baby step of action: organizing a river clean up. She wants to keep it small – just her, Yamini, and a some of Yamini’s family and friends. As they clean, several people approach them to help. Eleven trash bags later, Blake finally feels like she’s done something right. One volunteer named Dev told her that simply picking up trash along the river displayed respect and care, and was an important thing to do. He told her a legend about Sage Bhagiratha, a king who led Goddess Ganga across India after she descended from the heavens. Although she was reluctant to come down from the heavens for fear of being polluted by sinners, Bhagiratha assured her that she would be purified when saints, sages, and seers bathed in her waters.
Fascinated by the tale, Blake asks Dev if Bhagiratha told the truth—if the Goddess’s waters were polluted by sinners. waters were polluted by sinners. tomorrow. After gathering the supplies she was so concerned with that morning, Blake becomes the last person to slam the heavy door of the civic center.
Goddess’s waters were polluted by sinners. He maintained that bathers helped purify and strengthen the river, but that if any pollution was present, it wasn’t truly recognized. He knew that some upstream industries dumped their waste into the river, but that this fact wasn’t widely known. Listening to Dev’s passionate recounting of the Ganges’ origins, and the emphasis on beautification from other volunteers, Blake decides to organize a planting project. The river is far too strong for any plants to hold ground in the city center, but on more isolated stretches, natural barriers slow the water. Blake helps the people to plant water-purifying cattails in less populated areas of the river. She works with local groups to strengthen restrictions on toxic dumping from surrounding factories. She talks to people about individual water-filter systems, and the possibility of scattering ashes laced with kelp seeds that will sink to the river floor, to promote cleansing and purifying from the bottom up! guide the water. Momentum builds as Blake plants water purifying cattails in less populated areas of the river, works with local groups to strengthen restrictions on toxic dumping for surrounding factories, discuss individual water filter systems, and possibilities of implanting ashes with kelp seeds to bury in the river floor to promote cleansing and purifying from the bottom up!
isolated stretches, natural barriers slow the water. Blake helps the people to plant water-purifying cattails in less populated areas of the river. She works with local groups to strengthen restrictions on toxic dumping from surrounding factories. She talks to people about individual water-filter systems, and the possibility of scattering ashes laced with kelp seeds that will sink to the river floor, to promote cleansing and purifying from the bottom up.
During her conversations with Mahant, Yamini, Dev, and many others, Blake reflects on what she did differently to make connections with the community and become empowered to enact positive change. It all began with Mahant’s constructive criticism. Going in, she knew the conversation might be tough because of his high standing in Haridwar and his obvious poise and honesty, so Blake made sure to open her heart to his words. To have a truly engaging conversation, and absorb as much knowledge from Mahant as she could, Blake needed to fully experience what she was hearing in the moment.