Saving the mother river
This is the third in a series of articles about Harvard’s interdisciplinary work at the Kumbh Mela, a religious gathering that every 12 years creates the world’s largest pop-up city. ALLAHABAD, India — Standing at the shores of the Sangam — the calm expanse of gray-blue water where the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet — it’s not hard to sense the profound spiritual significance the spot holds for millions of Hindu pilgrims. Crossing it, however, can be a harrowing experience. “One at a time!” a guide shouted in practiced English, as he shuffled eight Harvard students and their professor-leaders, Diana Eck and Dorothy Austin, into a narrow, creaky wooden boat. The guide and his partner manned the oars at the front of vessel. “Hands in! Hands in!” Eck (second from left) and her students were interviewed by Indian journalists at a clean-up effort put on by Ganga Action Parivar, a...