Capturing unique images in thirsty India on World Water Day

This picture powerfully captures the harshness of the environment in some parts of India.The stark image shows a village boy in the eastern state of Orissa, surrounded by seemingly endless drought-cracked earth. In a glance, it presents the fragility of nature when water is scarce and the complexity of the country's environment; other areas of India, of course, produce lush crops, sometimes using irrigation.

People fill containers at a public water supply at Siddharth Nagar slum in Mumbai, on March 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) © 2010 AP

Here, what appears a simple scene illustrates a complex truth about water supplies in India. For many women, like the ones pictured at this public water point in a Mumbai slum, collecting clean water for their families to wash in and to drink is a daily ritual. And it's one that saves lives. The World Bank estimates that nearly a quarter of communicable diseases in India are related to contaminated water, often drawn from polluted rivers.

A man identifying himself as Shakeel dives into the Yamuna River in New Delhi, on March 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan) © 2010 AP

In New Delhi, a foamy white layer of industrial effluent blanketing the surface of the Yamuna River does not deter a man from diving in. Why would anyone do such a thing? The answer is simple — poverty — and it's part of what gives special meaning to this almost surreal picture: The diver is scavenging for ornaments and coins left during Hindu rituals along the banks of the holy river.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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