They say your personality is shaped by the environment you grow up in. Having been grown up in a town along the Ganga river, I have always believed that to be true. The presence of a water body, a river, a sea, even a large lake, quietly seeps into your nature, your habits and even your emotions. It influences the way you see the world.
Water, after all, is not just something we drink. It exists within us and all around us. In the food we eat, in the air we breathe, in the greenery that comforts our eyes. Perhaps that is why people who grow up near rivers or seas often carry a certain softness within them. A fluidity. A tendency to feel deeply, care more and nurture instinctively.
For us Bengalis, this emotional anchor has always been the Ganga river (also known as the Hooghly river in Bengal). To us, she is not just a river. She is a mother. A silent presence that nourishes us in ways we don’t always realise.
At first glance, she is not conventionally beautiful. Her waters are muddy brown, heavy with silt, carrying stories from faraway mountains. Yet this very water body is one of the pillars that defines the identity of Kolkata. Over her stretches the iconic Howrah Bridge, connecting not just two banks, but millions of daily lives of people commuting to work, chasing dreams or simply crossing over to where they belong.
Along her banks lie places like Princep Ghat and Millennium Park, where the river becomes a quiet companion to countless human moments. After long days, people come here to sit beside her. Sometimes with a cup of tea in hand, sometimes with a cigarette, sometimes just with their thoughts.
There is something about the air near the river. It feels balmy, yet refreshing. It invites you to slow down, to breathe, to reflect. It has witnessed millions of silent conversations.
Proposals whispered hesitantly, arguments that ended relationships, friendships repaired, dreams confessed and secrets shared. The river absorbs it all without judgment, flowing on as if she understands the fragile nature of human emotions.
And perhaps she does. After all, she carries with her stories from Gangotri, flowing through countless towns and villages before reaching Bengal. By the time she reaches here, she seems to know us well. Bengalis, after all, are known for two things — our ability to live life fully and our tendency to turn everything into a story.
To us, she is more than geography. She is more than history. She is our third mother, after the one who gave us life and the divine Mother we worship. She is Maa Ganga, nurturing us quietly, like water itself… adapting, embracing and flowing through every phase of our lives.
And maybe that is why, no matter how far we go, a part of us always remains by her banks — sitting quietly, watching the water move and feeling at home.
A collage of some memorable photos of the Ganga river which I have taken over the years. These pictures were taken in Barrackpore, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Benaras from 2009 till 2022.