The Age of Stupid

mclibel

• Franny Armstrong
• 2005

drowned out

• Franny Armstrong
• 2002

The Indian Government is aiming to provide much needed water to the drought areas of North West India by diverting the mighty Narmada River through a series of giant dams and canals. 8000 families stand to be submerged by their reservoirs. Over three years, we live, sleep and breathe with the families, protestors and even celebrities who claim ‘we will drown, but not move’. Luhariya, like his father and his father’s father, is a local healer who stands to lose his home. The government offers him a place in a 'resettlement site', but there is little fertile land and no drinking water. Furthermore, there are basic miscalculations in the design of the dams, suggesting that water will never even reach the thirsty people in the far-off drought area. Instead, it will go to the 'Golden Corridor' industrial belt and four large cities. As the river rises in the torrential rain, Luhariya and Bulgi can do nothing but sit and watch and prepare to drown. "Of course we feel like crying. Who would feel like laughing?…