{"id":20091888,"date":"2022-06-13T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=91888"},"modified":"2022-07-25T11:46:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T06:16:39","slug":"floods-disrupt-monsoon-weddings-bihar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/floods-disrupt-monsoon-weddings-bihar\/","title":{"rendered":"Floods disrupt monsoon weddings in Bihar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The monsoon rains had doused the brutal summer heatwave, and the season of fertility and hope had started in north Bihar. Ashif Wahab and Nasreen Parween were excited about their monsoon wedding and counted the days until they would marry. But on the day itself, instead of his wedding entourage, the raging Burhi Gandak River<\/a> was at Ashif\u2019s doorstep.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About this article<\/p>

This article is a part of a joint publication of articles by media outlets in South, Southeast, and East Asia on climate change and the environment, to mark the 41st anniversary of CommonWealth Magazine<\/a>, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Earth Summit.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The bride was upset, nervous at the prospect of the wedding being postponed, the expense of the reception going to waste and neighbours taunting her for the misfortune. But the mighty river showed no mercy. \u201cI was on the verge of a panic attack,\u201d says Nasreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her hennaed hand, she picked up the wedding invitation. It read \u2018Ashif weds Nasreen on 6 August 2020\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI called Ashif and reminded him about his promise,\u201d says Nasreen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but it also became the scariest,\u201d says Ashif, a mechanical engineer in Raghunathpur village, in Bihar\u2019s Muzaffarpur district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A state of raging rivers, youths and risky monsoon weddings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 60% of the population in Bihar, in northern India, is under 25<\/a>, making it the state with the highest number of youths. It is also India\u2019s most flood-prone state<\/a>. Every year, almost 80% of the population in north Bihar is impacted by flooding during the monsoon months of July to September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bihar has an abundance of both rivers and young people, but the energy of the former is causing the state to lose the promise of the latter. Major rivers like the Kosi, Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati originate from the Himalayas in Nepal and flow into north Bihar. There, they frequently cause large-scale devastation. This has led to massive migration of young men<\/a> to other states.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long-term study<\/a> published earlier this year calculated for the first time the socio-economic impact of flooding at a village level in north Bihar. It found that 48% (about 11,400) of villages in the region were flooded every year or every other year between 2001 and 2020. Thirty-five per cent (about 8,300) of villages faced high or very high socio-economic vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/div>
Map showing the abundance of rivers in north Bihar, and the proximity of Ashif Wahab and Nasreen Parween\u2019s villages to the Burhi Gandak River \u2022 Graphic: The Third Pole<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The geography of north Bihar, where rivers meander over the plains, makes it naturally prone to floods. Poor management of silt<\/a>, embankments, dams and barrages have added to their ferocity, says Bikash Ranjan Parida, assistant professor in the department of geoinformatics at Central University of Jharkhand and lead author of the study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as migration patterns, monsoon flooding is impacting cultural practices, such as wedding customs. The monsoon is one of three wedding seasons in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes a village to make a marriage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Postponing or cancelling weddings in the region is considered inauspicious and unmanly in patriarchal Bihar, except in exceptional circumstances such as a death in the family. The village\u2019s reputation is also tarnished. As a result, the entire village of Raghunathpur joined Ashif\u2019s relatives and neighbours in thinking of ways to reach the bride\u2019s village of Paharpur, around 6 kilometres away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, \u201cfloods arrive every year; marriages are forever\u201d, goes the saying in north Bihar. In this spirit the best solution, Ashif\u2019s relatives said, was a tractor. Its big wheels could negotiate the floodwaters and a trailer attached to it could accommodate 30-40 guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/div>
People use a tractor to navigate the floodwaters in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar, in 2020 (Image: Sachin Kumar)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut what about my reputation,\u201d recounts Ashif, agitatedly. \u201cReaching my bride\u2019s home on a tractor, a vehicle used for ferrying crops and waste, was below my dignity.\u201d His cousins supported him. Traditionally a bridegroom would ride a horse; today most travel by car. For an upwardly mobile young man to arrive on a tractor<\/a> \u2013 the modern equivalent of a lowly beast of burden \u2013 was too much.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A guest came up with the idea of using boats to ferry the groom and his relatives to the bride\u2019s village. Ashif liked the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone was glad about the arrangement. Ashif\u2019s family had invited more than 200 guests, but there were not enough boats, and almost 160 were left behind. They were disappointed about missing the elaborate wedding feast and the opportunity to dance in the rain \u2013 an unexpected, but fun, event on a joyful occasion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt guilty for throwing tantrums, but for a different reason. My closest people were on the boat, and many didn\u2019t know how to swim. A slap of a strong current could topple these boats. It made me nervous,\u201d remembers Ashif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Groom<\/div>
Ashif Wahab travels to his wedding by boat during the monsoon floods of 2020 (Image: Noor Babu)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was not only Ashif and Nasreen\u2019s marriage that was affected. Ashif says there were four more weddings in Raghunathpur and nearby villages<\/a> in the same week, in which grooms<\/a> and their guests had to struggle with floodwaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As floods become more ferocious, communities increasingly resort to risky measures<\/a> to keep wedding traditions alive during the monsoon. In 2020 and 2021, there were multiple stories of grooms in north Bihar braving the floods to keep their wedding promises<\/a> to their brides. Last year in July, a groom\u2019s family even built a temporary bridge<\/a> to reach the bride\u2019s home. It is impossible to estimate how many have been affected, as while prosperous families might find workarounds, for poorer communities a disaster at a once-in-a-lifetime event would be impossible to manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jitendra Yadav, an activist in Muzaffarpur, says previously floods were moderate and boosted their land\u2019s fertility. Now, they are dangerous. He remembers 2008 when embankments in Kushaha, in upstream Nepal, were breached, causing massive floods along the Kosi basin. That year, \u201cthe region witnessed only funerals\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonsoon weddings are becoming highly unsafe as incidents of embankments breaching are increasing and floods are getting more devastating,\u201d Yadav says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"2020<\/div>
Flooding in Bihar\u2019s Muzaffarpur district in 2020 (Image: Sachin Kumar)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Floods are getting worse in Bihar <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Ashif\u2019s village, the Burhi Gandak has breached its embankments<\/a> since construction started on them in 1954. \u201cThey crack every three to four years, but the magnitude of flooding has increased in the last few years. It was exceptional in 2020<\/a>,\u201d Ashif says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1970 and 2020 more than 3,700 km of embankments were built to protect around 2,000 million hectares (mha) of land. The state government spends tens of millions of dollars<\/a> every year on building, maintaining and repairing this vast network. But these structures, instead of preventing inundation, have increased the flood-hit area in north Bihar, which nearly doubled from 25 mha in 1952 to almost 50 mha in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n