India, March 22 -- Every day at the crack of dawn, 66-year-old Asresar Saini walks along the length of Kalindi Kunj ghat till he reaches the Yamuna. The river, which is fairly clean and devoid of any odour when it enters the Capital at Palla, deteriorates drastically by the time it touches Kalindi Kunj-Okhla stretch, before exiting Delhi.
The water here is inky black, choked with pollutants and stuffed with garbage, and the air is thick with ammoniacal pungent stench of decay. Frothy clumps float on its surface. Till now the river has travelled around 50km through Delhi, and effluents from 20 out of 22 major drains have been injected in its channel.
Saini fills a bucket of this toxic water and bathes in it - just like he has for the last ...