Though they were born in two different places on the banks of Kerala’s second largest river, the Bharathapuzha, their common passion for reviving the dying river and infusing a new lease of life into the vibrant cultures it nurtured brought Kochi-based travel photographer Ajay Menon and Pondicherry-based responsible tourism campaigner Gopinath Parayil together.

Ajay, born in the artists’ village of Vellinezhy, and Gopinath, who hails from Ponnani, where the Nila merges with the Arabian sea, are now on a mission to fuel a conservation campaign for the river, which reduces to a trickle during summer due to large-scale encroachments and deforestation.

As part of a photo-documentation initiative, more than a dozen travel photographers from across the world would reach Palakkad by July second week to initiate a monsoon journey through the river from its origins in the Anamalai hills to its merging point at Ponnani.................Read more

Source: The Hindu