Water and its Kinship with Communities in Subhash Vyam’s Water

Subhash Vyam’s Water revolves around the life-sustaining natural resource, water, and its kinship with the Gond communities that live simple yet sustainable lives in close proximity to nature. Water adumbrates the social and environmental aftermaths of dam building and documents modern development’s impacts on the lives of Gond villagers, on the ecosystem they inhabit, and on their intimate relationship with nature and its vital resources such as water. This article attempts to demonstrate how Water employs traditional Gond artistic forms to portray two contrasting worldviews regarding the consumption of natural resources – the first being a developmentalist world view and the second an alternate indigenous perspective based on ideals of water democracy. This article also investigates how Water offers an imaginative dimension to maldevelopment’s aftermaths, both social and ecological, and thereby might potentially raise readers’ consciousness. Furthermore, it discusses how the narrative acts as a medium of protest by presenting a warning against nature’s wrath and a plea for embracing sustainable alternatives.