The Mystical Creatures of Ganga: Through an Architect’s Lens

A small journey of an aspiring architect’s quest to learn more about the blind dolphins of Ganga. Along the way, explore a few other remarkable findings about these mystical creatures.

2019 was supposedly a better year than what I had thought it might have been. Being a final year architecture student, I was working on my thesis throughout 2019.

The year taught me a lot of things other than just the technicalities of my course.

First up, being the fact that we as humans know and care very little about the environment that we live in;

second, to have a gratitude for everything and,

third and the most important thing to have self-confidence and really believing in myself

(the last was accomplished after India’s leading commercial architect and his associate mocked the initial idea of the project for being an emotional topic).

Blind dolphin

Without dragging things further, I want to introduce my thesis project here -

National Dolphin Research and Awareness Centre for Gangetic Blind Dolphins.

My site was on the Banks of River Ganga in a city called Bhagalpur, sounds strange doesn’t it?

Well you might not be the first one to have this question !!!

Bear with me and read on as I might be able to convince you that it is an actual legitimate part of our river ecosystem and not something I am making up.

Reason for choosing the project

The reasons why I chose such a topic for my project are -

First, when I grew up in Bihar, I heard multiple stories about these gentle and mystic creatures (but have never been lucky enough to spot one)

and

when I got the chance to study outside of my state and meet new people and got to know about their cultures, I realized that my state had a really peculiar image on people’s mind.

( forget dolphins, 'cause a lot of them had no clue that Ganga actually existed in Bihar! )

Tourism map of Bihar

This really did give me an idea and a push to bring the biodiversity of state in light and make people understand about the same.

Second, the project is actually a proposal by the state government, but at that time they had not taken any actions on it.

So I started researching on it more and more.

I chose Bhagalpur as my site, because on its 60 kms stretch of the river, they have Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary set up.

This stretch has the maximum population of dolphins at around 300-350.

About the Dolphins

For the complete year other than researching, discussing, learning and designing this project, most important part of my job was to assure people that Gangetic Blind Dolphins, who also happen to be India’s National Aquatic Animal are real.

Size of blind dolphin compared to a human

*Amazon or Pink River dolphins, *Indus River Blind Dolphins (Also National Mammal of Pakistan), *Gangetic River Blind Dolphins and *La Plata Dolphins are the only four species of fresh water dolphins.

Unfortunately all of them are on the Endangered Category of the IUCN list.

Decline in the population of Dolphins (by Author)

These beautiful creatures are found in Ganga and it’s tributaries, and only 1500-1800 dolphins are now left in our rivers.

The numbers are declining each and every year. Reason being, illegal poaching for meat and oil, sand mining, over fishing , rise in noise levels and of course the rise in pollution level of our rivers.

Gangetic dolphins are completely blind and use echolocation for survival in the murky waters of Ganga. They tend to stay in shallow waters and only go into the deep water when threatened (2.7-3.5 mts deep). They tend to come up on the surface of the water every 30-120 seconds.

About the Thesis

I went on my case studies, which were a few research centres for both aquatic and non-aquatic animal life, and it made me understand that if my project had to spread awareness about this beautiful creature that cannot be done just by a planning research centre.

I realized that we had to involve normal people like us, you and me into the project.

As scientists and researchers already know about the issues faced by our environment, therefore I thought of expanding my project into an Awareness Centre + Research Centre, merged into one.

This project inculcates researchers, scientists, students and normal people into one whole and becomes a microcosm, wherein as a tourist you can experience how a researcher works and also get information about Ganga and its extensive Biodiversity.

Starting from the site, 30 acres was considered suitable because as I further started reading more and more about the biodiversity of ganga, I realized that its not just the dolphins which needed representation!

There are over 400 types of fishes and 90 types of Amphibians living in the river which also needed their stories to be told; also multiple forest types and families of fauna, whose lives all depend on this one river.

(Fun Fact 400 million human lives are also dependent on Ganga)

Therefore I tried to make my site itself into a display, on how the banks of Ganga are supposed to look like. So that when a user goes through all these displays can apprehend what a big fool we are not to protect what we have.

There are four major forest types in Bihar and most of them have been tried to be inculcated in different parts of the site. A larger part of the project is accessed by public and not just by scientists and researchers to spread awareness among everyone.

Most intriguing parts of the site are the fruit orchards, dolphin ponds and the riparian edges.

Moving on to the built part of the project, there is a main block with the largest foot print which is divided into two parts, research and awareness.

The user enters the awareness block at a higher level as Ganga starts from Uttarakhand’s Gangotri and therefore the species from that region are displayed here.

As we move further the user comes out of the block at the lower level, as the river meets the ocean at Sundarbans, therefore the species from that region are displayed here.

In between there are multiple visually accessed points from where the user can see researchers in full action.

3D renders (by Author)

Furthermore there are multiple activities planned around the site, including aquaculture or fish farming, which can be promoted as a healthier option for fishing as this reduces illegal poaching, noise levels and most important it does not disturb the natural food chain in the river.

So I guess I might have been able to give you a small glimpse of what my project was about. This really helped me in understanding the complexities of our environment. And most importantly how not to be ignorant, because as architects we have and always will hold a special place in advocating, protecting and preserving our environment.

Fun fact there is a species of fresh water sharks also found in Ganga ;)

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Sakshi Jaiswal, Author

Sakshi Jaiswal is a curious young architect. She is passionate about research and technological advancements in the field of architecture. Striving for eccentricity and unique outlook is what runs her creative mind. She is also an avid animal lover.

You can write to her at jaiswal.sakshi32@gmail.com for further info.