Aratrika Das

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will explore two stories that run in opposing directions - the one of ascension of Siliguri with its progress as a town; and the other of loss, cultural disruption and continued deprivation of the river Teesta. Investigating this peculiar nexus, in which the geological changes of the river is the narrative of a town and its population, the project will attempt a fresh biography of both, exploring songs, dances, prayers, recipes and literary narratives of Siliguri and river Teesta and their meandering and conflicting histories. Aratrika Das is the Coordinator for this project.

Aratrika Das teaches at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore. She is interested in developing a mode of critical enquiry that accommodates postcolonial lived experiences of teaching and learning English. Her work explores how literary narratives are shaped, primarily through texts drawn on traditions of the oral mythic folk and the form of life narrative as stylistics. With the IIT Indore Young Faculty Research Seed Grant 2022, she is currently trying to archive and make sense of 19th and 20th century narratives of medicine and healing practices in North Bengal. Given her experience, Aratrika is best suited to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project by IFA. 

This project intends to tell the story of the river Teesta and the township of Siliguri according to local practices and ecological and territorial knowledge. Through local narratives and songs, dances, prayers and recipes, the project hopes to define water in multiple ways. For instance, how a Mechhi dancer sees the river, how a Lepcha sings of Teesta’s lover or how a Rajbongshi prays to Teestaburi to appease her to ward off floods and disease. To complement the understanding of how water impacts landscape - archives of maps, planning documents and other records by early European settlers will be used to take a place-based ethnographic approach.  

The project has a twofold goal: one is to write the history of the river and a small sub-Himalayan town which is almost invisible in South Asian accounts; and second is to document this history through cultural practices of communities to rethink the methods of archiving of social, ecological and cultural practices of South Asia. Moreover, the project intends to transform the conventional understanding of rivers as purely natural resources, emphasising the material reality of Teesta as neither pristine nor natural, as humans have been embedded in the forest and river ecosystems for centuries. 

The outcomes of this project will be an essay in Bangla and English, extensive audiovisual documentation from the field and a digital archive. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will be the essay in Bangla and English, extensive audiovisual documentation, a link to the digital archive, and a download of the material of the digital archive in soft copy. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Research programme as it seeks to archive everyday practices related to language, gestures, prayers, and recipes embedded within the ecology of a river and small town that is almost forgotten. It further seeks to undo the modern cartographic portrayal of river systems as lines separating land connections from the river’s source to its mouth to focus on knowledge of water systems and their imaginaries. In the long run, this project aims to develop more nuanced water literacy by combining mythology and ecology. 

 IFA will ensure that the project is implemented on time and that the funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is complete and deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with the Trustees. 

This project is made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.