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Paper short abstract

The proposed paper analyses the everyday cultural practices and relationship of boatmen and divers with the river Yamuna in the city of Delhi to articulate their sense of identity and idea of home through a memory of the river and interaction with non-human elements like water and boats.

Paper long abstract

The proposed paper aims to analyse the oral narratives of the riverine community of boatmen and divers settled along the banks of river Yamuna in the city of Delhi in order to articulate their sense of identity and notions of ‘home’ in a rapidly urbanising city. Their rituals and everyday cultural practices centred either around the river water or their boats are examined to understand their idea of ‘home’ as some of them live permanently on the boats parked along the rivers edge or have built houses there.

The boats on river Yamuna are seen as liminal, hybrid spaces not only because human communities live on them and make a complex, diverse livelihood but also because this environment is neither fully land nor entirely water; it represents the fluid and complex worlds that lie within the rivers. The boats, thus, promote the boatmen’s fluidity and hybridity as a cultural and social community, with their own set of rituals and practices.

The paper will also situate their sensory experience of the river, the smell of its polluted waters or swimming in it to understand how degradation/pollution further impacts their embodied relationships with water. The embodied, sensory engagement of boatmen with water, including smells, tactile interactions, and emotional attachments will be discussed to highlight a lived ecology often excluded from policy frameworks which consequently impacts their relationship with the river in the city.