Along the Betwa – Radhika Singh and Shail Joshi

Along the Betwa is a book that transports readers to Bundelkhand, in northern India – a vast and ancient region, geographically and culturally. Bundelkhand is now divided between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Along the Betwa follows the authors in narrative documentary style, as they walk along the river that cuts through the region, to engage with its rural landscape and its people. By weaving together stories and images, Along the Betwa invites readers along on the trek.

Bundelkhand has struggled with recurring droughts, a weakening economy, and political marginalization for several decades. Climate change has exacerbated these problems. On the riverwalk, Singh and Joshi document a range of perspectives on environmental issues, livelihoods, religion, and inequality. They speak with women, men, and children about their hopes for the future. By choosing to traverse the region on foot, the authors were compelled to slow down and experience their surroundings in a truly unconventional way, coming from a digital world where deadlines are ever shorter and miles are a reward.

Photographs, maps, and anecdotes leave the reader’s footprints on different spots along the riverbank, through an account of daily encounters and observations along the Betwa. Nuanced and never pedantic, Singh and Joshi reflect openly on their experiences and positionality, while allowing readers to come to their own conclusions about Bundelkhand. The mode of walking was essential to the methodology, as it allowed the authors to stop, listen, and absorb all the details that constitute agrarian life, giving Singh and Joshi opportunities to explore places, peoples, textures, smells, and landscapes relatively unknown to them and their urban existence, and gain a better understanding of the ways in which booming urban centers are completely dependent upon rural areas that provide them with everything from food to sand.

Along the Betwa is aimed towards people interested in engaging with the issues of the Global South in a novel way. It presents an honest and insightful look into the situation in Bundelkhand, with the hope that it will help inform conversations on development in India. By pulling on written and visual forms in equal measure, the book helps readers connect with the day-to-day lives of people in marginalized regions. The walk was funded by Veditum India Foundation and National Geographic’s Out of Eden Walk.

ARTIST / AUTHOR

Radhika Singh previously worked as a correspondent for the Indian Express in Mumbai and as a project manager at the research-advocacy organization INHAF in Ahmedabad before getting a master’s in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, where she carries out research on adoption patterns in smallholder irrigation technology, particularly in semi-arid areas, on an EU-funded fellowship.

Shail Joshi is a design architect by training and a published photographer. He has worked across the Global South on issues pertaining to marginalized communities. Following his master’s in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he currently works as a project manager at Resilient Cities Catalyst, a nonprofit based in New York City, working on climate resilience projects in the U.S. and globally.

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