Aakriti is in class six of The Hyderabad Public School. She likes writing, reading, and going to school. Her favorite subjects are math, english and physics. Her hobbies are singing, swimming, and playing the guitar.

I went to a beautiful place during my Dassera holiday. It was a surprise trip arranged by my father. It was a six hour drive from Bangalore. The place was called Coorg. On my visit to Coorg, I saw the river Kaveri, which is a freshwater river.

The river was not dry or too full, it was just perfect. I had the pleasure of taking a boat ride on this beautiful river. Kaveri is the main source of water in many regions of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The main dams built on the Kaveri are the Krishnasagar dam located in Mysore and the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu.

The river was huge and the water was clean. I took some water in my hands to taste, and it was very sweet. The people of Coorg even worship this river. This shows how important the river is to the people. The river has its origin at a place called ‘TalaKaveri’ situated on the slopes of the Brahmagiri hills, where it forms a small pond and a temple is built around it. On the auspicious day of ‘Tula Sankramana,’ which generally falls on October 17th every year, the holy pond(spring) rises, and it is said that many more natural springs located around the Kodagu district also rise during this time. It is unknown why it happens every year around this time of the year. Just as every living being is born tiny, the origin of the Kaveri is a very small pond, about the size of a small room. It flows underground for a short distance and then emerges above ground. As the river flows on and collects tributaries like the Bhavani, it becomes a mighty river.

Another famous tourist spot is the Bhagamandala temple (in the Kodagu district), which stands at the meeting place of the three sacred rivers – the Kaveri, Kannika, and Sujyothi. It is also called the Triveni Sangamam. As I was looking at the water, I realised that it was shallow and I could wade through it. The water was chilly and refreshing. Though the water was shallow it was flowing quite fast.

The Kaveri serves as the main drinking water source for many towns and villages. The cities of Bangalore, Mandya and Mysore depend almost entirely on the Kaveri for their drinking water supply. Polluting this water could largely affect these cities.

Coorg is a very beautiful place. It has lots of plants and animals that live together in peace. We must not disturb this biodiversity by polluting their surroundings, which includes the river Kaveri. A huge variety of aquatic animals are found in this river. Fishermen catch and sell fish from the Kaveri and earn a living. If the fish die due to contaminated water, the fishermen will also be affected. But if the fish take in toxins present in the pollutants, the toxic fish will be eaten by us and cause many problems to us. This shows that if we pollute freshwater it somehow comes back to us. It is very important for us to protect this river as there is not much fresh water left. Knowing that there is only one percent of earth’s water that can be used, we must also realize that it is not only humans, but also a large variety of plants and animals that are dependent on it. Every creature needs at least a little water to live.

This trip has taught me a lot of things: to save water, respect plants and animals, and take care of them.  

THE
K – Kindling
A – Amazing
V – Virtuous
E – Enlightening
R – River
I  – Indeed