Zariyein III

Zariyein III was undertaken in Tehri Garhwal in collaboration with Henval Vani, a community radio group based in Chamba, near New Tehri town.

Zariyein III tried to explore the idea of what it means when a place ceases to exist.
Tehri Town has been submerged by a dam operational since 2006. People affected by the dam have been relocated to New Tehri and in other resettlement colonies around that area.
Today traces of the town remain only in people’s personal histories. Zariyein III attempted to document memories and perceptions of people associated with Tehri.

Using photography and sound, members of Henval Vani shared their own experiences and interacted with people from old Tehri town. Members created their individual audio-visual pieces based on a sharing of these experiences and interactions. All the pieces, though distinct, were thematically connected and eventually came together to create Zariyein III – a remembrance of a town through diverse experiences and stories of various people.

Zariyein III was taken around for a larger public viewing and engagement in four places of the Tehri district. While in some places, the work evoked a longing for the past, at others, some felt it was futile to refresh painful memories. Some narrated personal experiences of how they were forcefully moved out of their homes, how little or no compensation had been paid to the poor and uninformed, how they would have protested vehemently against the dam if only they had known the actual truth behind it.

Subsequently, Zariyein was also aired on the local cable network, eliciting responses and written letters from audiences. Some even took copies of Zariyein III- a way of remembering their Tehri.