Letters to the Editor: Guwahati's water woes

TV channels' pictures on April 20 brought out once again the helpless situation faced by the residents of Guwahati due to flooding of roads after just 15 minutes of heavy rainfall. Roads were full of water and drains were covered with solid waste. The obvious solution to avoid flooding is to either drain out the water or, failing that, let the water go down underground in situ.

In an article titled 'Artificial flood & water scarcity in urban areas', published in The Sentinel on June 4, 2020 the second option of pushing the water down was suggested and the method of doing it was also explained along with a request to the authorities concerned for carrying out the work on an experimental basis in Guwahati. The operating part of the suggestion is reproduced below:

"The suggested solution is Rain Water Harvesting through Recharge Shaft. It is the most efficient and cost effective rain water harvesting technique to recharge unconfined aquifer overlain (covered on top) by poorly permeable strata. Recharge shafts may be dug manually or by mechanical means. These are to be located at the city's drain beds at suitable intervals. Diameter of the shafts may be 0.5 m to 2.5 m depending on the size of the drain where the shafts are dug. The shafts should penetrate the top impermeable strata and end in a depth of 10 to 15 m reaching the permeable soil strata leading to aquifer. This will force the rain water to flow directly downward to the aquifer level where it will spread around. If sufficient numbers of such recharge shafts are dug on the beds of the city's drains, the surplus rain water which does not get drained out due to inadequate drainage capacity will rush down the recharge shafts. It would solve the problem of artificial floods and additionally raise the ground water level helping the city to fight severe water scarcity."

"This suggestion may be tried on an experimental basis, say, in the drains along RG Baruah road. About 300 shafts (150 on each side) of 0.5 to 1 m diameter and 12 to 15 m deep may be bored on the 3 km long stretch of drain along RG Baruah road and then backfilled with boulder, gravel and coarse sand. The effectiveness can be observed during a heavy downpour. It would cost less than Rs10 crores."

"Smaller 6" diameter CI pipe shafts may be inserted along the edges of the road in order to augment the process with quicker evacuation of the surface water and thereby eliminating flooding of the roads. In these smaller shafts back filling should be avoided and strong steel wire netting cover should be used."

If the above method proves effective, the twin perennial problems of artificial floods and acute water scarcity will be eliminated. GMC, GMDA and GDD are once again requested to look into it.

Jatindra Nath Mahanta,

Jorhat.

Role of movies

Most of us would agree that movies are a great conversation starter. We often resort to it when striking up a conversation with friends or even someone we have met recently. Movies are also a great to-go-to on a night-in with friends or alone. But did you know, movies are not just an entertainer, but also beneficial for our overall health?

Since our childhood, we have been told, and science proves, that excessive screen time is detrimental to our brain structure and impacts our cognitive abilities such as memory and focus. However, as it turns out, the same is not the case with movies. Some studies show that watching movies can make you more productive and help with your mental well-being. A study conducted by researchers at University College London and Vue Cinema found that people who watched movies experienced improved mental focus and fixation towards the movie. This focused watching (according to the study) helps to improve cognition and memory. Another study has also highlighted that liking trash films is linked to a high level of intellectual intelligence.

Keyvan Sarkhosh, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, says, "To such viewers, trash films appear as an interesting and welcome deviation from the mainstream fare. We are dealing here with an audience with above-average education, which one could describe as 'cultural omnivores'. Such viewers are interested in a broad spectrum of art and media across the traditional boundaries of high and popular culture." Keyvan has conducted similar studies and found that people who watch horror movies have above-average intelligence.

Have you ever felt a character in a film was exactly like you or very similar to you? Maybe it is something about their personality or the portrayal of a character. However, this association also impacts individuals on an emotional level. Studies suggest that watching movies can increase our emotional intelligence and also help in improving social connectivity. A study conducted by psychologists at Oklahoma University studied the relation between fictional drama and emotions. For the purpose of the study, the subjects were divided into two groups. One group was shown fictional dramas or documentaries, while the other group was asked to either watch documentaries or nothing at all. These groups then underwent reading the eyes in the mind test. According to the results of the test, researchers found a consistency in the feelings of the participants who watched the fictional drama.

Imagine you have had a really hard day at work, and are trying hard to take your mind off a few things. But the problem is that your mind keeps going back to worrying about work. How do you fix it? Watch a movie or Netflix maybe? Psychological research and therapeutic practitioners verify that watching movies is one of the best ways to deal with anxiety or depression. Dr Noah Uhrig, a group leader of a study on similar lines says, "The cinema is a form of social participation with strong egalitarian properties. The costs of attending the cinema are less prohibitive than other forms of cultural consumption such as the symphony, the ballet or the opera. At the same time, cinema attendance is not a wholly low-brow activity as it is also an integral component of an omnivorous leisure portfolio, i.e., those that attend higher cultural activities also attend the cinema."

Sad films can make us happy. It is similar to the effect that sad songs have on our mood, they uplift us and make us feel lighter. Sad music resonates with our feelings helping us find an outlet for them. Similarly, sad movies help us find an outlet for our feelings hence making us feel less sad. However, there hasn't been any study on the same, but studies on the effect of sad music in uplifting moods in people help understand the phenomenon better.

Whether it is thriller, drama, horror or romance — whichever genre that you prefer - now there is proof that movies not only entertain you, but also help your mental well-being.

Pranjal Dutta,

Cotton University.