Every year, hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims flock to Sagar, a teardrop-shaped island in the Hooghly estuary, 60 miles south of Kolkata. A temple stands at the southern tip where the island faces the open sea. The location is revered, a place where the holy Ganges River flows into the Bay of Bengal, eventually merging with the Indian Ocean. In recent years, Hooghly also has become known as an estuary of vanishing islands: Three have been submerged over the past few decades. Some villages in Sagar have been forced to retreat from the advancing sea. Visiting journalists often describe inhabitants here as the region’s first clim

Read more ...

More Articles ...

Subcategories