Desert of white sand and puddles of water flowing along it – this is what the once great river Gorai in Kushtia has reduced itself to now.

During summer, the river is navigable on bare foot.

It holds no notion of the rich past that entwines with the history of Rabindranath Tagore and his voyages into these lands through Gorai.

There was a time when Rabindranath almost drowned in the river.

Now, the river has reduced itself to narrow drains due to barriers upstream along Padma River and thin flow from further upstream in the Ganges.

Water specialist Ainun Nishat says a permanent solution to Gorai can help reduce salinity in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, and Jashore regions.

Most importantly, he says, it will save the Sundarbans.