Wiki-mapping to discover the lost traces of Nila culture

The river Nila, which is fast disappearing will also lead to the wiping out a rich civilization that thrived along the Nila. The traces of this  civilzation, which is only  kept alive by the folk lores , stories and songs might be lost forever  for want of conservation measures.

An internationally-acclaimed tourism agency, The Blue Yonder, is striving to piece together this vanishing civilisation by wiki mapping and crowd-sourcing, which will give everyone including you and me a chance to be part of this novel venture.

This is the first time in India that attempts are being made to revive a river through  ‘crowd-sourcing’ . In this ambitious plan, each and every civilizational trace in the 9,000 sq kms surrounding the 200-km course of the Nila through three districts — Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram will be documented. By roping in the local populace whose lives are influenced by the river Nila, The Blue Yonder hopes to preserve what is remaining of Nila. The team is setting up  an open source platform where people could directly upload any Nila-related information.

“It could be about stories they want to share, it could be about the natural ponds in their village, it could be about farming traditions, about musicians, about skill sets, handicrafts, pottery,” Gopinath Parayil, founder of The Blue Yonder. said.

To get started  Nila Foundation will take up a  pilot documentation of 10 historically significant regions within the 9000 sq km including Thirunavaaya,  Thrithaala or Thrissur cole lands. Each hub will have 10 volunteers who will be mapping 10 sq kms and this pilot exercise  will offer an open platform for the general public to access and furnish information on Nila. Only novel ventures like the Nila foundation can save  the rivers of Kerala, which are all facing a death knell due to the rampant sand mining and other human activities.