‘We Don’t Have Many Options’
The snow-like scene unfolding on the Yamuna comes at the start of Chhath Puja, a Hindu festival dedicated to the sun god Surya. Bathing for purity is a key part of the four-day festival.
Some bathers told reporters that they were aware of the possible dangers of the foam, which experts say can cause breathing problems and irritate the skin, but felt that they had no other choice.
“The water is extremely dirty, but we don’t have many options,” Gunjan Devi, who came to bathe in the river as part of the festival, told Reuters. “It is a ritual to take a bath in a water body so we have come here to bathe.”
