Lotus blooming again

After 33 years of waiting, beautiful pink lotuses bloomed again in Kashmir’s Wular Lake. Locals threw seeds into the lake hundreds of times, but nothing grew. It’s only now, after the silt was cleared, that these flowers bloomed again at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains . This lake is renowned for its high-quality lotus plants, and sustained the livelihoods of more than 5,000 people who harvested and sold nadru – the edible lotus stem cherished as a delicacy in Kashmiri households. But in 1992, devastating floods hit the region. They choked the lake bed with silt, wiping out the lotus plants and plunging families into poverty. Officials say more than 7.9million cubic metres of silt have been removed from the lake so far. Now the lotus flowers have finally appeared again. Although lotus stems had not been visible in the lake for years, the roots had probably remained dormant – buried under layers of silt. After the silt was cleared, lotus plants started re-emerging, making this phenomenon not just the revival of a plant, but it’s the resurrection of a cultural ecosystem. Historically, the lake has sustained fishing communities and harvesters of water chestnuts. It remains a critical habitat for migratory birds, including the Siberian crane.