Leafing through the magazines at a clinic’s waiting room, this photo haunted me. Finally, I found it here at the gallery of Allard Prize for International Integrity.
The lines on the cracked earth reminded me of drought season in the Philippines when I lived there as a little girl.
Somenath Mukhopadhyay is an amateur photographer and a teacher of a higher secondary school. His work primarily focuses on people and the environment and in particular in the areas of agriculture, human health, water and food security and climate change.
The boy in this photo is collecting water from a dried up pond in Birbhum, a district in West Bengal, India. The district is known for its arid soil and sparse vegetation. Climate change and extreme weather conditions have marginalized communities such as Birbhum that rely on its surroundings for food and shelter.
The Allard Prize Photo Competition jury selected this photo as it highlights the basic human rights issue of access to safe drinking water.
Photographs and Memories 
I can see why it affected you Perpetua, and good on you for following up on where the original resides. I agree the prize was well-awarded. Very moving and thought-provoking.
What a contrast between the tiny pool of water and the cracked earth all around. Really makes you think…
It is painful to see the drought conditions in so many parts of the world due to climate change. This photo is heartbreaking.
Sadly it’s all too easy to forget how different many lives are to ours.
A very disturbing image, and on with a powerful message….that photographer succeeded there
Cool lines.
The photo isn’t only strikingly attractive, it encourages people to stop and think about the circumstances depicted and, by extension, the pricelessness of water. (something that is lost on people living here in the rain forest climate of B.C.’s South Coast.)
It’s this kind of photo makes me understand why people say a picture is worth 1000 words. Thanks for sharing, Perpetua. (I enjoy the gallery of Allard Prize a lot!)
Good night.
The prize was well deserved. Thanks for sharing.