Dhaka's black mirror, the Buriganga river

The Buriganga river is the main lifeline of Dhaka. Once the main source of drinking water for Dhaka residents, these days is confronted with foul smells and rotting fish caused by massive pollution. Tens of thousands tons of tannery waste flows freely into the river daily, along with sewage from Dhaka.

The water of the Buriganga is black. The smell is overpowering. Massive industry lines the river; along with the hulls of ships that look they were destroyed in combat, or just driven into retirement by overuse. Small dingy laden with passengers scurry across the river, hand propelled by the river equivalent of a rickshaw puller.There is garbage everywhere on the shores and in the water. It is a testament to the tenacity of plants that vegetation manages to grow here, but somehow it does next to the discarded bottles, toiletries, and occasionally, human corpses. Alongside the edges of the black river are people bathing in the filth, sometimes even brushing their teeth with the rotten river water. No amount of education could change their behavior; these people simply do not have access to clean water. It’s no wonder there are so many sick people in Dhaka at all times. Overall, the sights here look like a depiction of the end of the world; the river is irreparably dead, and a harbinger for what the world could look like one day if we forget to tread lightly.

It goes to show that it doesn't matter how high "a rising tide lifts all ships" if the water looks like it might burst into flame at the drop of a match.