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Multimedia version with video and photographs

A gentle trickle A surging river A gentle plain A delta Four long years Three thousand kilometres Cormorants, sea gulls Sparrows at dusk A flurry of wings Moody clouds La brume matinale Boats bathed in twilight red Wild blossoms In narrow paths A banyan tree Tall strong shady A forlorn reed In amber garb Bamboo groves Reaching for the sky Arching along the water Coconut palms Betwixt the land and the sea A river rests, a delta speaks Older than the mountains, it is a river that forces its way across the towering Himalayas. The Tibetans know it as the Yarlung Tsang Po (the purifier). In India it is known as the Brahmaputra. In Bangladesh it is also known as the Jamuna, the Padma and finally the Meghna before it opens into the sea. No one is known to have traversed the entire run of the river. We take you on this journey, across the millenium, across three nations, through Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. From the icy trickle in the glaciers. Along Pei in China, where the river narrows into a rapid-filled gorge reaching phenomenal depths and amazing cascades. Through the crystal clear waters in Arunachal Pradesh. Across the We take you sailing along the Brahmaputra. The Brahmaputra Diary. An exhibition based on my journey along this majestic Asian river opens at the Sutra Gallery in Kuala Lumpur tonight (Sunday the 7th September) at 8:00 pm. Shahidul Alam Sun Sep 7, 2003 Multimedia version with video in Zonezero.com