The postcolonial character of south Asia imparts a Janus-faced perspective to our outlook. Many issues are much more than what they seem because they symbolise many other viewpoints. Water disputes in the region are a typical example of the scarcity dilemma acquiring the overtones of a security dilemma. However dire the mutual needs of nations that face a water crisis, they are also caught in a vortex of geopolitical forces. The only way out of this “us” versus “them” circle is evolving a knowledge system on water resources that is interdisciplinary and one that dispenses with the colonial engineering models of development.