Home is where all our comforts are: A good water supply, electricity, our valuables, food and a place to rest. Beyond these, are what people call “luxuries”. On the day our water supply was cut off abruptly, I realized those simple needs were actually somewhat of a privilege.
Friday, the 31st of January, 2020 was the same day our economics professor talked to us about how people in some areas of Maharashtra, particularly the people of Vidarbha, Marathwada and our Tribal people, don’t get a good water supply, are alienated from their lands, don’t get electricity or anything worth calling a formal education. I listened keenly as I do for every lecture, felt bad for those Maharashtrians and went my way. I didn’t know I was going to taste the same kind of suffering people from those areas have to face every day. (I said “taste” because I know it is way worse.)
And so, the woes started when the taps ran dry. The constant filling of mugs and the depleting water from our buckets after every use made me feel scared about how I'd live without this precious resource that I took for granted. I felt the water-crunch when the last of our buckets were going to get over. It was frustrating trying to find out when the pipelines will be fixed by checking the news, trying to call for tanks, asking friends if they were affected by this crisis, wanting to go about my usual germophobic ways, but unable to, and (the obvious) getting really angry about how I couldn’t go about my usual routine.
It was a trying time, and all I thought about was the people close to home, in Maharashtra, who have to face this frustration every day.
On Wednesday, the 29th of January, 2020, a water supply pipeline burst during Metro work in Mumbai. Localities in Bandra, Santacruz, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Kurla and Ghatkopar were affected by it. (1)
People talk about how water is "life-giving" all the time. People feel bad for other people all the time. But what then? Why do we allow ourselves to move on with our regular lives without doing anything but complain?
I felt so crippled and obsessed with water for the next 48 hours. I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied until I could see the taps running into those half empty buckets.
My story had a happy ending at the start of 2nd February, 2020 when the water supply was restored in our area. But many of our own people still continue to suffer. And while the news may cover their afflictions sometimes, nothing seems to be solved in the end. I don’t want that to be the end for them. People are dying and suffering because of our overemphasis on the insignificant pettiness of our individualistic lives. I know there’s an epidemic happening, civil unrest due to rising skepticism over Government policies, crashing aggregate Indian demand, religious/racial intolerance and probably 10 other things that’s going wrong right now. But I’m going to have to ask you, is that all you can do?
Maybe we should learn more from water, reaching to all the surfaces it can to the best of its abilities. We should reach out to others to the best of our abilities.
Be desperate for change; the good kind of change that will truly help your people.
References:
(1) Information received from online news from “the Hindu” official website.
Friday, the 31st of January, 2020 was the same day our economics professor talked to us about how people in some areas of Maharashtra, particularly the people of Vidarbha, Marathwada and our Tribal people, don’t get a good water supply, are alienated from their lands, don’t get electricity or anything worth calling a formal education. I listened keenly as I do for every lecture, felt bad for those Maharashtrians and went my way. I didn’t know I was going to taste the same kind of suffering people from those areas have to face every day. (I said “taste” because I know it is way worse.)
And so, the woes started when the taps ran dry. The constant filling of mugs and the depleting water from our buckets after every use made me feel scared about how I'd live without this precious resource that I took for granted. I felt the water-crunch when the last of our buckets were going to get over. It was frustrating trying to find out when the pipelines will be fixed by checking the news, trying to call for tanks, asking friends if they were affected by this crisis, wanting to go about my usual germophobic ways, but unable to, and (the obvious) getting really angry about how I couldn’t go about my usual routine.
It was a trying time, and all I thought about was the people close to home, in Maharashtra, who have to face this frustration every day.
On Wednesday, the 29th of January, 2020, a water supply pipeline burst during Metro work in Mumbai. Localities in Bandra, Santacruz, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Kurla and Ghatkopar were affected by it. (1)
People talk about how water is "life-giving" all the time. People feel bad for other people all the time. But what then? Why do we allow ourselves to move on with our regular lives without doing anything but complain?
I felt so crippled and obsessed with water for the next 48 hours. I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied until I could see the taps running into those half empty buckets.
My story had a happy ending at the start of 2nd February, 2020 when the water supply was restored in our area. But many of our own people still continue to suffer. And while the news may cover their afflictions sometimes, nothing seems to be solved in the end. I don’t want that to be the end for them. People are dying and suffering because of our overemphasis on the insignificant pettiness of our individualistic lives. I know there’s an epidemic happening, civil unrest due to rising skepticism over Government policies, crashing aggregate Indian demand, religious/racial intolerance and probably 10 other things that’s going wrong right now. But I’m going to have to ask you, is that all you can do?
Maybe we should learn more from water, reaching to all the surfaces it can to the best of its abilities. We should reach out to others to the best of our abilities.
Be desperate for change; the good kind of change that will truly help your people.
References:
(1) Information received from online news from “the Hindu” official website.
