"Adiye Kamala ! Thanni vardhu , kodatha eduthundu vaadi seekram" (Kamala, water is coming, please hurry up with the water drums here at once!!) screamed Mr Rajagopal uncle. Kamala drops the plate of wheat which she was hand picking , with a thud as it raised a cloud of dust and gave a metal sound for the next 2 minutes. All the wheat spilled. "Ada chai, enaku velaki mela vela vandhunde irukum, en neram" , (bad things take a liking for me, all my blessed fate, work keeps coming for me constantly ughh") kamala slapped herself as she grabbed the KRaja initialized water drums outside to her husband who was now in a tamil cinema villain mode. With the newspaper tucked under his armpit, the picture of a famous world president being wet by the sweat and pricked by his body hair, his dhoti tightly wound and raised all way upto his waist as he secretly prayed to his deity that it didn't drop down as he was uninsured from the bottom ( if you know what I mean). All decency and social norms at one side, as 2nd Floor Chatterjee , 1st floor Nair and Ground floor Reddy garu got onto cage fights, pushing each other around shouting in their own mother tongues. Indiastic feeling. All bad words, frustrations coming out from the men's lips as they were eyeing the water pump as it ejaculated streams of water and it all happens under a time bound state. Kamala, meanwhile, covered her modesty with a quick towel, grabbed the filled drum, effortlessly placed in her hips as she carefully strutted against the force of the agitated men as she noticed Mrs Chatterjee giving her jealous look that Kamala was already 1-up in that day's water war. 30 minutes, after all the chaos, sweat, damaged outer drums and silence began to dawn in a place that could have been easily a cinema film sequence. Water, ladies and gentlemen, is a resource that is NO WAY INFERIOR to any of the other high valued vanity boosting products that we all vie for.
I come from a place where water is a royalty, and I have been schooled to treat running water with greatest respect and discipline. We just can't afford to let water go waste. While I was growing up, I have recollections of multiple such instances, described above happen and sometimes even escalate to much more drama. As I moved across from one house to another, the water drum changed shapes, water source changed but the need for water preservation and regulation never ceased till date. In one of my previous houses, we had an internal water tank lodged above the bathroom ceiling where the overhead water motor when run, fills our own small internal tank and this supplies water to our house until stocks last. Thankfully, in my previous houses, all of the restrooms were indianised and there was no risk of Western Toilet Leakages, which kick out the discards in a copious tsunami of water in one flush. Not to joke, sometimes, in my place, where all of us have Western basins, I have often thought about half-flushing if possible . Don't judge me. You have no idea, how difficult it is to be on an official call and also attend the call from the water driver , open the sump , run the motor, check overflow and inform fellow tenants. Water's arrival is like really the best music a middle class guy can often enjoy.
The level of OCD I have towards water, preservation and conservation is known even to my poor Delivery manager who I worked with in the States. All the way over in Chicago, where no body gives a damn about how much water was used for ablutions or cooking or for cleaning etc. It was one fine Friday. My boss was in a visibly relaxed mood, his face, poor guy was peaceful, no forehead lines, as he was silently listening to his playlist. A Singh, by birth, I could have a range of conversations with him, even as I was careful to not overstep the unsaid rules of Workplace Dynamics. I had paid a visit to the Restroom, my usual ritual when I heard that sound, which my ears can recognize even if my eyes were tied and mouth stuffed with cloth. Water draining. I did my business, quickly scampered towards that noise, to see that the last western cubicle was running constantly and water was draining when there was no one around. Obviously, some good natured guy had pressed the flush and quickly left for his morning scrum or whatever. But when I saw this, I had that look when I first saw Conjuring the movie. My mindvoice, immediately darting expletives at the guy who last used and I was like :
I almost forgot to zip myself back, as I ran like a fire truck even as the lady who was entering the women's restroom got shocked to see my hands on my fly. I just averted any conversation, with the assurance that probably I can explain to her later when I see her by the cafeteria. So, walk walk, I reach my boss's seat. He gave me that rare smiling look, a pleasant aura which quickly drained when he saw that I was visibly shaken. He immediately sat straight, and enquired if everything was alright, whether I not feeling well, any issues at work. I chose my words carefully, just like Lord Hanuman did in Ramayana. I said, "Thanks for asking, that's very kind of you, All is good with work and in personal. It is just that I got disturbed to see that water was being flushed for no reason in one of the western cubicles and I am just looking for someone to report to, I am sorry I had to bother you with this." . His calm returned, a sarcastic polite but naughty smile trying to escape his well tamed lips that only smiled when needed, I could almost see his face turning pink as he struggled to control his laughter, but he managed to act sanely. He said, Oh ! That happens sometimes, don't worry, inform MR xyz from the client corner, he will have someone look at it in person. I motioned towards Mr xyz, and the day went on..
See here is the thing, I have been in situations when water had to be earned, and also in situations when I can stand in the shower singing rhymes doing nothing and simply staring into space, but something never went out of my system. The need for Respectfully using Water. Mother earth might have 3/4rths, but due to all the industrialization, the innovations, the evolving luxuries of humanity, we have reached such an alarming state that we don't recognize water is becoming the hidden latent high value resource. Gone are those days when our parents and ancestors used to trust water pumps, wells and other sources to do all their tasks. These days we are already waging war for dams and rivers between states, packaged drinking water has become a commodity like rice, oil etc. If this trend continues, one day water might be treated like Bitcoin. How much access to water might be equated with the prosperity and social status of a household, just like how telephones and mobiles began as a rich man's thing to become a common man's thing. As much in light vein I have taken us thought this highly serious topic, I am earnestly reaching out to every one of you, to be cognizant, judicious and disciplined in how you manage the water consumption in your house, office, hostel wherever you are stationed. Teach it to the young ones, to not use more than what is necessary. Use Dishwashers only twice a week. Try to use Indian model restrooms, which is infact one of the best ways of decluttering your body. It is like a yoga by itself. Don't overrun motors, don't run washing machines everyday out of monotony. Water is Wealth.
