On a Saturday morning, my younger sister Tina and I were washing our father’s car with a hosepipe. Tina laughed and ran around our garden as I chased her spraying water on her with the hosepipe.
“Hey! Don’t waste water!”
Tina and I turned around and there stood a girl outside our gate. To our great surprise, she opened the gate and marched inside our garden. Her gaze searched for the tap where the hosepipe was connected and she closed the tap. Then she glared angrily at me and shouted, “Don’t waste water.”
Tina ran inside the house and brought my mother out. Immediately the girl ran to my mother and said, “Aunty, please tell them not to waste water.”
“Amma, tell this girl to get out of our house,” I said aloud.
“Now please be quiet Rachna,” said my mother. “What is your name? Where are you from?” Amma gently asked the girl.
“My name is Nalini. I am from Porappur — a small village near Coimbatore.”
My mother smiled. “When I was a child, we would visit your village during our summer holidays. We would go on a picnic to the beautiful lake, Arani.”
“Yes aunty, it was a beautiful lake. But now it’s all dried up. My mother and I moved to the city to live with our uncle, because Arani dried up. My father is in our village trying to bring it back to life,” said Nalini.
“Oh! Dear! I did not know this. I will help your father to revive Arani,” said my mother.
“Thank you, aunty. Can you please give me a kudam of water?”
“Sure,” said my mother.
“Please come every day and collect water,” said my mother. Nalini kept the kudam of water on her tricycle. She looked at me and said, “Please don’t waste water. People in my village have to walk far to get water.” I felt guilty for wasting water.
Kishore’s garden
The next weekend, Nalini came to our house to get water. From our garden, Nalini looked at our neighbour’s garden. She got angry and to my surprise, Nalini ran into their garden and turned off the water sprinklers.
“Stop wasting water!!” Nalini shouted at Kishore, our neighbour’s son. Kishore shouted at her to get out of his house. Kishore’s father came out and Nalini pleaded with him not to waste water. “Get out! You have no right to advice us,” Yelled Kishore’s father.
I apologised to Kishore’s father and grabbed Nalini’s hand and brought her out of their house.
“Nalini, I know you don’t like to see anyone wasting water, but you can’t barge into people’s house and tell them not to waste water,” I said gently. Nalini looked sad. She left without saying anything.
A month later, I opened the washbasin tap to brush my teeth. Water dripped and stopped.
“Amma, please switch on the motor,” I said.
“There is no water. Your father has called for the water lorry,” said my mother.
“There is no water lorry available,” said my father.
I saw Nalini coming. “Sorry Nalini, some water problem in our house,” I said.
“The whole city is facing a water problem. The water lorry came to our colony yesterday and my mother and I were able to get five kudams of water. I bought these two for you,” said Nalini. We were touched by her gesture.
“Er…can you please give us one kudam of water. We will pay you,” asked Kishore sheepishly from the other side of the wall. Nalini gave him the water but refused to take money.
Six months later, I got a call from Nalini from Porappur. “Lake Arani has come back to life,” said Nalini. My parents and several volunteers went to Porappur and had given financial help to the team that was trying to revive Lake Arani back to life. I went to Kishore’s house. He had collected water from the AC outlet and was using it to water the lawn in his garden. Today Kishore and I have volunteered to clean and rejuvenate the Lake Chirama in our city. Tomorrow, dear readers, save the waterbodies in your city, villages and small towns. Otherwise brace yourself for a severe water crisis in your home town.
