The wet handkerchiefThe humidity was as usual overbearing. For Sundar keeping a wet handkerchief handy, folded and tucked in his left pocket of his shorts or held in place between the stretchable belt of one without pockets and his body was now a routine. The handkerchief worked well to cleanse his body of sweat thus saving him repeated visits to washroom to splash water to keep him cool. On occasions he did have go to washroom for a quick mop by his wet hands on his face, throat and down his arms and legs, and couple of wipes with the back of his wet arms and hands, like car wipers do, that cleaned his back. Nobody can match his method of the quick bath that gives him the pleasure of a shower, he thought with a chuckle. Moving about his house all the day long without a thread to cover his torso would keep him light and ready for cooling himself just anytime. That was his device of keeping the suffering from high temperatures and moisture-laden air at bay for good part of a day. It was no great discomfort for him going through a scorching followed by a long spell of sultry summer every year, year after year, after he was laid off. He really had to think hard to recall when was the last he wore shirt on regular basis during summer. That was when he was on job. When he would work in controlled-temperature environment of his office. When he wouldn't have to visit washroom to cool himself. When he wouldn't keep a wet handkerchief except when he had to drive back home in the warm evenings in his non-air-conditioned old car . Today was just another day except that he woke up to an anxious mind. The power cut last evening at the time of water supply meant inadequate amount left in the overhead tanks. He knew that the storage could easily be replenished with the morning supply. So no reason to feel anxious, he thought; and he proceeded with his routine of workout followed by Yog. His meditative routine was cut short as the fan stopped, the power went off. He knew his anxiety on waking up was not misplaced. He now meditated on the course of action, next. His Yogic posture remained unchanged though as he contemplated on the scenario of a water-less day ahead. The electricity had gone off just before the water supply time. He reached for his cell phone, searched and dialed the attendant at the colony's water supply facility. "Ram Yadav, please do not pump water with the help of genset as many of us cannot pull water from the pipeline; we cannot run our suction pumps as there is no electricity; and there was no power even last evening ; we won't have water for the day", Sundar pleaded. "Sir, I understand what you are saying but many press me for pumping water with genset; so I am helpless." Sundar's fingers swiftly searched the mobile number of the water supply incharge of the new residents welfare group (rwg). "Hello Rasika, you see this water supply ideally should be timed with power supply as many of us cannot have water without running our own pumps; why can't others wait for water till electricity supply is restored; what's the hurry; why water is pumped with the help of genset at a much greater cost; how do people like me will get water who must pull water with the help of pumps directly fitted on the supply line?" Rasika saw the point, however could not stop pointing out- "but Sir it is illegal to put water pump on supply line. "Isn't it illegal to deny us water supply?", Sunder was quick to point out making successful attempt at hiding his anger. Rasika found it wise to give up and promised to get back. For Sundar it was time to sound all the family members at home on water crisis and warned them of the the worsening situation. Clearly this meant judicious use of the available stock of water. And he told them all in no uncertain terms- no one will take bath; clothes will not be washed and no question of cleaning the floor of the house with water. He called the boss of the maintenance agency which managed services of the colony but to no avail. Several calls that he made went unanswered. His desperation to help the situation was growing fast. "What if there is no supply in the evening too or a power cut again?," his mind was howling away the ominous thought. Water supply to the residential society of this suburb of Delhi, Gurugram, was measly 45 minutes at around 6 in the morning and same hour in the evening. For those who had underground water tanks and lived close to the pumping station the supply was sufficient but for others like Sundar, living far off from the supply point, underground tank was of no consequence. Water had to be pulled with the help of pumps powerful enough and fitted online. Sunder could not have left the crisis to be attended by the delinquents, those managing (read, mismanaging) services. People of their ilk wouldn't bother if what they were paid for was delivered. They are complacent believing that they are appointed to raise bills and forcibly recover from those who wouldn't pay on time. Sunder knew it was time to act and act fast. No amount of pondering would help, he was sure. He quickly put on a t-shirt and headed out of his house. He was very hopeful that his neighbour across his house could be counted in these unprecedented times of crisis when water was doing disappearing act. He knew that the house had a bore-well and the lady of the house was generous. Just last year she had sent her security guard to his house, to offer a generous tumbler-full of butter milk as gift. Sunder was surprised as it came from a complete stranger. He had accepted the butter milk and thanked her profusely. That day Sunder came to know they were in the business of dairy and were happy share the byproduct of their produce. Thereafter there were many such occasions when Sunder's family enjoyed glass-fulls of butter milk brought by the security guards of his magnanimous neighbour. The lady of the house was hardly visible in and outside her house. It's only the security guards who would interact with outsiders on the behalf their employer. Sunder had developed fair acquaintance with the guards whereas he could never get to see the lady again . He found the household approachable in these times of water scarcity, "We have no water supply since last evening. Can you please help with the water of bore-well, " he requested the guard on duty. "Sure. I just the cook to switch on the bore-well pump," the guard said with utmost courtesy. Meanwhile Sunder brought couple of buckets from his house. He had a number of them ready in the front yard of his house. He filled up five buckets and asked the guard to switch off the pump. While he thanked him he asked the guard to convey his gratitude to the lady of the house. At his house he had to climb up the staircase carrying a bucketful of water twice for each of the two washrooms on the first floor, something he had never done in his entire life. Another one he carried to his washroom on the ground floor and the last one to the kitchen. He sighed with relief as he felt victorious in warding off the immediate crisis. Briskly he headed back to his washroom, filled up a mug with little water, wet his hands a few times and wiped his face. throat. arms and torso off his sweat that stayed on his body this time for an uneasy long time. His wet handkerchief that he had used earlier but could not wash for shortage of water could be done now. Sunder's cell phone didn't stop whatsapp messages alerts since morning. He kept checking if there was a missive on water supply resuming. But so far it was an incessant outpour of anger and frustration of the fellow residents over water. "The builder has devised a new method to extort hiked services charges," said one. "Sure, a new way to arm-twist us into paying," said another one. "Any idea when will the supply resume", wrote Sunder, not giving much attention to anything else. For all he could imagine was the nightmarish- what if the supply doesn't resume?; what if his neighbours could not help him with water anymore? As it was, he was doing all his best to keep cool and the thoughts of an impending greater crisis at bay. Sunder knew five buckets of charity water in his house would not last even half a day. In the household of six people he has always had a harrowing time asking one and all to economise, be it water, electricity or toiletries. He always wondered why just everyone forgets that he is under acute financial constraint with no steady income or work after he was laid off and that just everything comes at a cost. It was not easy for him to convince his wife that all discarded water from RO water filter has to be used to wash dishes and that no kitchen work be done with running water. In the washroom too water had to be first taken in a mug before use. Yet often, as he could see, such appeals fell on deaf ears. So did his repeated banter of switching off fan if one leaves his room even for a minute. "Why can't you just press the buttons to save while you are too quick to turn them on to run an appliance", was his refrain to at least 3 members of the household. He knew for sure that getting the three family members do everything to save on every ounce of water was not only herculean but a darn too frustrating and stressful for him. They were chronically incorrigible. They had got habituated into listening and ignoring Sunder's banter on do's and don'ts on daily basis for years now. He was all prayers for water supply to be available at its appointed time in the evening. He was checking on residents' whatsapp updates on water frequently. All he could get to read was surmises as reasons for the crisis and conjectures to address the situation. His getting paranoid over no hope of the supply even in the evening was not unfounded. For it meant going abegging for water again. It was time to see how dishes in the kitchen could be washed with minimum input of water. Even during the times of normal water supply Sunder ensured that the house help washed the dishes with the discarded water of RO filter. Not a drop was allowed to go down the drain. The excess of the RO discarded water had to be transported to washroom to wash clothes. The clothes-wash in the washrooms had to be saved to flush the toilets. Inlets of fresh water to the toilets cisterns were turned off, hence. Additionally, the dishes used by the family members were to be only water-washed without soaping them, The kitchen chemicals were playing havoc with our lives causing as serious as harmonal imbalances, he had read in several reports. It's better to suffer bacterial infections than die of some deadly condition as a result, was his resolve. The new practice of no-soap wash also saved on water use to an extent. Dishes used by guests however had to be soaped and washed thoroughly enough to get rid of any trace of soap on them. But the current times of water crisis meant even more serious austerity measures to further cut down on water use in the kitchen, to begin with. Everyone in the house had to retain his or her glass used to have water for the day. Repeated washing of glasses in a day was considered a feature of lavish lifestyle which was unaffordable, he made it clear time and again to a limited compliance, though. House help had strict instructions to only broom and not mop the floors. Just a few days back the previous help was shown the door for not following the instructions and shouting back at Sunder instead. She was irked at his inventing new principles of cleanliness . He had lost his cool and asked her to leave. Water woes had already taken a heavy toll of his poise, patience and even his humanity, he had begun to feel. He was bitter talking to one and all when it came to water. He found himself shouting at them invariably on seeing their profligacy about water. For instance the notorious three members of his household abhorred using bucket to flush toilet with much lesser water than cistern-full was drained at the press of button , They would brush their teeth while water ran from the tap wastefully. He always wondered why using water little efficiently and wisely did not mean anything to them. He was thrilled to see a water saving device on a video which he had received on WhatsApp. The ingenious contraption when fitted to the nozzle of a tap would turn water into a stream of mist that could easily wash one's hands. For flow of water needed for some other purpose one just had to turn it a little. One could save 98% of water, the manufacturers of the devise claimed, and rightly so. But he knew such responsible inventions and innovations, the products of toil of a few sensible human beings, who have rare concern for earth and its resources. Needless to say, it's the majority of callous and reckless on this planet that makes life difficult which a responsible minority surely does not deserve. A few WhatsApp alerts on his phone once again had him up and reaching for the latest on water. He slided through several msessages. All howling away helplessely, he murmured.
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