Water Trouble!!
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Famous Lines ... ones which tell us the primacy of water, the bascic need that it is, and how when not met... All Hell Breaks Loose.
One doesn’t need to reiterate that water is one of the most important of all natural resources, and is vital for all living organisms and major ecosystems, as well as for human health, food production, and economic development. Ever since the first civilization arose in the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates river basins, water has always been a matter of great concern.
And in today's world the single most important concern is water conservation, and that is why the events described below are disturbing and require our careful consideration to find a solution.
Scene One: Bogs, Sarayu Hostel
A Friend brushing with the tap running! I enter and ask him to close the tap.
He 'Brushes' me aside saying tere baap ka kya jaata hai? Insti hi to pay kar rahi hai.
I too Brush aside the incident as an aberration! Surely there wont be too many such people and that too in IIT, we are the educated elite after all!
Soon I discover... apparently not
Two Years Later...
Scene Two: Bogs, Alakananda Hostel
The Freshies have arrived for the new academic session and along with them have arrived the "mataks", popular IIT lingo for the
M.Tech's. They take possesion of half our wing. They appear quite harmless and as is their wont, seem to mug away at odd times and all times. They are all people who like to keep to themselves and hardly ever interact with us B.Tech's apart from the occassional indecipherable doubt about the washing machine's workings etc, which of course is a constant source of entertainment for the wing (because of the accent), but thats a different story reserved for a different day.
But what has caused much consternation amonst the B.Tech's ranks are the new ways these mataks have discovered of wasting.
Water, especially when one of the B.tech's is the Gen Sec of the Hostel who has got gang raped for the lack of water in recent times.
possibility one: matak comes to wash face( yeah they do this regularly.. there's even one who roams around like a zombie at night with his face covered in some kind of face pack) at night before crashing, finds no water... simple solution leave the tap open for the others( Read as Sunt, the bog sec ) to close after he gets up hearing the water flowing in the mornings.
possibility two: a matak wants to take bath, opens tap to check for availability of water , and by jove a miracle... it really is available. Matak about to go inside the bathroom, but hey whom should he see coming? His neighbourly chum with whom he simply has to discuss the days events , all with the tap running of course. All the time My Blood Pressure runs higher. I do cut in on their "sweet nothings" and close the tap, but the callousness shocks me!
possibility three: This is the worst kind. Matak shaving/brushing with the tap open. I tell him to close the tap, he looks at me as if I have spoken "words which should not have been spoken", as if I have committed Blasphemy. I am given a stare which would have done Courtney "Stare" Walsh proud, and I am forced to beat a hasty retreat whispering to myself... whew a close shave!!
More than the water wastage, its their complete lack of concern and appreciation of the severe water shortage that plagues this institute which bothers me. And what is worst is they have just refused to learn, inspite of repeated warnings/requests both polite and harsh. We are at a complete loss to set right this situation. Of what use is all this education if all it makes you do is
behave even worse than an animal! What else can you say about a person who takes being told to close a tap as a personal slight, as a slug fest which has to be won no matter what?
What do you with such people? Pray, I guess... oh God please knock some sense into them.
Maybe I should give them R.K.Narayan's story about Raju Guide who gives up his life for the drought stricken people of a small village? Maybe they should read Coleridge who describes poetically the misery of the ancient Mariner...
But Maybe such people are'nt just worth the effort? Maybe the only thing to do now is to replace all taps with the push-release type (found in trains), It actually seems like a decent enough idea since even when people are trying their best to close the taps in between mouth rinses etc, their is always a certain time when fresh, clean water just goes down the drain! I would like a few comments about this idea... and if the railways can succesfully implement it, why cant we??
Surely the inconvenience of a tap which keeps cutting out the water is insignificant compared to the huge benifits involved? It will also encourage mug usage which is at a minimum at the moment( Usage of Stored water instead of the running variety)...
so please do get back to me as soon as possible.
Note: This is not to say that B.Tech's are perfect, and all the problem is because of the M.Tech's! I have just taken their example because what is described above is what exactly happens in my wing. This has not been written to offend anyone.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Famous Lines ... ones which tell us the primacy of water, the bascic need that it is, and how when not met... All Hell Breaks Loose.
One doesn’t need to reiterate that water is one of the most important of all natural resources, and is vital for all living organisms and major ecosystems, as well as for human health, food production, and economic development. Ever since the first civilization arose in the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates river basins, water has always been a matter of great concern.
And in today's world the single most important concern is water conservation, and that is why the events described below are disturbing and require our careful consideration to find a solution.
Scene One: Bogs, Sarayu Hostel
A Friend brushing with the tap running! I enter and ask him to close the tap.
He 'Brushes' me aside saying tere baap ka kya jaata hai? Insti hi to pay kar rahi hai.
I too Brush aside the incident as an aberration! Surely there wont be too many such people and that too in IIT, we are the educated elite after all!
Soon I discover... apparently not
Two Years Later...
Scene Two: Bogs, Alakananda Hostel
The Freshies have arrived for the new academic session and along with them have arrived the "mataks", popular IIT lingo for the
M.Tech's. They take possesion of half our wing. They appear quite harmless and as is their wont, seem to mug away at odd times and all times. They are all people who like to keep to themselves and hardly ever interact with us B.Tech's apart from the occassional indecipherable doubt about the washing machine's workings etc, which of course is a constant source of entertainment for the wing (because of the accent), but thats a different story reserved for a different day.
But what has caused much consternation amonst the B.Tech's ranks are the new ways these mataks have discovered of wasting.
Water, especially when one of the B.tech's is the Gen Sec of the Hostel who has got gang raped for the lack of water in recent times.
possibility one: matak comes to wash face( yeah they do this regularly.. there's even one who roams around like a zombie at night with his face covered in some kind of face pack) at night before crashing, finds no water... simple solution leave the tap open for the others( Read as Sunt, the bog sec ) to close after he gets up hearing the water flowing in the mornings.
possibility two: a matak wants to take bath, opens tap to check for availability of water , and by jove a miracle... it really is available. Matak about to go inside the bathroom, but hey whom should he see coming? His neighbourly chum with whom he simply has to discuss the days events , all with the tap running of course. All the time My Blood Pressure runs higher. I do cut in on their "sweet nothings" and close the tap, but the callousness shocks me!
possibility three: This is the worst kind. Matak shaving/brushing with the tap open. I tell him to close the tap, he looks at me as if I have spoken "words which should not have been spoken", as if I have committed Blasphemy. I am given a stare which would have done Courtney "Stare" Walsh proud, and I am forced to beat a hasty retreat whispering to myself... whew a close shave!!
More than the water wastage, its their complete lack of concern and appreciation of the severe water shortage that plagues this institute which bothers me. And what is worst is they have just refused to learn, inspite of repeated warnings/requests both polite and harsh. We are at a complete loss to set right this situation. Of what use is all this education if all it makes you do is
behave even worse than an animal! What else can you say about a person who takes being told to close a tap as a personal slight, as a slug fest which has to be won no matter what?
What do you with such people? Pray, I guess... oh God please knock some sense into them.
Maybe I should give them R.K.Narayan's story about Raju Guide who gives up his life for the drought stricken people of a small village? Maybe they should read Coleridge who describes poetically the misery of the ancient Mariner...
But Maybe such people are'nt just worth the effort? Maybe the only thing to do now is to replace all taps with the push-release type (found in trains), It actually seems like a decent enough idea since even when people are trying their best to close the taps in between mouth rinses etc, their is always a certain time when fresh, clean water just goes down the drain! I would like a few comments about this idea... and if the railways can succesfully implement it, why cant we??
Surely the inconvenience of a tap which keeps cutting out the water is insignificant compared to the huge benifits involved? It will also encourage mug usage which is at a minimum at the moment( Usage of Stored water instead of the running variety)...
so please do get back to me as soon as possible.
Note: This is not to say that B.Tech's are perfect, and all the problem is because of the M.Tech's! I have just taken their example because what is described above is what exactly happens in my wing. This has not been written to offend anyone.
posted by Khatta at 1:54 AM
2 Comments:
@ Rohini
Hey you have got a point there, when you say that such taps are irritating, but those sensor activated taps may just be too expensive for everyone to implement.
Besides i think it is worth the trouble, and we can always fill a mug and wash our face to avoid the problem described above.... and after all we have brought upon ourselves this problem by indiscriminate use, and so we should be read to stand a little inconvenience for the over all greater good
But ur suggestion accepted, and I will try to find out the cost of such taps and get back to u
Thanks
Valid point there. But just remind me: I shall send u an article i had written in the 3rd year for the Kalatrams which never came out. If ever i have written an article with an excess of emotion(read frustration) in my head it is that one.
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