Water, water...Nor any drop to see, nor any drop to drink.

There has been a considerable delay in writing this time.

The reasons are many. At first, the Internet failure in our area. Thanks to all the road repair work! And then, ofcourse, some social activities that kept me occupied.

Infact, last Sunday I happened to attend a picnic organised by my husband's '1975 SGSITS Engineer Batch'. About 25 families had got together at SGITS itself. We all had a nice time as we exchanged pleasantaries.

As it was a family get-together, the topics by and large revolved around everything under the sun. For example, husbands, children, cost of living, homes, cooking, etc., etc. That was when Mrs. Ashwin Shah mentioned about water problem. She genuinely seemed concerned at the state of affairs. "There have been hardly any rains and the boring has all dried" she lamented. "Ours is a large family and so what do we do? We require water for baths, washing clothes, and many other small requirements." She further added. ''There are still 5-6 months for the next monsoon to arrive." Somebody quipped. We all agreed. M.P. is in serious trouble if it doesn't rain this time too. There is severe water crises with some areas getting water alternate days or by way of tankers. Atleast, once a month there is a kind of reporting in the newspapers of some reservoir being on verge of drying up.Indeed, it is all so scary.

The topic was a serious one. The morsel of food lingered for quite a while in my mouth till finally it went down the food pipe. I know Mrs. Shah for a long time now. A very self-contented woman, besides being shy and reticent. Later, my husband told me that their area was truly having scarce water.

What do we say of all this? One country and such different problems! Bihar faces floods, and M.P. has almost no rains! Delhi faces heavy rains and places like Mumbai get marginal rains! Pathetic, truly!

What makes no sense is that I have been hearing of 'linking rivers project' for several years now. I have often heard my father speaking about it. I notice that the project is taken up and then shelved because of the high cost. But, why don't people understand that the more we delay, the costlier it will be?

I feel, it is sheer inertia which is preventing the PWD, the authorities, and the Government from taking any fast action. Which means every year, we are going to watch helplessly as some areas will face the wrath of floods, and some drought. We will also watch the Government announcing relief measures which if seen could turn up to be costlier than the 'linking rivers project' in the long run.

I feel the younger generation alone can do something. People of my generation are so wary of doing anything. That way, I enjoy teaching the students who are far more enthusiastic, and receptive.