Eagerly Awaiting the Monsoons
Posted: May 24, 2012 Filed under: india 2 Comments »Kundan Park continues to get through the summer on water drawn from borewell contaminated with e-coli. I’m not sure how many food poisoning cases were a direct result of this.
Thanks to the shakeup from to the reduced water supply I learned a couple of things. We’re getting less water than we ought to get for a building of our size. As the flats above the 2nd floor in Kundan park are still ‘illegal’ – the PMC has not granted additional water to our building. That additional water could have obviated the need for residents to rely on digging an additional borewell and installing a submerged pump.
The groundwater drawn was clean initially. After a couple of days it turned yellow and stank to high heaven. Lab test results confirmed that the water had higher than normal levels of e-coli.
Of course, we’ve been extremely careful with the water we’re using for our toddler. The residents here are also considering a central UV filtration unit. All this can be frustrating at times and I’m wondering what will fix this.
Monsoons are predicted to arrive in Maharashtra around June 7th while investigative reporters are wondering if the whole idea of water cuts was botched in the first place.
How is your water supply working out?
A Brave Face on Satyamev Jayate
Posted: May 20, 2012 Filed under: india | Tags: satyamev jayate, wedding, rani tripathi, aamir khan, Mausim Ummedi Leave a comment »Immense respect for Aamir Khan for taking on core social issues that plague India. I agree with Mausim Ummedi of Burhanpur – by removing societal pressure of having a big Indian wedding off the minds of families across social stratas, things will get incredibly easier for newlyweds to enter into wedlock. Our thinking needs to change to allow them to start their lives without the overarching feeling that they must have a lavish wedding first. This could in turn reduce dowry related abuse and definitely eliminate unnecessary debt – debt that is absolutely inessential in middle-class lives.
It isn’t enough to simply talk about dowry related abuse. Aamir also highlighted ‘fearless’ Nadia’s (Rani Tripathi) sting to expose the parents of a boy who were pressurizing Rani’s father into giving dowry in the form of cash and a car. Rani convinced her brother and father to video tape and display the boys parents’ demands. To me, she demonstrated our inherent but rare human potential to rise up and butt heads with whatever the challenge might be.
Perhaps in the not too distant future, parents in India will realize that weddings are an opportunity to bring together two lives and impart a running start to their kids. Not just to invite everyone and anyone who’s weddings they have attended in the past. A lavish wedding that aligns with their society’s, or community’s requirements should be the last things on their minds.
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