First published on 25th April 2012 (now re published)
At first it felt strange, but right now, it’s become so easy to adjust. Living without the bright lights of the city, seemed so unthinkable at times, but today, it just seems so normal, as I work on my computer, with just a solar lamp on its lowest luminance level: cannot afford to use the higher luminance, as it might not last the entire night. Having the flash light from the mobile phone is a big help. Strange are the ways in which human beings adjust to situations – something I realized on camping trips in the Himalayas. As the evening closed in, I had one small pot full of water for drinking saved from the previous trip. There has been no power ever since, so could not fill any water. Not that I had water inside my borewell. It had gone bone dry, at most giving me one jug full of water. So, my farm hand, god bless him, managed to get me four pots from the neighbour on my last visit. The pot of water was what was saved along with half a bucket of water in the bathroom. But there has been no power ever since. So, we could not even borrow water from the neighbour in the last two days. But there was a ray of hope, some rain water filled one of the drums under the roof – and as we took it out with great care, it managed to fill one full bucket. So, there is water to drink and for the toilet. But taking a bath will have to wait, until we get the power or I manage to repair the hand pump which I fixed on the other bore well. Was wondering about all the water that gushes out of the taps in the bathroom in the city – where we very easily flush precious drinking water down the drain. And now, learning to live with less – is a great experience. Remembered the olden times, when people learnt to live with a lot less than what we do today – dragging up water from the wells, growing crops using rain water, saving and storing rain water, working according to the availability of sun light. And yet, we managed to produce great thinkers, painters, philosophers and revolutionaries. Without a thing called an electric bulb, the great Indian freedom movement happened with great co-ordination, while with all our mobile and internet technologies, forget about revolutions, even a whimper on the goings on in the world doesn’t happen. Culture and relationships too got relegated - to facebook – as we are happy talking to a screen, but sit mum next to a fellow traveler on the train or the bus. Learning to live with less – gives more time despite all the physical work - to pause, talk to the fellow farmer, and listen to the birds and cows. And get a sound sleep at the end of a day full of tiring activity.
At first it felt strange, but right now, it’s become so easy to adjust. Living without the bright lights of the city, seemed so unthinkable at times, but today, it just seems so normal, as I work on my computer, with just a solar lamp on its lowest luminance level: cannot afford to use the higher luminance, as it might not last the entire night. Having the flash light from the mobile phone is a big help. Strange are the ways in which human beings adjust to situations – something I realized on camping trips in the Himalayas. As the evening closed in, I had one small pot full of water for drinking saved from the previous trip. There has been no power ever since, so could not fill any water. Not that I had water inside my borewell. It had gone bone dry, at most giving me one jug full of water. So, my farm hand, god bless him, managed to get me four pots from the neighbour on my last visit. The pot of water was what was saved along with half a bucket of water in the bathroom. But there has been no power ever since. So, we could not even borrow water from the neighbour in the last two days. But there was a ray of hope, some rain water filled one of the drums under the roof – and as we took it out with great care, it managed to fill one full bucket. So, there is water to drink and for the toilet. But taking a bath will have to wait, until we get the power or I manage to repair the hand pump which I fixed on the other bore well. Was wondering about all the water that gushes out of the taps in the bathroom in the city – where we very easily flush precious drinking water down the drain. And now, learning to live with less – is a great experience. Remembered the olden times, when people learnt to live with a lot less than what we do today – dragging up water from the wells, growing crops using rain water, saving and storing rain water, working according to the availability of sun light. And yet, we managed to produce great thinkers, painters, philosophers and revolutionaries. Without a thing called an electric bulb, the great Indian freedom movement happened with great co-ordination, while with all our mobile and internet technologies, forget about revolutions, even a whimper on the goings on in the world doesn’t happen. Culture and relationships too got relegated - to facebook – as we are happy talking to a screen, but sit mum next to a fellow traveler on the train or the bus. Learning to live with less – gives more time despite all the physical work - to pause, talk to the fellow farmer, and listen to the birds and cows. And get a sound sleep at the end of a day full of tiring activity.
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