Tuesday 2 April 2013

Water, Women and Mothers

On the day of Holi and the day after that, the taps in our house were dry. We didn't have any water stored as well. I hit the panic button when the routine gets disrupted and especially if the routine has to be carried on sans water, things get a bit out of hand. And to top it all, we had guests. At first I had assumed that the problem would be solved within  half a day or so but to my dismay, it hadn't. The first reaction to the crisis was that someone had left a tap half-closed. I love to blame anything and anyone you see. Then after a few hours I realised that my blame was uncalled for. I was left to nurse my broken perceptions. A lesson learnt.



The situation also brought forth several insights - It is only the women who panic and flutter when something as vital as water does not flow in the taps as usual. It's not that I haven't been exposed to this kind of a situation before but then I was in my mother's house and the crisis-averting duty was hers or so we thought then. I shuddered to think how callous I was and being a woman, I was a woe-man to think that it was my mother's job to take care of the no-water situation. She had to think, call people, make arrangements and supply water. On the day of Holi when there was no water, I thought of my mother. I became her. I thought like she would have thought. In my mind I had to think, decide and execute. How much women are connected to water. Almost all our chores center around water and somehow when there is no water, it is the women who panic most.



My husband was cool as a cucumber. I admire his ability to stay calm and poised in a crisis situation but those thoughts about his calm demeanour are thoughts in hindsight. At that particular time, the calm can be translated as callous - like how we behaved when our mother was making frantic calls to people to bring water home. Inspite of the frantic calls, my mother was calm. She calmed me when I called her and started a tirade of complaints. How did she do it? She called me every two hours to check the status of water. I learnt a few more lessons.

I sometimes think that I am too bookish to be able to handle real-life situations. My mom had an advantage - She didn't read, she learnt from experience. I wonder how much more lessons in life would make me calmer and be able to avert a crisis well. I hope . . . someday.

How did you learn life's lessons? Pray educate me.




Image 1: Internet
Image 2: Internet
Image 3: Internet

27 comments:

  1. Keep cool teacher. Having lived in Chennai, I used to carry pots of water 3 floors up (no lift). Pazhagi pochu! These days, we know our society association will do something about it. So don't really panic. Plus you can use a storage tank at home which is what I do!

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    1. In Chennai it's a given but here first-time so the panic. I guess now on, we will be careful. Thinking of a storage drum.

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  2. No water??? I'm afraid I would be panicking right along with you, Susan.
    We do learn much more, though, from life's lessons than we ever could from books. I'm assuming since I'm reading this post that your water has returned and all is back to normal (whatever that might be!)
    Blessings and love!

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    1. Martha, without water, nothing is possible and when it happens for the first time, one is left quite panicky and frustrated. Thankfully the no-water situation lasted only for two days. We have learnt our lesson.

      Blessings and love back at ya, Martha.

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  3. Yeah Susan, I was the one carrying water for the holi playing children last week but made sure the tanks were refilled before night otherwise the starting of the day would be chaotic, plus like Deepa says we are used to it. I ve carried 20 pots of water to the first floor in a single day on the summer of 2005. thats my all time record, all before leaving for office!

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    1. Water and women are intrinsically connected that way - Most of our chores involve water and we are the ones who carry them as well.

      Hats off to you for carrying them. Thankfully, we live in the ground floor. Small mercies.

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  4. I read this story to my mom, she was smiling and said, 'I was talking about the very same thing to my mom for a different issue though and in days to come you'll also think about me the same way.'
    I realized a lot of things from this post too, I need to get involved more with the daily routine :)

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    1. I guess so. Only when we get married or start living by ourselves, the practicalities of every day living dawn on us.

      Thanks for stopping by, Lakshmi.

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  5. Just like some of the comments above..... keep calm. The place where we lived earlier was on the 3rd floor and above us was the terrace. So when ever such a crisis occurred, I just had to go to the terrace and fetch water from the overhead tank. You know the there is always some water left in the tank which won't come out from the outlet tube. Now the situation is just the opposite. Once the alarm bells ring for the other societies (which is very rare) we still have two days of supplies in our overhead tank as five of the nine flats are locked !!

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    1. You are clever, by Jove. Here we have individual tanks for each of the houses but we had guests those two days and henc ethe short supply of water.

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  6. The fact is Women takes the responsibilty of all the water related chores in a home and no wonder we panic when all the taps run dry. Men, on the other hand retain their calmness thereby escaping the wrath of women ;)
    Water and Power are the two worst enemies for an homemaker in Pondy and Chennai.

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    1. Oh yes, when we are panicking, they can carry on for we anyway take care. But I should commend my husband for not allowing me to carry even one bucket of water when the water tanker came.

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  7. A wonderful presentation of the situation.Another interesting thing about this post is that when anyone reads it, they can visualize themselves in the scenario which you witnessed Susan.The narration of the incident makes that happen.Looks like a casual post,but I can see many important messages communicated through this.

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    1. Welcome to the Meanderings, Ram. I guess this is your first comment here. Thanks.

      Ah, lot of insights especially since you're a young man. I hope after reading this you got the drift of the post.

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  8. We had some problems with water before the rain water harvesting scheme was made compulsory in Chennai. But after that, we are not having much problems. The best way to tackle water shortage is to fill-up two drums with stand-by water and forget about it until the crisis. And during the crisis, it's important to use water as if we are in a desert :)

    Destination Infinity

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  9. Ahhh the luxury of having running water is clearly understood in such situations. About those who know something somehow will be managed by the lady in the house they will remain cool. My husband also remains cool in such situations. Being a wife now you would be knowing very well where the shoe pinches for them. It sure is an alarming situation to have a dry spell. Staying calm is easier said than done.
    For a change of which i am more than glad the people in my society played dry Holi this time. The motive being to save water.
    Hope u had a wonderful Easter too. Pls visit my page...i wanted to share Christmas with u.

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    1. The luxury of running water is something of a privilege we have taken for granted. Sometimes when I think of people who don't have potable water, I imagine the shudder. And you have rightly said that, "Staying calm is easier said than done."

      I shall swing by soon to your place, dear Shivani. Lots of love :)

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  10. I don't know how I would have reacted. We had a power outtage yesterday which result in water shortage today morning. I sat clam while my mil handled everything :P

    The only duty I am assigned on such situations is to handle the dog while everybody runs around to get the job done.
    But I too remember it was always my mom who would make this panic calls when my dad would prefer to read his news paper. I guess for men it's like... you are manging it so fine! If you need you would tell.

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    1. Sameera, we will learn sooner or later. Trial and error, you see. And being a wife/woman of the house is learnt on the job so I guess we'll be fine.

      You are lucky, I should say that you don't have to bother much. I would've been happy in your situation ;)

      Lots of love to you :)

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  11. If you haven't read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I really recommend it. The first rule of traveling is Don't Panic! Good advice :)

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    1. Hey, Cairn glad to see you here. No, I haven't read that book. Should read it soonest.

      Hope you've been well and happy.

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  12. I suppose I'm more practical than I care to admit. I panic all the time, but I rarely let anyone see it because I don't want to create a higher level of stress.

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    1. Same here. I can be crowned as 'Panic Queen,' if there happens to be a title like that.

      Angie, hope you've been well and happy. Lots of love across ether.

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  13. Dear Susan, my husband is like yours, way too calm in situation that brings me to the brink of panic.;) I would hate having no water too, so many of us take for granted that simple fact that clean water is running as soon as we open a tap.;)
    Have a great weekend dear friend,
    xoxo

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  14. With me it is so strange, some very mundane situations can trigger the panic button. And yet, some of the biggest crises of life, I can handle with elan. So very strange, ain't it?

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    1. All of us have such quirky streaks, Rachna. Strange, yes. Glad to see you here today :)

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  15. I am one of those who is paranoid about water/lack of it. I keep nagging the maid and others to conserve water even when there is no water shortage. You see, I had been pressed into filling up water every day since I was seven years old. We had sever water shortage back in the 60s in Nagpur in the locality where we lived. And those memories make me what I am today, much to every one's exasperation. And yes, your observation about the males and the children being nonchalant is very true :)

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