civilisations

“Sometimes very odd things become more than a part of your life.
They become the very reason of existence and also the way of sustenance.”

Those two lines have been written before too… if you have been reading my blog in the right order that is. And now is the time when I actually use it for the reason I started to write the previous post in the first place…

So hence starting again…
Sometimes very odd things become more than a part of your life.
They become the very reason of existence and also the way of sustenance. They are common place things and not so common at the same time. It’s like reading about how history and countries evolved around river beds. What I wanted to write about is probably not such a significant event in history, but then ideal thoughts of an idle mind will not come up with something better, I believe. Walking back from office (that seems to be one of the major things I am doing in tirupur, and no, I haven’t lost even a single pound due to it) amongst other things, there is a pipeline (water) that has burst or been broken into. And there is a complete community that has sprung around it. And this lifeline/ pipeline serves multiple purposes. From being the source of drinking water, to bath, to cooking, to washing the tractor or other vehicle, to washing utensils, to being the source for the nearest eating joint. You never cease to be surprised by the people around this gurgling stream of fresh water, they are always there, doing there own thing. Not noticing people walking by, neither are they affected by the huge trucks rolling by every 5 minutes threatening to crush them or their children. A little slum has cropped up there, just beside that little water spring, god sent, man made…

Well but then “What the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away” and here in the one month that I saw the things cropping up in the most unexpected places I also watch it die away. The municipal corporation of Tirupur has finally decided to not be so benevolent and take away the pleasure of clean water from these unsuspecting invisible people. So, here we were, on Monday morning, walking by our own friendly neighborhood water provider and in the evening see a truck and some laborers working furiously to close that little source of life. I can’t help but feel sorry for these people, for all the women could do was curse these workers vociferously in Tamil, the children feel upset and low that their everyday playing spot has finally been wiped off the face of the earth and the passers by who stopped here for a gulp of water, walk away and look for another water spring that they might find to quench their thirst.
And I was too used to these kids staring wide eyed while we passed by in our not so common t shirts, and posing and giving their best smiles while I clicked their photographs, everyday hearing their loud “ta ta ”s while they made me their object of amusement for some minutes in a day. While I walk back for the past 3 days looking around, for they might have just re-dug their lifeline out, I now feel, they must have moved on. Found a new “river bed” to set their homes around. Made a new beginning…