Water and Electricity

There is no rhyme or reason to water supply. Most of the days the main water stops coming by 7 in the morning. Maybe even earlier. The water supply in the evening is also curtailed. The water department is supposed to announce the water supply timings but whenever they say that the water supply is curtailed we get plenty of water. Now days there is an ominous silence which I take means that there will be no supply.

Electricity has not been hit till now though one of the hostels has seen no electricity for more than 16 hours.

It is so stupid. Go to the Delhi Imperial Zone (DIZ area) and you will find 24 hour water and electricity supply. Why are they so important? Wouldn't it be nicer (and more democratic) if all of us got equitable supply of water and electricity? That way all of us are in the same boat and learn how to conserve water and electricity.

But...Oh well.

Soot and Water

Across the villages there are no cooking stove, no gas cylinders. Women cook using chulha, a mudstove, often using woodsticks or cow dung patties as fuel. Now a recent study says that this is one of the causes of global warming.
The mudstoves are lethal in other ways too. They are inefficient, women and children have to search for the wood sticks to burn. They produce enormous amount of smoke...
The easiest would be harnessing solar energy. India, of course, unlike certain other countries, is blessed with plenty of sunshine. The problem is that the solar energy cells are expensive. TERI has been working on this area for a long time. Lately, they have been providing solar lamps to villages. Apparently, now they are working on stoves too. Let us see how far it goes.

Meantime, there is no water supply. The tanker was called in yesterday and I lifted buckets and buckets of water up. Today morning the water, brackish brownish stuff, made its appearance around 7ish in the morning. Promptly, the residents opened their tube and started watering their lawns. Grrrr....

Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri

Finally, that is what the elections are about. Who will become the prime minister? Who will get posts? in the cabinet? How much money can I make?
Alliances are fluid, devoid of any ideology. It all depends on wheelings and dealings. How much money can change hands and who will offer whom the minister positions.
I know I am being cynical. But truly, there is no space for any debates. As Yogendra Yadav lamented in an article in the Hindu, no newspaper/TV channel is even discussing the manifestos. The media reports only how Narendra Modi called Congress Budiya and then Gudiya and how Priyanka Gandhi asked reporters whether she looks old. Oh for heaven's sake!
There are issues at stake. There is recession in place, food, shelter, health, education...can we talk about them for a change?
Ah, ha! There is an article in Frontline how every major party is now promising the poor cheap food. Rs 2/kg rice and Rs 3/kg rice. The Congress has in fact promised a Right to Food bill in the parliament if elected to power. Will these promises be fulfilled?
However, every thing is not dismal. There is an increase level of awareness, an eagerness to participate, and signs that politicians will not be allowed to get away with it. The shoe throwing by Jarnail Singh was just one such instance. There is an ad doing rounds in the television (I think I saw it when I was staying at IMTECH guest house)where a politician comes to ask for vote. The voter asks his qualifications. Qualifications, the politician laughs. I have been in this business for ages. Yes, agrees the voter, but what have you done. What is the proof? The ad has been issued by Janagraha in collaboration with TATA tea.
So let us see how it all turns out.