[IndyMedia Bombay] Water Project and Meeting

[Sanjay Bhangar]

Hey folks,
People who are interested in working on the water project will be
meeting on Sunday, the 7th, at 11 AM at our place at Worli:
105 Madhuli,
Near Poonam Chambers,
Dr. Annie Besant Road,
Worli.
Anyone who might want to contribute to the water project, please
please do come for the meeting.
And for those who didn't get the details of the water project earlier
(and instead got a whole lot of junk characters), its pasted below.
Take care all,
More later,
Sanjay

______
I chatter, chatter, as I flow,
To join the brimming river,
For men may come & men may go,
But I go on forever."
Tennyson, THE BROOK

Very beautiful words, for us living in the city. For some of us, the
only rivers we have seen are the toxic gutters in the street, the only
ponds are the bathtubs that send water spiralling down circular drains
and the only natural fountains are the flushes we pull all the time.
While somewhere far away in riot striken Gujarat, specially in
villages of Kutch and Saurashtra, women walk miles in slush and dirt
for two pots of water, and what about women in Wada Taluka in Thane
district. No longer do they get fresh water from Vaitarna, a perrenial
river flowing through the area because an equivalent of consumption by
75,000 villagers per day is given by contract to the Coke outfit there
for making bottled water.
This is not a message to make you and me feel guilty and it
shouldn't. But make responsible choices, please. If we keep on yelling
from the rooftops that we are an educated and a developed people, we'd
better act it. 
That, of course, means conserving the water we use in little and then
in bigger ways. By not leaving the tap open all the time while
brushing our teeth. By not leaving the lights on because we FORGET.
And by not fashionably buying bottled water unless we really need to..
The deeper you get into the water issue, the more you will sink in.
The more you will want to know…
You will want to know about the mythical association of water since
ancient times, of god Indra, the one who rises as a fiery column, 'as
the waters that encircle him glow and sing', of the intrinsic place
that water has in all our lives, whether it is 'the flood, the blood,
the rain, milk, semen or dew.'
Once you get into the realm of these waters, you will realise the
significance she has in your life, in the cerebrospinal fluid that
keeps you alive, in the oceans that swallow most of our earth, in the
purity of the rituals we perform. Start worshipping her if you must,
for by tainting her with pollutants you are only tainting you own
flesh and blood. For blood may be thicker than water, but blood cannot
exist without water.

Water is a topic that always moves me and I don't know why.. By the
way, I'm Karen Menezes (70% water composed human being and nice to
meet you too), and me and Nirupa Bhangar are very keen on nurturing
this project on the water issue and would gladly accept and love
anyone interested in helping out. Let either of us know by email
(Karen – whiteflame6@hotmail.com, Nirupa – vijayb@vsnl.com ) so that
we can form a small working group. 
We would like to deal mainly with issues concerning awareness about:
·	The history and significance of water since ancient times
·	Issues of development for 'the greater common good' (referring to
elite educated morons like us) and how it leads to completely unequal
distribution of water, drought in villages, displacement due to big
development projects like dams
·	Environmental hazards of deforestation, climatic changes,
ground-water exploitation and their impact on the quality and quantity
of water
·	Commodification of water and its implications / World Bank, IMF
policies.
·	 Watershed Management, Rainwater Harvesting, Biotoilets, Organic
Farming, Recycling and Conservation of Water in our own ways.
·	Awareness of how corporations are impacting the quality and
quantity of water for their own commercial purposes.