Water woes.

This year, has witnessed a dismal state of monsoons all over India except certain states  like Assam,West Bengal  which has seen floods.In Mumbai ,it rained well the first time. And then ,the showers went on an increasingly decreasing trend.This has persisted & even on  Janmastami,there were no rains. Yet ,even if it rains heavily in days to come,they  cannot make up for so much of rains which never happened this season so far ! So, it was inevitable, that the Municipality would begin decreasing supply of water .It did .And yet, in the society of residence ,it didn't trickle a bit...the news about the water cut, that is.

Deficient rains will lead to rising prices leading to inflation.Rising onion prices are flooding tears in eyes & yet, these tears cannot make up for the water shortage !

Then  two days later, water stopped, bang at 7.30 am in the morning.All hell broke loose ! Cars were ordered to be  wiped with wet cloth & not washed daily.This invited angry retorts ! The idea is to  travel scented & booted in washed cars.Scented because after washing cars ,there will be no water left to take bath ,sorry baths !

And one lady ,when told that water has gone off ,demanded to know if information was available to others beforehand except her.This was so, that she could pick up yet another fight with society & others.The fact ,that she is forever out of the flat & the society never crosses her minds.Her demand is that sms alerts be given regarding water shortage, lift breakdown & the like.The next society meeting is supposedly being called to discuss sms & other alerts ! Some have already started developing an app to cater to all this, especially water cuts.This is going to be the demand as water shortage has become a pan Indian problem this year !

A circular was put up that due to BMC supplying lesser water than before, BMC water will available only for certain hours.This led some to suspect if all buildings of society would get water during those few hours or if partiality was being done ! Because , society allegedly favored some people & obviously some flats. Murmurs were raised about how insufficient the hours of water supply were & how it was mis planned & so on & so forth  ! Anyway, the next day, being a Saturday, water supply stopped at the designated hour.Some drivers addicted to washed cars  were arguing with the security personnel that water be allowed for washing cars.Some told security that water was being given from the owners' flat & not from common society facility.The security guard quipped ," It is the same water in the flat  as also in the common facility."

And residents have been told to close all taps lest an open tap or taps lead to water being wasted when it is in such short supply.Very soon ,CCTV cameras will be installed atop all water taps.Privacy be damned as cameras will stare & record water wasted on shitting in ,peeing in & the like ! This could lead to constipation & maybe piles ! And the solution is to drink more water ! And, yet water is in short supply.What a vicious circle, this has become !

Instructions are being given on how bathrooms need not be washed on daily basis .Yet die hard cleanliness freaks believe that bathrooms need to be sterlised by washing with water, detergents, floor cleaners, acid ,bleaching agents etal.They seem to forget that more the usage of these cleansers, more the need for water .Obviously environmental degradation follows which makes the bad , worse.

A majority of the people in the buildings of the society seem to believe,that expansion & extension of bathrooms is one of the solutions to water shortage. And hence, all concrete work is being done despite  water scarcity. After all , when bathrooms are growing  big, who is afraid of small problems like water shortage etal ? They seem to think  that water will continue to remain in plenty no matter how much we waste  it What many seem to forget, is that water is an essential source. And till another planet /s which has water is discovered, we all have to live with this water scarcity as we themselves are responsible for this sorry state of affairs. 

" Court " the film.

The Multi language  film "Court "  was released last week .My parents wished to watch it. We had read reviews by Shanta Gokhale & others. .All had immense praise for the movie.So ,we decided to watch it as soon as it was possible. We finally got to watch it yesterday.Well ,the movie is worth a watch not just once but many times over.

It tells the story of Narayan Kamble a folk poet who pens poems & sings them on stage .A BMC ( Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai ) cleaner of gutters, Pawar  is found dead. Kamble is accused of causing the death by aiding &  abetting Pawar's suicide. Kamble had performed in the slums where Pawar resided .It is alleged that Kamble's songs & performance  instigated Pawar's death.

Narayan Kamble is arrested. His lawyer,Mr Vora is a Gujarati .At one stage, he says that he is unable to understand the public prosecutor speaking in Marathi.The judge says that he will translate it for him. The bail application keeps getting postponed & postponed for some reason or the other. Just goes to show that delays are the only reality of our judicial system.The police officer makes excuses for the absence of the witness. The judge reprimands him & yet ,the feeling it evokes is of indifference & apathy. Nobody seems to be bothered about the death of the sweeper. The State is more inclined to make a scapegoat of the poet more than anything else.  After all ,such small & irrelevant things keep happening in Indian metros.

The  dead man's wife tells the court that he used to drink & then enter the gutters for obvious reasons. No gloves, masks and or gum boots were ever provided. Her evidence makes the audience cringe. And if this is the indifference, shown by one of the richest Municipal Corporations in Asia  , it is better to leave things unsaid about other municipal bodies .

Narayan Kamble ,the poet is made to look like a terrorist by the police & the State .This evokes humour. There are no bombs, no guns & yet his singing of songs exhorting people to revolt is enough to arrest him on charges of Sedition under the Indian Penal Code .Sedition is waging war against the Government by law established.

Pawar's wife says that if she keeps attending the hearing at court,she will lose whatever savings she has .Mr Vora offers to help financially.She declines & tells him to find  employment for her. This makes one ponder about the quiet dignity & self respect of the woman in times of grief .Such scenes make the movie very poignant .Kamble gets bail & how .And yet, the case has not ended Kamble has  constantly been under the State lens for his alleged activities of giving speeches, singing songs, publishing etal .His lawyer pays the bail amount. Kamble protests & the lawyer tells him," Please do not worry.This case is going to go on long & you can pay me later ." All the parties know that no case ever ends in our judicial system,especially irrelevant ones like arrest &  charging  artists of instigating people against Governments.Yet ,the law enforcers will strictly pursue such cases while the criminals,black marketeers, rapists,murders go about freely creating horror & havoc. Maybe, the police believe that the terror unleashed by such elements is enough to maintain peace.And they can do the real task of protecting the State,  from elements like Kamble !

Kamble is booked again .Will his lawyer bail him out this time ? And what about his health ? Kamble is a senior citizen & ailing in health. Will the judge grant  relief in time & on what grounds ?

All the actors have acted superbly.The court scenes are subdued & real . and yet the irony of the judicial system  hits home very hard. It leaves one questioning our judicial system ,our metros,the sweepers who keep our surroundings clean & just about everything else that is going wrong. It makes us aware of the pitfalls & the irony of  it all.

This film  won  the Luigi De Laurentils ( Lion of the Future Award ) for Tamhane,the director at its premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in September, 2014 .This movie was awarded  the best feature film award at the 62nd  National Film Awards.It has won 18 other awards at various international film festivals .

In the film, there were subtitles in English throughout the film. Moreover,the Gujarati lawyer speaks in Hindi,English & Gujarati. So,non Marathi audiences can understand the film with ease.

I felt ,that I was back again in the courtroom which I had left years back for a desk job. The Industrial  & Labour court where I started learning the nuances of law was just the same as the courtroom in the film.It was yesterday once more !