Monday, September 15, 2003
And the Lord said, "Let there be Water!"
Water..one of Man's essential needs! Imagine what we would have to go through when faced with a water shortage. The people of Chennai have been facing the problem bravely since the past few years. Being in Chennai, our campus also had to make some adjustments to the prevailing water crisis. We had compressed semesters with six-day weeks and all that.
But, what I am pained about is that this happened to my hostel in particular for three days in a row! There was no proper water supply in my hostel for three days. It is there in the morning times, sometimes lasting upto noon. But, who gets up in the morning, especially over the weekend?
OK, I get up at around 10 AM and having missed breakfast, head for the common room to read a newspaper while watching whatever is coming after the CAS pulled some channels off the air. As a pleasant surprise, we are still getting some of the non-free-to-air channels despite the absence of a set-top box....at least that's what I am told it is called. So, after treating myself to some nice trailers of Boom and Janasheen, I go up to take my bath...only to realise that the water has stopped. The enthusiastic freshers, not yet used to the ways of living in a hostel have finished the water; or so I assume. It is only a matter of hours before the water supply will resume.
This assumption leads me to my afternoon siesta...following which I realise there is still no water! It was then that someone told me that there is some problem (what it is, I still don't know!) and that the water would come only maybe in the night, as in around 11 PM, not a time to take a bath, you would agree! Now, imagine a day in a tropical city without taking bath.....if you can't, let me enlighten you.
The sun seems a bit sunnier; the air feels a bit more stuffy....on the whole, one feels like having run a long marathon, minus the exhaustion. Pardon me for the details, but, I have to make you realise my position. Clothes sticking to the skin, face glistening with sweat, general demeanour unpleasant, the world seems like some upper levels of hell opened up....and with a test the next day! As it is, I don't think it is necessary to explain how burdensome the whole experience of opening someone else's notes to study for something you don't have a clue about just before the exam day is! (that was a long sentence!!) So, imagine my plight when I have to do that selfsame task in such inhospitable circumstances.
Now, there was only one way to get out of it.....take a bath! So, I go to a friend's hostel, but seems like there was a general shortage of water everywhere, at least as far as the hostels in my campus are concerned! So, it just happened that I had to study for the test with the least bit of concentration and with every cell of my body poised to strike at anyone who even seems to be trying to pain me. As expected, my test can at best be commented upon as: "exam over; no more comments!" But, I obviously could not write the test without a bath. So, I did what I did not do in ages, nay eons: woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and got to bathe before the freshmen exhausted the water again. Extreme measures? Well, extreme circumstances call for extreme measures!!
But, what I am pained about is that this happened to my hostel in particular for three days in a row! There was no proper water supply in my hostel for three days. It is there in the morning times, sometimes lasting upto noon. But, who gets up in the morning, especially over the weekend?
OK, I get up at around 10 AM and having missed breakfast, head for the common room to read a newspaper while watching whatever is coming after the CAS pulled some channels off the air. As a pleasant surprise, we are still getting some of the non-free-to-air channels despite the absence of a set-top box....at least that's what I am told it is called. So, after treating myself to some nice trailers of Boom and Janasheen, I go up to take my bath...only to realise that the water has stopped. The enthusiastic freshers, not yet used to the ways of living in a hostel have finished the water; or so I assume. It is only a matter of hours before the water supply will resume.
This assumption leads me to my afternoon siesta...following which I realise there is still no water! It was then that someone told me that there is some problem (what it is, I still don't know!) and that the water would come only maybe in the night, as in around 11 PM, not a time to take a bath, you would agree! Now, imagine a day in a tropical city without taking bath.....if you can't, let me enlighten you.
The sun seems a bit sunnier; the air feels a bit more stuffy....on the whole, one feels like having run a long marathon, minus the exhaustion. Pardon me for the details, but, I have to make you realise my position. Clothes sticking to the skin, face glistening with sweat, general demeanour unpleasant, the world seems like some upper levels of hell opened up....and with a test the next day! As it is, I don't think it is necessary to explain how burdensome the whole experience of opening someone else's notes to study for something you don't have a clue about just before the exam day is! (that was a long sentence!!) So, imagine my plight when I have to do that selfsame task in such inhospitable circumstances.
Now, there was only one way to get out of it.....take a bath! So, I go to a friend's hostel, but seems like there was a general shortage of water everywhere, at least as far as the hostels in my campus are concerned! So, it just happened that I had to study for the test with the least bit of concentration and with every cell of my body poised to strike at anyone who even seems to be trying to pain me. As expected, my test can at best be commented upon as: "exam over; no more comments!" But, I obviously could not write the test without a bath. So, I did what I did not do in ages, nay eons: woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and got to bathe before the freshmen exhausted the water again. Extreme measures? Well, extreme circumstances call for extreme measures!!
