Rural communities have always strived to be closer to nature and work in harmony with it.
I was usually talking to one of our operators, Bhagwant Singh(22) from Rajkiyawas, Rajasthan about the functioning of our purification plant there. He was relating how the quality of water and its availability has always been a challenge in Rajasthan. He goes to say people are happy to get safe drinking water round the clock now.
Bhagwant talks of times his parents struggled for water.
I was curiously listening to him and could not hold back myself and said, "What do you do to conserve water"? To my surprise he immediately sent me pictures of the self-made rainwater harvesting storage tank and set up his father has built to store water. Now, this got me excited and caught my attention. He said, "My father was farsighted and believed in helping oneself and others. He was very clear about solving his own issues. If I recall his words, he said, "Amtanirbhar Bano, khud raste dhoondo aur aage badho, Isse Apna aur dusro ka bhala Karo". I am happy my father showed me the way our national leaders are now talking".
I could recall what I recently read about Gandhiji who said,
"The future depends on what we do in the present".
Bhagwant also agreed to it and goes on to say, “It’s been 20 years since we have rainwater harvesting system at home. The storage tank is 8 feet deep and stores around 11000 litres of water which my family uses for cleaning and bathing. We are prepared as you never know when we runoff water so it's essential to conserve every drop of rainfall. This year, we were able to store 8000 litres of rainwater and have utilised 3000 litres till now".
He says his mother used to say, "Bharish ka pani bhagwan ka arshivad hai toh use shambhal ke rakhna chaiye and zarurat padne pe logo ko baatna bhi chaiye". So his family also help the community members when they need water.
Towards the end of the call, I was so motivated and happy to know there is so much to learn from everyone. I smiled and told Bhagwant that I will be sharing this with all so each one of us can work towards being #Atmanirbhar and #LocalseVocal.
