ONE TREE & ONE DROP OF WATER

 

ONE TREE & ONE DROP OF WATER

                                                                                                            

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

05/VI/2022

 

The heat is ‘killing’ this year. Very soon we might hear that it will be declared the hottest year of the century. In certain circles there would be discussions on global warming, pollution, ozone layer depletion and what have you. Once discussion is over, so is the concern for the environment.

 

Here in the desert, we have the Central Arid Zone Research Institute CAZRI, & Arid Forest Research Institute AFRI doing research. Sand dune stabilization schemes, free distribution of saplings which can survive in the desert, soil survey and all kinds of expertise is available here. Their impact is also visible but lots more needs to be done.

 

Trees have come up but more than what have been planted, have been felled for urbanisation. This I have seen with my own eyes. Urbanisation is now slowly eating up on spaces which lay barren at one time. The old Khejri and Jaal trees are biting the dust one by one. Villagers are selling their land to builders and contractors. Basic reason is that most of the year the land remains fallow. Crops are totally based on monsoons and rain.

 

With each sign of a cloud, they till their land, sow seeds and then wait in desperation. If the skies are generous nothing like it. If clouds hover and move away without shedding a drop, seeds become feed for birds. The farmer has nowhere to go.

 

Need of the hour is “greenification”. Today, if I say that we are staying in the greenest colony in the Sun City, it won’t be wrong. Every tree, every bush, every blade of grass is maintained, in spite of the losses. The STP is the biggest source of water here, therefore not a drop goes to waste.

 

In the desert the basic factor for survival is water. I have visited many “dhanis” in the middle of the desert with not more than ten kuchha mud huts during my Army tenure. A ‘well’ with brackish water used to be their life line. Sweet water was rare. Ladies ferrying water, carrying seven matkas on their heads was a common sight. They understood what one drop of water meant.

 

Underground wells were quite deep, some more than four hundred feet. A pair of camels were used to draw water from such deep wells. The container which brought water to the surface used to be a camel skin container or a ‘Mashak’. I can vouch for it that normal people would spit that water out due to its saltish taste. But then that was survival for men and animals.

 

 

If one has to learn rain water harvesting, it is from the ‘desert people’. The Khu or Kuan aka well) were the most precious things on earth. Ladies would ‘leepo’ an area of about twenty to thirty meters around each well maintaining a gradual slope towards the well. Every drop of rain water that fell would trickle its way into it. Could there be a better tasting water than rain water?

 

One must observe a villager of this place drinking water. He would cup his hand and pour water from a container into his ‘hand cup’. Not a single drop would ooze out or overflow from his hand. If you give him a glass of water, he would pour it straight into his throat. You could see his Adam’s apple go up and down with each gulp and not a drop is wasted. Water would be had as per requirement. Rest of it is returned to the matka without the water getting ‘Jhoota’. The importance of water is not known to those who buy Bisleri bottles and keep chucking them out of the car, garam ho gaya hai types.

 

There is a need to grow trees. For that you need water. If water is not available, doing campaigns for tree plantation drives don’t work. It is criminal to plant a sapling and then blame it on the weather when it burns it crisp with no water to firm its roots. Campaigns for just photoshoots are a waste.

 

Environment has to be protected, failing which we all shall suffer. One tree per Indian every year should be the target. Saving water is also equally important as that could be the reason for the next world war. One drop by every individual on earth per day can contribute to one flowing river.

 

Talks and discussions are all right, but to translate those thoughts to the ground is a different ball game. I am not discussing the plastic menace here but that too needs to be addressed. Every individual who walks this earth has to contribute. When would we understand these simple things? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!

 

LET’S DO OUR BIT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, HAPPY ENVIRONMENT DAY

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS