Is Responsibility Meant to be Only in a Few Hands?
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As I sit helpless
and frustrated in a pool of tears, I cannot wonder why we as a race are not
responsible! Why is responsibility palmed off so easily even when we have the
power to set things right?
I had been eyeing
my unusually dirty buckets for the past two days and making a note to tell the
cleaner to clean it while doing a temporary cleaning act after my bath. As is
common place with me these days, the minute I exit a room, I forget about it
because each new room I enter has a whole list of things waiting to be sorted.
So it took me two days before I got the cleaner to clean all the buckets and
mugs which is a huge decision for me due to the water shortage we face. After
those were made sparkly, my husband observes that the water is dirty and I
realize it wasn’t the buckets but the water. While flowing from the taps, water
didn’t look muddy but indeed it was!
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So, early next morning the man who made
the observation was sent up to check the condition of the tank which he said
was caked with mud. Immediately, the tank cleaner was called and it was fixed
that he would turn up a few hours before water would be pumped up (for those
who have never been affected by water shortage I would like you to know that
you are blessed and hope you never face this situation- we get water for an
hour a day for two days and on the third day there is no water. We have a tank
and if used judiciously we can barely manage without a problem for a family of
four) and clean out the tanks so that we’d be without water for the minimum
time. Water shortage is rampant in so many places and if we suffer so much, think of the poor.
Well, the two
cleaners came after I nagged them continuously and finally they went up after
asking me to drain out all the water. This I did after filling everything that
I could possibly fill. When taps stopped running I felt uncomfortable but
calmed myself down. After all, what needs to be done must be done! An hour
later, the two cleaners come and tell me that the job was complete. Something
about their expression brought with it a doubt so I told them I’d pay them
after the water started coming which was less than two hours later. One fellow
said everything was fine except that the ball valve should be changed if it
gave trouble in the future but was fine as of now. I smelt a rat.
I told him to get
the plumber and come immediately, so he gave me the guarantee that he would
personally get it done if I had a problem and that he would turn up when the
water came. He begged me to pay him half the amount at least and much against
my will, I did. He didn’t turn up.
At sharp five, I
sent my daughter upstairs to see if the water was filling in. It was. The bell
rang shortly after and revealed an old man “Madam, aapka tanki beh raha hai.
Bahut paani ja raha hai” (Madam, your tank is overflowing and a lot of water is
getting wasted). I panicked. It had been twenty minutes since the water had
come by then and there was not a drop coming into the house and here this man
was saying that the tank was overflowing! I sent my dear daughter again (it is
a family trait I have inherited from my parents – to get into a frenzy if water
is less) and she said the man was right. In between my domestic help turned up
and I got all taps opened. Dark muddy water started trickling in at first and
then in full force. Soon, it was replaced by clean water and I got the help to
wash the utensils while trying frantically to get this cleaner to come in with
a plumber. He kept giving me stupid answers and then refused point blank! After
a long long time, I actually shouted at someone for his callousness that was
wasting so much of clean water. I climbed up next and tried my best to at least
shut water from getting into the tank, but all I did was to get drenched for
all those rusted iron taps were jammed.
I then called the
security and got them to send me the emergency plumber from somewhere and they
did. He was the same guy who had turned up a day prior to fix a leaking tap,
and told me he’d return in ten minutes with the equipment but hadn’t shown his
face since then. He came and told me that those fellows had broken the ball
valve (I found that out for myself) so I asked him to get one immediately and
get to work. He said there was no point since the tank was overflowing. The
water level had to go below a minimum point before he could do anything. So,
off he went telling me with a sheepish grin, that he would come the following
day. Incidentally, when I had earlier asked the cleaner to call this guy, they
told me he was on leave for a wedding and the other one the society had, had
been kicked out. (Fibs both!)
I came inside and
cried hot tears of frustration. Irritated that I couldn’t fix it myself and
guilty that I had wasted so much water. To make matters worse, the washing
machine wouldn’t move after having dirtied and dampened the clothes with enough
muddy water- an air lock had decided to complete my day and see if I could
practice equanimity that I so often preach. I suck at it, I realize.
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We blame people in
positions of power, that they are corrupt and don’t do their jobs but do we? If
that old man (God Bless him) could turn up to let me know that there was an
overflowing tank, could that youngster not tell me the actual damage he had
done and rectified the mistake? I am bugged with myself for taking the easier
path and believing that man, when my gut feeling told me that something was
amiss. If I had climbed up then and there without giving him the benefit of
doubt, I would have discovered the ball valve he had hidden behind my tank.
Disappointed I am,
with myself and everyone else. We are not ready to progress or save the Earth.
We are all just hoping things will sort themselves out or at least the
calamities waiting to happen, will bypass us. We have all somewhere adopted the
“Chalta hai” attitude which means “making do” kind of blasé attitude. My
father’s words come to my mind “Don’t follow the path of least resistance…”
Nothing can change if we are not ready to take responsibility. Well observed
ReplyDeleteTrue that... :)
ReplyDeleteNice 1!!!
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