24x7 water?

One of the amazing things about India is how many things happen in a day that are noteworthy. Each day is full of highs and lows and "I-can't-believe-I-just-saw-that" moments, which somehow still don't get old after two years of being here.

I don't think I ever really realized this until I started keeping this blog to keep in touch with friends and family. My first thought of what I'll write in the morning ("I'm reading a fascinating book about organizational energy!") has nothing to do with my thought one hour later ("I'm moving!! Top things I'll miss about Indira Heights...")... which is completely different from my ride home ("It was dark and I couldn't quite tell what I was looking at. I knew they were beggars but it looked like a husband-and-wife couple, with his arms around her lovingly... when I realized he didn't have arms and she was basically carrying him on her back...when I realized he didn't have legs either...)

Whew. So as you can see, a big day, but in a way, just any old day here in India -- for better or for worse.

So what's on my mind right now? Water. Or rather, the lack of it. I've been looking for a new apartment for about a month now. Not that I don't love where I'm living. It's beautiful with a gorgeous view of Banjara Hills below, and a deck complete with an awesome porch swing (thanks Nate!) But I'm ready for a change. Closer to the park or closer to work, but most importantly, a place to call my own.

In any case, my first strategy was to look for places near work. The fact that the nice apartments advertise "24 hour water" tells you something. A couple weeks ago, when I asked my Hindi teacher (who lives in a middle-class neighborhood) to teach me: "Is there water available here?", she said that question was a moot point and of course I'd need to go outside and fill buckets from the nearby pump.

I wondered whether I should be moving in the first place.

But that was just my thinking getting smug, for in the couple days since I've been back from Delhi, there's hardly been any water here either -- and this is the nice part of town. I suppose I could just get used to it if there's never water. But it's the somtimes water that's a killer. You put soap on your hands to wash, but then realize there's no water and now you're hands are soapy and sticky! Thinking I had figured out a system, I then began turning the water on first, to test it out. Seeing water indeed there, I'd then put soap on my hands... but in those two seconds, the water would run out!! -- worse still, and I'd feel absolutely awful for wasting that precious water...

Not much better outside Hyderabad, either. In Delhi, it has almost become a game... filling up the tea maker with water from the kitchen sink to take a "shower" ;)

Of course, living in India puts everything in perspective. At the same moment I get frustrated that my laundry is half-wet and completely mildewy with not enough water to complete the wash cycle, I remember the couple begging for money just an hour earlier.

Sure, things can always be better. But they can surely always be a thousand times worse.