(Ab)use of resources

One morning, after I brushed my teeth, I realized that I had left the wash basin tap open for a long time and thus wasting considerable amount of water. Suddenly I recollected my childhood memories, how as a family, we had spent water very cautiously (with a miserly attitude). We could not afford a “bore well” then and so our house had no overhead tank and taps. Every morning we would fetch water from the well (with a rope and bucket) in turns, for the whole day. My Father, who grew up in a village, had to walk a long distance daily along with his brothers and sisters to fetch water for their daily needs, as the house in which grew up did not have a well. Because of this, he would take utmost care in using water so as to not to waste it. He was very particular that we followed him, and so he used to instruct us to fetch water from the well ourselves, though we were young! It is still fresh in my memory how I and my sisters would line up at the well to draw water and manage to brush our teeth with each one of us having only a mug full of water to spare. For bathing, we had the luxury of a bucket full. Because of the effort that we had to put in to fetch water from the well, we had no choice but to use it carefully. My thoughts were disturbed when my four year old daughter went in to the bathroom for morning ablutions. I silently observed her and she was unmindfully wasting water as much as she could. When I told her that water should not be wasted, she shot back saying that why should we mind as it was flowing from the taps 24/7. It took me some time to explain to her about the water scarcity problems that we face and hence we should not waste water.

Just then my brother, coming back from a nearby shop after purchasing some essentials, threw the keys of the scooter on the dining table. This again took me to my childhood times when we were forced to plan our purchases as we had to either walk or ride a bicycle to go to shops. Today with the luxury of bikes and scooters, we really don’t mind to waste petrol as there is no physical effort involved.

I was wondering how we, as human beings, take certain things for granted and do not question ourselves when we abuse some resources just for the reason that they are available aplenty. My mind was so much occupied with that thought throughout the day that I switched off lights and fans when they were not in use, before leaving for office. Also, on my way to office, I switched off the engine of my scooter while waiting at the signal. I consciously climbed the stairs to my office on the second floor convincing myself that I would take the lift when I was too tired to take the staircase. These days the newspapers and TV channels are replete with news about the global warming and its disastrous effects. There are so many measures suggested by experts to switch over to alternate fuels and so on, to save the Earth. But not many people really seem to bother about controlling the urge to abuse resources. It is time to focus on simple yet vital measures on hand rather than waiting for some divine intervention. Only if we take a conscious decision today to make “use of” and not to “abuse” the natural resources, there will be some natural resources left for our heirs and some heirs left to read our history.