Fatigued and dehydrated

A few weeks ago, I had boasted about how I make pasta from scratch when I am 'too tired' to cook a proper meal. This week, I realised that this only applies to physical tiredness.I have been soul-tired for the last few days. And this has meant no posting, no keeping in touch with friends, no housekeeping, and store-bought patties for lunch.

Why the tiredness? I don't know. Or at least, I find it difficult to pick out a single reason. The Mangalore plane crash. Work. The heat. The lack of water. People watering down their concrete paths in spite of the lack of water. People refusing to consider demand management as an option. A colleague was complaining of being forced to use only one bucket of water for his bath! That is a luxury for most people!

But today, I was vindicated in a way. There are three households in the complex where I live. For the last two days, the others have been lugging up buckets of water because their taps are running dry. I turn on the tap with abandon..or atleast, as much abandon as I normally exercise when it comes to water. The nice man who is the Man Friday of the establishment told me that he would help me carry the buckets up, and was amazed when I thanked him, but refused and explained that I have water in my taps.

The reason? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I do the first two zealously.

Reduce: Bathe in a half-bucket of water. It gets one just as clean as the three buckets a colleague was boasting of using. Shut the tap while brushing teeth, scouring dishes.

Reuse: Use laundry water (wash and first rinse) for flushing, mopping. Second rinse goes to the plants. Shanpoo under the tap, use the water for mopping. The water in which beans and dals have been soaked goes to the plants- they don't worry about flatulence!

As for the third, I have heard of peeing on plants, but I ain't going there!

Demand Management. A good mantra to live by.