Some collect water...

It is peak summer, and in some parts of the world, women walk kilometres to fetch water.

We are complaining about summer heat and in few minutes time the image popped into the mind - women carrying pots and containers of water. Was talking about the concept of working from home during summer to avoid soaring temperatures and that is when I thought about the stories we have read about women walking for hours to collect water to bring it home and not just that, they had to do this twice a day.

In India, women in Rajasthan are often seen carrying pots, not one but two or more at times. And in Kenya, this image of a woman is common - with her baby secured on the back with a cloth tied to form a knot on the front and container of water balanced on the head. It is interesting how women are water collectors in so many societies and so we do not have to wait until Women’s Day to celebrate them because they are in every nook and corner of the world - in search of water.

Access to clean water is a basic human right but in reality, for many it is a luxury. In Gaza, where children live in fear with no access to safety, assurance of food, and education, water is also scarce.

Children elsewhere in the world are thinking of painting with water colours, but where they do not have security of life and water to quench thirst and to clean oneself, how can they think of colours with water? And what will they paint about?

Yet, art has been growing in popularity as a form therapy. There are even organisations which use it to enhance team spirit.

So my friend and I chose to sit at a coffee shop in a busy mall and sketch on our notepad. It was interesting to sit in a mall and watch people take a stroll, walk with a purpose, giggle and walk, Google and sip ice coffee, talk with people on phone and walk with determination, make a fashion statement etc. On the other side, there were discussions among staff members at the coffee shop on solving problems. And in came a staff member, energetic and cheerful to take over the next shift.

No matter which part of the world we are - we are all collecting and saving. Some of us collect experiences, others collect resources, water and others wealth as well as, not to forget, thoughts.

What have you been collecting?

We love memories. And we collect and we try to preserve memories in the form of photographs, clothes, stamps and currencies and even pressed flowers between pages of a book. Soon we might end up cluttering our mind and physical space. Maybe it is also our fear of the unknown that makes us cling to our past and memories. We term them in different ways and definitions. We want our roots so we know where we come from and has it to back us when we feel we are being ushered into unknown territories of life. But that is how life is. There is no escaping from it as life will continuously throw surprises. A few cuts here and there and a few lines and wrinkles add character to one self and remind us of the life we have been leading.

We tell ourselves and others to manifest and visualise to have what we want. What do we say to children who have been living in tents since they can remember? To wish for rain? So the ground underneath gets wet and rain water seeps through? And they have no place to dry their clothes. Rains so much that it floods like the recent one seen in Kenya.

Man went to the extremes and so has nature now. It could be man made problem or a natural cycle. But we can strive to create a balance. A balance in our collections, needs and demands.

The water must flow and will flow, even if it means by breaking barriers.

Similarly wealth must move. Read somewhere if a dress does not fit one anymore, it must belong to another soul. We enjoy the food but we do not think often about the one who’s sowed the seed and harvested the crop. Most importantly who are we to waste the food.

For that matter, how often do we think of the ones who sowed the seeds of knowledge in our minds. We earn because of that knowledge but we don’t know how the teachers are doing today.

The ones who brought us to the world may not have had the manual to bring up the little ones. They must have copied their parents, society and put in their own little creativity. As the little ones grow older and Ives amongst the trends and attitudes of next gen, we have no right to live the elders on their own. Find a reason to bring them close to you. For we will never know what we missed otherwise.

While we go on to collect certificates, qualifications and knowledge, let us also collect special moments to enrich our lives and most importantly to make our lives meaningful.

And so take a break once in a while to sit at a coffee shop or underneath a tree to take a book to sketch or write, for no reason; not to impress or leave a mark. But just to acknowledge oneself and to connect to yourself to know what you really want in life.

And please remember next time when you think of leaving a water bottle behind with leftover water, stop, pick it up and gulp it down till the last drop or pour it to a plant that need it. All you have to do is to remember of the people who walk for kilometers to fetch water.

The true empowerment would be when the water reaches them at their home. With the resources and the know how the world has today, is it not an imbalance that people are still facing these challenges in some parts of the world?