Happiness – Once Again!!!

I rewind the clock some 9 years back when we were facing acute water shortage problems in our old house in Vinayaka Nagar situated on the other side of HAL Airport. 

Happiness in ordinary things!

A sump full of water = a heart full of joy !!

We all take our normal routine happenings for granted .

For Example,

We push a switch and the light must glow :
We turn the tap and water must flow :
We lift the hand set and we must hear the ring tone :
We turn the ignition key and the car must roar to life :

Do we classify these as happy moments ??
No !

And not until the normal routine happening fails to happen .
And then it is first irritation, then anger , then tension, and then finally, its  panic !!

Coming back home,
We did not get fresh water in our colony for more than a month – no Kaveri water supply , low pressure and power supply cuts were some of the many reasons .
And to make matters worse, a couple of times my dad would forget to close the tap in our first floor bathroom and our overhead Sintex tank would run dry!

And amongst the residents, tempers ran high, fights for water tanker became frequent , and people became selfish, fitted illegal on-line water pumps and greedily started  hoarding water !!

We survived by using our bore well pump sparingly . 

But anxiety led to tension and then ventured into the panic zone – especially when our bore well pump started spewing engine oil and making strange noises .

Jay, my wife,  kept a stoic silence – maintaining sheer confidence that things will improve soon .

And things did improve somewhat – but not for us !
Somehow, many  houses started getting water except ours . Each morning Jay would wake up and religiously lift the underground water sump’s cast iron lid and peep inside – and to be disappointed each time.

Then she would reluctantly switch ON the bore well pump .

Anxiety & desperation made her call the plumber many times to check the valves and the meter as well – still no sign of water. And it was heart-breaking to see her sad & disappointed face each time she lowered the sump lid and walked up to the motor switch each morning. .

Then one day a trickle started and 2 nights later the sump got full .

When Jay lifted the sump lid that morning , she beamed – and pure happiness radiated from her face .

And she looked at me and smiled – a dazzling one which even the early morning summer sun could not have challenged !!

And that day Jay was so happy that she was extra nice to the house maid , more accommodating with our part-time cook , took that  extra effort to pull out a 10 rupee note for the road corner beggar and of course visit the colony temple to break the traditional ‘thank you’ coconut !!

A sump full of water = a heart full of Joy !!

That’s pure Happiness once again, Folks !!

Krish.