One fine day, my early retirement daydreaming at office was cut short by my wife calling me and telling me that the IGL gas was not coming (zor ka jhatka). I told her, “Your message is not clear. It’s not a gas cylinder but a gas pipeline.”
I told her to complain to IGL but, in the meantime, I thought what if I had forgotten to pay the IGL bill and they had cut the gas connection permanently (zor ka jhatka). Do I have to apply for a cylinder? Do I have to go and stand in a line?
Maybe I have to buy an electrical gas stove but then I thought there is already inter-debate, intra-debate about single point-multi point heating up. There is also a faceoff between residents, AOA and UP electricity department.
This may ultimately lead to residents arranging their own electricity (zor ka jhatka). Fortunately, we were informed by our active tower group that the IGL gas line had burst in front of Tower 6 because of some drilling work and that the gas supply would be restored in a few hours {which meant that dinner had to be ordered from outside (zor ka jhatka)}!
When I returned home, I saw that drilling work had started in front of Tower 7. I wondered about the emergency for drilling. I found out that our society has three boreholes out of which one has failed, i.e., the water table has gone below the drilled pipes.
The second one too would be empty soon. A new Borehole is drilled at approx. 230 feet. Advance thinking by the current AOA to perhaps combat future summers will be helpful. I gasped – what if the other two boreholes also fail?
With harsh summers and buildings popping up like mushrooms in the Ashram and in other parts of Noida, it is quite possible. Are we ready to spend hours in front of water tankers? Do we buy water for our daily needs?
This is already happening. It was in the news about sectors not being able to cope with their daily water needs. The next morning, when I again started daydreaming about early retirement, I discarded the thought.
What would be the use of an early retirement if I have to spend hours in line (zor ka jhatka)? I got back to my work!
